American Historical Ephemera & Photography

2 pages, on bifolium, 7 3/4 x 10 3/4 in., creased throughout, with staining, tears and loss, some with adhesive repair. Addressed on integral leaf.

In this letter to his brother, Orren Wright of Whitehall, New York, Ira writes that he is pleased to have arrived at "this place," after a 10-day march. He notes that the 9th, 21st, and 25th regiments (one of them most likely his) left Burlington on 24 March and arrived at their current location on 2 April. He writes that they plan to stay around 20-30 days before moving "probablely [sic] to Sackets harbor." 

Ira then expresses his enjoyment of the northern countryside, waxing poetic about the land and the nation for which he fights: "I think this northern part is far superior to the southern, perhaps one day this is to be the seat of empire, here may be raised the American banner, whose stars will attrack [sic] the nations of the south and the nations of the north to partake of her freedom...As soon as the lakes are opened it is presumed this army will go into operation and I think the prospect of success is more in our favor than it has before been. This nation is yet to become great, she has not yet arriven to her achme [sic], there is too much wilderness yet uncultivated, there are yet too many streams unexplored to admit of the idea that she is to rais [sic] no higher..."

Accompanied by a transcription of letter.