Civil War Archive of Lieut. Henry H. Talbot, Co. A, 7th KY Cavalry

Cowen Auction, Lot 555

June 6 & 7, 2007 sold for $7,475.00

an extensive group of artifacts and ephemera relating to his wartime service and post-war life in Crawfordsville, Indiana including a 1864 dated Ames cavalry saber, sword belt rig, a pair of uniformed tintypes, framed discharge paper, a fantastic collection of 24 GAR medals and badges with related paper, buttons, and reunion photographs broaching the 20th century, an 1864 dated leather bound pocket diary with entries from late March to mid-May 1865, 54 military documents, some hand-written, from 1864-65 comprising numerous Form 27’s and vouchers, quarterly ordnance returns, GO’s, SO’s, affidavits, etc. duly assembled while in command of Company A. with a single late-war letter (no cover) dated June 1865. Also, 61 post-war letters, most with covers, spanning the period September 1867 through June 1879 encompassing personal correspondence of varying length from Henry’s brother and parents in Kentucky, several female acquaintances and business associates engaged in common agricultural endeavors, all postmarked Crawfordsville.

Henry Talbot joined the army in October 1861 and served for the duration rising through the ranks and suffering a wound at Hopkinsville, Kentucky in December 1864 before mustering out in July 1865. He first enlisted as a private in Hall’s Company of Kentucky Police Guards and sat for a quarter plate tintype in a flamboyant, if somewhat ad-hoc, uniform consisting of a modified civilian-style frockcoat with fancy cloth braided shoulder epaulettes, plumed M1858 dress hat, sash, and belt rig before the company mustered out in December 1861. In July 1862 Talbot joined Company C, 7th Kentucky Cavalry as sergeant and later in May 1863 ransferred to Company A upon his promotion to 2nd lieutenant. While brigaded with McCook’s cavalry division Lieutenant Talbot was wounded during an engagement with Confederate General Lyon’s forces on December 15, 1864 and it is likely that his enlisted M1860 saber saw service there. During the later half of 1864 Talbot, as senior officer, took charge of Company A and commanded the Kentuckians until they mustered out in July 1865, thus the profusion of routine army paperwork — 23 documents from 1864 and 31 from 1865 — found in the archive neatly filed by month in large envelopes inked “Retain.”

While much of the later personal correspondence is addressed “Captain,” there is no official record of Talbot in that rank. Another 2” x 2.25” oval tintype of Talbot in a velvet push button case, probably taken in 1863, is a fine portrait that was copied circa 1910 and enclosed in a fold-over paper mount.

Raised during the summer of 1862 the 7th Kentucky Cavalry took considerable time to outfit for field service and was not mustered until August 1862. Barely trained, the regiment was thrown into battle on the 23rd against Kirby Smith and was “very much shattered” in the affair that cost 50 Union casualties. Wintering at Gallatin the regiment rejoined the field in March 1863 at Franklin, Tennessee riding under General Green Clay Smith in an expedition to Columbia “fighting and skirmishing all the way.” In July 1863 the 7th fought in the defense of Franklin against a furious Confederate attack and lost the popular Colonel Faulkner to a serious thigh wound. From July 1863 the regiment was based at Bridgeport, Alabama engaged in patrolling and outpost duty while screening the flank of the main army as it moved toward Chickamauga.

The early winter of 1864 found the Kentuckian’s at Marysville, Tennessee protecting the lines of communication and vigilant against marauding bands of Confederate cavalry with a major engagement fought at nearby Dandridge, Tennessee on January 16-17, 1864. During the Atlanta campaign a regimental size detachment of the 4th, 6th and 7th Kentucky Cavalry commanded by Colonel Lewis D. Watkins was bivouacked at Lafayette, Georgia where a fierce battle was fought on June 24, 1864 against 1800 Confederate horsemen led by the sullied Gideon Pillow.

Transiting northwestern Georgia to burn bridges in the Union rear, Pillow attacked Lafayette expecting a quick victory to buttress his reputation. The outnumbered Kentuckian’s managed to holdout in the town square long enough for Union infantry to be summoned by a cavalry picket who had escaped the encirclement. The regiment’s detached second battalion rejoined the command in July and in August the 7th engaged Joe Wheeler’s cavalry in a sharp clash at Dalton, Georgia quickly followed by another fight at Graysville. Following the capture of Atlanta the regiment returned to lines of communication duty assigned to McCook’s cavalry division based at Edgefield, Tennessee. In early December McCook’s division was called to Kentucky to counter a raid led by General Hylan B. Lyon commanding a mounted brigade under Forrest. Lyon had captured Hopkinsville near the state line and proceeded to burn the courthouse. What followed was an extended pursuit lasting most of the month during which time Lieutenant Talbot was slightly wounded on the 15th and General Lyon soundly defeated and dispersed.

In January 1865 the 7th Kentucky assembled at Gravelly Springs, Alabama where Lt. Talbot’s short six week diary—brevet daily entries scratched out in pencil—commenced in late March 1865. At this late stage in the war the powerful Cavalry Corps—Military Division of the Mississippi consisting of E.M. McCook’s 1st and Robert Minty’s 2nd divisions commanded by James H. Wilson (Kilpatrick’s 3rd division accompanied Sherman) prepared to deliver a fatal saber slash to the dying Confederacy. The largest continuous cavalry action of the war was known as Wilson’s Raid and Talbot traced the mounted operations along the Alabama Central R.R. from Chickasaw, Alabama toward Macon, Georgia with candid observations on weather and the effect of hard-marching through “enemy county made desolate.”

