California Brothers Hymn Written to a Soldier in the Civil War

Slichter, Jacob; Edwin Bower

Erscheinungsdatum: 1861

Beschreibung

A historic hymn that was written to Joseph Slichter, a private in the Civil War, from his brother Jacob Slichter of Hummelstown, PA. Dated December 30th, 1861. Manuscript letter is written in a clear hand. Letter has moderate toning, foxing and soiling; previous owner has written "old letters" in blue ink. The letter was "coppied[sic] by Edwin Bower, Hummelstown, Dec. 30th 1861 by request of Jacob Slichter to his brother Joseph Slichter in the army 3d Reg. Co. D. P. R.V.[?]C. under Captain Briner in Gen McClellan(?) Division." We do not know who first authored this hymn but we found other versions of it with stanzas in differing order but all with the same tone. The hymn is a sad one, written from the perspective of a man telling his brother that he is dying: "Harken to me, brother harken! I hark something I would say/Ere the veil my vision darken and I go from earth away;/I am dying, brother, dying; soon you'll miss me from your berth/And my form will soon be lying neath the ocean's briny surf…" We found that a Jacob Slichter was aHummelstown, PA Methodist minister in 1861. We hope that he was not dying when this hymn was sent to his brother, but if he was it was done in a beautiful way. Joseph Slichter, enlisted in Co. "D" of the 3rd Pennsylvania Reserves (32nd Infantry) and mustered out on 6/17/1864 at Philadelphia, PA. The 3rd Pennsylvania Reserves fought at Turner's Gap in the Battle of South Mountain and at the Battle of Antietam. ; 7 1/2" x 12"; 3 pp. Bestandsnummer des Verkäufers 022383

Bibliografische Details

Titel: California Brothers Hymn Written to a ...

Erscheinungsdatum: 1861

Einband: Ephemera

Zustand: Good