Private Charles Leland, Company B, 13th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment, KIA at Gettysburg. Autographed letter regarding his new corps badge. "Camp Near Fletchers Chapel," VA, 16 April 1863.

2 pages, 5 x 8 in., with partial third page, creased. With envelope addressed to "Mr. Chas M. Leland, 18 Oak Street, Boston, Mass." In this letter to his father, Leland writes, "We are expecting to move, tonight or tomorrow and I presume that there will be a fight before many days, and I hope that the Army of the Potomac will be victorious, and that you will hear of the fall of Richmond before long. We have all of us got a badge on our caps of a spherical form, and made of white flannel. The first division of our Corp has red, the 2nd ("ours") white, the third blue. This is a good thing as the General will know where his command is, and General Hooker will recognize the different Corps."

He continues, "If I should get wounded you will probably hear of it soon after. We have got eight days rations to carry on our backs of Hard tack, coffee, Pork, & Sugar. That will make a pretty hard load to carry. I hope Charleston will fall before many days, into our hands, and that we shall be successful in the West, and South West."

Leland would proudly wear his new corps badge for less than three months. At the Battle of Gettysburg on the afternoon of July 1, 1863, the 13th Massachusetts was rushed into battle, forming the far right of the I Corps near Oak Ridge. After sustaining heavy fire on three sides, the regiment was forced to retreat through town to Cemetery Hill. By the end of the day, Charles Leland lay dead, one of 185 casualties sustained by the 13th Massachusetts Infantry.

The Civil War Collection of James C. Frasca