Talbot’s entries do not strictly correspond to the printed dates found in the diary; he simply overwrote his observations notating the actual date in pencil or ink. On April 1 he writes laconically, “Marched along the R.R. this morning and burnt several depots. We marched over the ground where General Wilson’s Divis(ions) fought Forrest. Saw a good many horses that had been shot and killed. Saw one dead reb laying at the front of a large pine tree with a bullet hole through his head.” Scenes of wanton destruction had become commonplace to these mounted veterans as Talbot noted on April 2, “To Scottsdale (27 miles). Destroyed a large cotton factory and machinery to the amount of $200,000.” The next day ahead of the fast moving columns he recorded that we “recaptured some of General Rosecrans men that were captured by the rebs a day or two ago.”

On Sunday, April 4, matter-of-factly, “We stood in line of battle this morning supporting the battery. Gen. Hood with his reb Divis(ion) advanced against our brig and we burnt the town of Scottsville and returned to (illegible place) where we made a stand on the right bank of the river. The enemy advanced and charged through the bridges. We opened with artillery scattering them and then the 1st Wisc. made a charge and captured 25. We lost 1 man killed. We burnt the bridges and camped in two miles of town.”

A somewhat lengthy entry for April 5 describes a characteristic Forrest bluff at Selma, Alabama and a close encounter, “We have not heard from our other battalion or General Croxton’s Brig. General McCook sent a courier to General Wilson in front of Selma saying he was coming with all possible speed to join him. Gen. Forrest captured the courier and without paroling him sent him back to General McCook to tell him that he might as well surrender for he was surrounded on all sides but the Gen(eral) outmaneuvered him and escaped. Forrest struck our rear and ran into our foragers capturing Lieut. Ramsey (Solomon P. Ramsey, Co. I.) and three men. The rest escaped…”

A week later, on April 11, Talbot writes that “Our Divis(ion) marched in front of the corps today and I was detailed Officer of the Day. Today we rode about 6 miles and struck the rebs. 4th and 2nd (Kentucky Cavalry) charged them and drove them out of Benton. Our regt. had 250 men in the rear on duty and we did not have but 75 men for line of battle. Our regt. was ordered in front of the 2nd and 4th to charge the enemy and have not the men to do it with. We drove 650 of the enemy for six miles, killed three and captured 1. They belonged to the 4th and 7th Alabama. If we had had our whole regt. I believe that we would have captured 300 of them.”

Talbot mentions several more towns and forts that fall to the inexorable Union advance with“3000 prisoners” taken and a “12 car train loaded with Govt. property” burned, conjuring a grim picture of the South convulsing in death spasms.

The perfunctory entry of April 18 noted that we “heard today that Gen. Lee had surrendered to Gen. Grant.” Two days later on April 20 the Confederate garrison defending the city of Macon did likewise, recorded a satisfied Talbot, with “2 major generals, 5 brigadiers and 3000 men” going into the bag.

After a week’s light duty at Macon on April 28 Talbot reported that, “We have orders to move this morning,” adding that “the baggage of the men was searched and all stolen plunder taken from them.” The 7th Kentucky remained at Macon until June and mustered out at Nashville on July 10, 1865.

In the one war dated letter of June 15, 1865 Lt. Talbot wrote his parents in Kentucky attempting to reestablish communication with them, plaintively stating that he had “not received a letter from home since I left.” He confided that “we have had a hard and (illegible) campaign but I enjoyed it very much excepting the fighting part and we had no little to do of that.” Talbot wished “so much to be at home” and when next we hear from him in 1867 he has relocated to Crawfordsville, a college town and farming community in west central Indiana.

The next group of 60 plus civilian letters reflects a man putting down roots, engaging in courtship, and starting to prosper in his adopted community. A careful read of the personal correspondence indicates that Henry maintained close contact with his old Kentucky home while routinely engaging in business transactions in distant New York and Philadelphia as reflected by several graphic post-war advertising pieces for the Studebaker Wagon Companyand Bedford & Clay Pure Copper Distilled Bourbon Whisky.

A lengthy letter written in 1867 in response to his father in Kentucky highlights the lingering animosity created by the late war and the unhealthy economic climate back home. In 1869 a female friend named Rae solicits Henry’s views on the changing role of women, asking pointblank, “What do you think of Ladies Clerking?” In 1871 Henry is asked by a Kentucky relative for money so that the man “can move west.”

Henry became a steadfast member of the GAR as reflected by his wonderful collection of medals, ribbons and regalia and participated in the post-war reunion circuit retaining invitations and photographs. A fine turn of the century studio portrait with a “Layne’s Studio/ Crawfordsville” imprint shows a white-bearded Henry in full GAR uniform including sword. Another photograph taken at about the same time is a story in itself, a copy of a CDV memorializing the outspoken Lt. Colonel Thomas T. Vimont, 7th Kentucky Cavalry, who was killed in a drunken quarrel in 1864 after lambasting two of his officers who had applied for commissions in a USCT regiment.

Henry Talbot lived well into the 20th century for there is a small brownie photograph of a cigar toting elderly soldier sporting a forked beard dated July 15, 1931, wherein Henry doffs his GAR slouch hat in proud acknowledgement of a life well served. Lastly, there are two presumably 1960’s pieces of paper providing an item inventory of Henry Talbot’s Civil War artifacts. The inventory includes most of the material from this archive except for a Civil War Smith & Wesson No. 2 Revolver, now missing.

Provenance:

Ex Nedra Beebe Collection.

Condition:

M1860 sword G+ with nice patina and leather intact, missing wire wraps. Scabbard with some staining caused from rust build up. Leather sword hanger crazed with two areas of deterioration on leather straps. Most GAR medals are VG, a few with oxidation or wear to silks. Both tintypes near EXC, without damage. Other photographs near VG. Military paper generally G+ with a few pieces ripped and torn and/or poorly folded. Letter collection near VG except covers which show heavy wear and tears. Miscellaneous ephemera generally G, showing age

Henry H Talbot