American Historical Ephemera & Photography, Featuring Property from the James Milgram, M.D., Collection of Broadsides, Ephemeral Americana & Historical Documents

Archive of twelve letters spanning 1862-1868 written by a Minnesota citizen-soldier called up to subdue the "Sioux Uprising" of 1862-63 and later transferred south for participation in the ongoing hostilities of the Civil War. Toning, some creasing, and light soil, but condition of letters generally good.

The first letter in the archive dates to 16 November 1862, and is written by Curial from Fort Ripley where he is "now within the Barracks of a Fort in the capacity of a soldier." The next letters reference a captain who was shot through the heart by an Indian (Camp near Lake George, 9 August 1863) and a sergeant shot the day before adding "God only knows who will be the next victim" (14 September 1863). By November 1863 Curial is stationed at Fort Abercrombie and has  primarily been engaged in patrolling the frontier and slight skirmishes. On 27 February 1864 he writes of his regiment that "We have been stationed at different Places along on the Frontier to Protect the settlers from the Indians. We have been separated in squads from thirty to [sic] men to a whole Co. in a Place...some of us have been scouting through the woods after the Red Skins, and some of our men have been shot [and] scalpt."

In letters of March and June1864 he describes the location of his current post at Fort Abercrombie, noting that there are few white people who inhabit the area. He writes at length about the predominance of "Half Breeds," peoples of mixed French and Indian blood who conduct trade in the region: "They live chiefly by hunting they catch a great many Buffalo and thousands of Wolves and other kind of fur [.] They bring a great deal of fur and Buffalo Robes to St. Paul they being the rich merchandise of this Country in carts made of Wood without a meter of Iron about them...They come through Anoka every summer...." Curial also references the advance of the railroad, the expected immigration through the Plains to the gold mines of the West, his antagonism for "Southern Fireeaters," and the growth of the town of Anoka. Following the mitigation of hostilities in Minnesota, Curial's regiment was transferred to the Western Theater. Curial's health was an issue, with two letters of February 1865 finding him in the Lincoln General Hospital in Washington, D.C. Ultimately, Curial was discharged at the end of his enlistment and he returned to Minnesota.

[With:] The Soldier's Friend. Philadelphia: Perkinpine & Higgins, 1865. Twice inscribed: "N.W. Curial / Co. 'A' 8th Minn Vols. / 23 Corps." and "N.W. Curial Anoka Minn." 

Though born in Pennsylvania, Curial resided in Maine until removing to Anoka, Minnesota, ca 1854. HDS indicates he enlisted at Anoka on 8/13/1862 as a sergeant and mustered into Co. A MN 8th Infantry. He served until his discharge from hospital in 1865. After the war he engaged in a provision and grocery business in Anoka.

See also Lot 181, the Charles Hayden Archive.  Curial's correspondence is primarily directed to his sister Rachel Curial Banton (1824-1897) and her husband William H. Banton of Maine. The Bantons were the parents of Jessie Banton Hayden (1857-1919), the wife of Charles M. Hayden.