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5th Ohio Letter

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Autograph Letter Signed, Anthony B. Burton, 1st Lt. 5th Ohio Battery, 4p. octavo , Camp near Waterford, Mississippi, December 7, 1862, with "5th Ohio Battery" cover with soldiers ID, it reads in part: "...For firewood we burn fencerails. At first we had pelnty all around us close to camp, but we have burnt all up that were near us, and now we send the wagons out and have them hauled to us; the folks are all Secesh here, so it is no harm to take their rails, at least a person can’t pit them for losing them or losing anything lese that our soldiers can use. One article they are losing a good many of, and that is their darkies. They keep coming into our camps whereever our army goes, some on horseback, some on foot and in wagons. We have three of them in our company. Lieut Marsh has one to take care of his horse. Johnny Burner has one and then we have a negro woman to cook for us. They call my Jim ‘The Ohio darkie’ and they think he puts on a heap of airs because he wears pretty good clothes and sometimes puts on a standing collar. Jim does show off alongside of some of these poor Mississippi darkies who don’t know anything but how to pick cotton, and are generally clothed in rags..." VG.

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