Autograph Letter Signed Wallace Hall, New Bern, NC, May 17, 1862, 7 pp., 8vo, to his mother, Mary D. Hall, Barnes Corners, Lewis County, New York, reading, in part, "...We were Sixteen days coming to New Bern we layed in the harbor at Fortress Monroe a day or two...I saw a rebil Bot come up that they thought was the Marymac...I saw the Monitor & the Iron clad bot lay in the harbor...she kept out of reach...we went toward Trenton (NC) the distance 20 miles...when we came on the pickets. There was two companies of Infantry & some cavalry...the bullets began to fly...they would skulk in the woods & blaze a way at us we took three prisoners & killed eight or ten. They took five prisoners & one was a Lieutenant & shot one of our majors through the shoulder & a number more of our men was shot one was shot in the hand one had his arm almost cut off with a saber and a number more wounded, we came back to Newbern the next night & last night the biggest part of them was out again...Newbern is the pleasantest place I think I ever was in...I have been into Cedar Grove Cemetrie where was found in one of the vaults $40,000 Dollars in specie there is a good many soldiers buried there on both sides...Direct to Wallace Hall Co. "G" 3d N. Y. V Cavalry New Bern N.C. In care of Capt Hull.... The letter concludes with a patriotic verse, likely composed by Hall.

Private North Carolina Civil War Collection

Wallace Hall entered the service as a Private on July 20, 1861 and was discharged a supernumary in July 1865, having made 1st Sergeant the previous year. The 3rd New York Volunteer Cavalry served most of the war in Southeastern Virginia and coastal North Carolina.

Some light stains; overall age toning; the cover with ragged opening; good condition overall.