Sherman's March From Goldsboro To Raleigh, Capture Of Raleigh, Insane Asylum Filled

4 pp, 5 x 8, ALBERT WHITLEY, Camp of 141st NY Vols, City of Raleigh, NC, April 19, 1865, to his sister. Whitley served as sergeant in the 141st NY and commented a week before Sherman and Johnston signed a surrender in Durham.  Whitley describes Sherman’s March from Goldsboro to Raleigh, the skirmish at Moccasin Swamp (April 10, 1865), the capture of Raleigh (April 14), the city of Raleigh itself and prospects for peace. 

In part, “...We left Goldsboro the 10th our Brigade in advance. We took the main road to this Town (Raleigh) but we soon met the Reb pickets & drove them back upon their reserve. They too after a short fight fell back. We met them near night again & this time in a large swamp (Moccasin) our Regt & the 123d NY was on the skirmish line & had a warm time but soon dislodged them to meet them no more...There were two killed in the 123d and 4 wounded at the end of the fourth day. We reached this town Wheelers Cavalry having just gone through the place. [General Joseph E.] Johnston soon met our Cavalry under Stoneman & others of our Cavalry officers. He saw that his retreat was cut off & that [Gen. William] Sherman’s Army was marching to give him battle & at this juncture he proposed to surrender his army to Sherman so we pitched our tents again & since then all has been quiet. All foraging is done away with now & the prospects of peace is good...

“This was a city of 7000 inhabitants before the war. It is located upon high ground & is rather a fine looking town. There is a large insane asylum here & well filled too. The town is fortified on all sides & yet we took it without firing a gun. My health is good as usual. We have but little to do now. Lee & Johnson have gone up the spout, undoubtedly the war will end soon. Hoping that this may be the case & that the army soon can be disband & I & all the rest of the soldier boys can return home soon, I will content myself by writing & getting letters to & from my friends...Albert Whitley

Toning, folds, light soiling. 

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