A Collection of Letters to (and from) Brevet Major Charles White, Civil War Assistant Surgeon; U.S. Army Medical Doctor at New Orleans; and Post Surgeon at Fort Schuyler, New York and Camp Independence, California (1841-76)

An outstanding collection of approximately 200 holograph letters, most with the original mailing envelopes retained. All but about six or seven are addressed to Charles B. White, and date from the following four periods of his career in the U.S. Army: as Assistant Surgeon in the field during the Civil War (1861-65); Assistant Surgeon and "Medical Purveyor" at New Orleans (1867-68); as Post Surgeon at Fort Schuyler, New York (1868-70); and Post Surgeon at Camp Independence, California (1872-76). Also included are a handful of personal letters dating from 1841-57. The letters and envelopes are near fine overall, neatly laid in plastic sleeves and housed in four three-ring binders. The correspondence is comprised of approximately 140 letters from White's family members and friends, and about 55 letters from White's military and professional colleagues, most of whom were stationed at one of several frontier forts and military hospitals located throughout Texas and Louisiana. Also included are three notable Civil War letters by White himself, together with three other letters by White and one Civil War document in his hand. Born in Vermont in 1826, White graduated from Wabash College, studied medicine in Alabama and Louisiana, and commenced his medical practice in New Orleans in 1852. When the Civil War broke out he remained loyal to the Union and was appointed Assistant Surgeon in May 1861. He was first assigned to Point Comfort, Virginia and later served in Mississippi, Tennessee, and Louisiana during the Union occupation of New Orleans. In a September 1862 letter written by Wright at his "Camp near Alexandria, Va.", Wright expresses his views about the war openly and forcefully: "My dear Father . I have just returned safely from substitute duty with batteries near Centerville . I am now serving with Col. Hays's 1st Brig. Artillery Reserve. I was near the battlefield when Gens. Kearney and Stevens were killed. It is a fearful loss to us - they were invaluable officers. I hear with grief of further losses of valuable officers . Pope and McDowell are denounced as unprincipled triflers by their own troops [John Pope and Irvin McDowell were blamed for both Union defeats at Bull Run]. Our only hope is that McClellan will be put in untrammeled chief command. McDowell is openly spoken of as a traitor and Pope as a fool. Pope's old associates say moreover of him that his late dispatches bear out his old reputation for aberrations from the truth . The present looks dark - a fierce and bloody struggle awaits us not far off: we are angry and sad that politicians still manage armies. Losing so many friends makes me think more on the great charge of death . I expect to be stationed with troops above Washington, on the Potomac . ." After the Union Army's victory at Shiloh and the capture and occupation of New Orleans in 1863, White was put in charge of wounded soldiers at Corinth, Mississippi, and served as acting Assistant Surgeon at the U.S. General Marine Hospital in Tennessee. In August 1863 White was ordered to Louisiana. In another letter to his father written from occupied New Orleans (November 6, 1863), Wright mentions the "Corps D'Afrique," also known as the 1st Louisiana Native Guard, the first Black military unit to serve in the Union Army: "We are quartered in a deserted hotel in the very heart of the city . Col. Sinclair is again with us, having been definitely appointed Inspector General of the Corps . a part of our corps has gone to Western Texas, but it is rumored that it will return, and the whole concern be assigned to Memphis, Tenn. We expect to remain in N.O. about a week, only . We have many colored officers in the Corps D'Afrique. The more I see of black soldiers, the better I think of them . ." After the war, White again took up residence in New Orleans where he continued to serve as Assistant Surgeon and Medical Purveyor (from January 1, 1866, to April 30, 1868) and continued to correspond with several colleagues, most.…