[CIVIL WAR LETTER] Autograph Letter Signed. Harrison Landing, Virginia, July 25, 1862. Four pp. Boldly written in ink on "the picket line near Harrison’s Landing" from L.D. Stillson [9/20/1861 mustered into "D" Co. NY 49th Infantry] after fighting a gruesome battle that would see the end of the Peninsular Campaign.

Sometimes called the ‘Seven Days Battles’ - a series of six major battles over the seven days was fought from June 25 to July 1, 1862, near Richmond, Virginia where Confederate General Robert E. Lee drove the invading Union Army of the Potomac, commanded by Major General George B. McClellan, away from Richmond and into a retreat down the Virginia Peninsula. In part:

"…three of US have been on picket duty and have been out scouting." Stilson further states that "…we went around the rebels and ransacked than" and mentions fighting the Rebs on July 3 in a "battle to be remembered" and continues with ""we were in our place and for eight days and night we were either fighting or working with might and mein (men)/ You speak of having acquaintances in the 33^rd Regt.

They are in the same Brigade with us…they were with us all through the retreat we were only 5 miles from Richmond at the commencement of the fight and I think it was through the neglect or inefficiency or something else that we obliged to fall back but after the retreat…in was carried through in a masterful manner & speaks well of our beloved McClellan although those who covered the retreat of the army as our division did had some very hard work & hard fighting and such slaughter as I saw then I hope never to see again where the dead and dying with the wounded covered the ground in places three or four deep."