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155

China, Boxer Rebellion Transcribed Letter from Aaron Simon Daggett Describing Battles at Peking, Chi

Currency:USD Category:Coins & Paper Money / Paper Money - World Currency Start Price:400.00 USD Estimated At:500.00 - 1,000.00 USD
China, Boxer Rebellion Transcribed Letter from Aaron Simon Daggett Describing Battles at Peking, Chi
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Maine & China, 1900. Fascinating piece, Several-page handwritten and transcribed letter, which is a copy of an original sent by Aaron Simon Daggett, from China, describing his experience in Peking during the Boxer Rebellion. The transcription was written by his relative (likely his niece) Mary A. Daggett, as Aaron Daggett requested this letter also be sent to his relative, Converse, "for I have not time nor strength to write both of you now." The letter provides an interesting and sometimes harrowing account of the 14th Infantry's actions suppressing the Boxer Rebellion. Daggett writes, "as you know, the Chinese were trying to murder all foreign people, especially, representatives of foreign Governments," and goes on to describe how hundreds of foreigners were living on "horse flesh" for over 5 weeks. "One woman told me that they had calmly made up their minds to kill all their children and themselves at the last moment, rather than be tortured by the Chinese. A man told me that when he went out on guard with his rifle, he left a revolver with his wife, for her to shoot their baby and herself" if the enemy broke through. Daggett also writes that the 14th Infantry was the "first of American troops on the walls with our flag. What a shout rang out when the stars and stripes waved on the immense wall, 25 feet high or more." He states that the campaign has been incredibly difficult, with men dying from the heat. "I am too old to endure so much hard," he writes towards the end, crediting god with his survival. At the end of the letter is a postscript by the transcriber, Mary Daggett, stating that she sends the letter at the request of her father, writing "It is very interesting, is it not?" Aaron Simon Daggett (June 14, 1837 - May 14, 1938) was a career United States Army officer and Purple Heart and Gold Star recipient. He was the last surviving brevet Union general of the American Civil War, and the last surviving general of any grade from the war, when he died one month shy of his 101st birthday in 1938. Daggett was nominated for appointment to the grade of brevet brigadier general, to rank from March 13, 1865, by President Andrew Johnson on February 21, 1866 and was confirmed by the United States Senate on April 10, 1866. During the war, Daggett fought at West Point, Gaines' Mill, Golding's Farm, White Oak Swamp, Second Bull Run, South Mountain, Antietam, Rappahannock Station, Fredericksburg, Battle of Gettysburg, Battle of Mine Run, Battle of the Wilderness and Battle of Cold Harbor. Daggett was a brigadier general of volunteers in the Spanish-American War. He was appointed to the brigadier general grade to rank from September 1, 1898 and was mustered out of the volunteers on November 30, 1898. He was promoted to brigadier general in the Regular Army (United States) ten days before his retirement from the army on March 2, 1901, less than a year after the original writing of this transcribed letter. VF condition with accompanying cover with 2 cent stamp and handstamps. Unique first-hand account of a major historical event.
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