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Auction: 342 - The Numismatic Collector's Series Sale
Lot: 1010

Civil War: Scrapbook of Major John Aigan, 5th Rhode Island Heavy Artillery (born Maine 1834, died Lincoln, R.I. 1878). A very good content collection of correspondence, military documents and wartime newspaper clips set in a large "Senate Maps and Views to Accompany Message and Documents 1855-6" book as a frame. Includes: Aigan's 1861 discharge papers, 1862 appointments as 2nd Lieutenant in the 3rd Regiment Rhode Island Volunteers and as 1st Lieutenant in the 5th Regiment Rhode Island Volunteers, 1863 appointment as Captain in the 5th Regiment R.I., Company 'K'; 1864 appointment as Captain 5th Regiment R.I. Heavy Artillery and his 1865 appointment as Major in the 5th R.I. Heavy Artillery;

Various wartime personal correspondence and 1865 correspondence with the Office of the R.I. State Commissioner; 1863 letters from Aigan's fellow officers wishing him a speedy recovery from a "Chronic disease contracted in the service of our country"; letters to Aigan's wife Frances Allen Aigan (née Carpenter) from fellow officers who had been imprisoned with Aigan in Charleston and Macon [Aigan was captured May 5, 1864; he escaped from a CSA prison late January or February 1865, rejoining the 5th R.I. heavy Artillery on the first of May]; and a few early post-Civil War letters, including an 1866 missive from a Union officer relaying his experience as a prisoner in Cahawba, Alabama.

Various Special Orders - HQ Dept. of the South, Hilton Head - Port Royal, SC 1863, HQ 5th Regiment, New Bern NC 1863, others; and Army passes - HQ Military District of Washington, D.C. 1862, Provost Marshal, Ft. Monroe, VA; Army of Ohio Provost Marshal 1865, etc.
A large number of newspaper clips, generally wartime and related to the war, including "Personal Reminiscences of Prison Life by a Rhode Island Officer" (John Aidan?), and list of R.I. fallen; a few post-Civil War (late 1865-1868) clips including the "Execution of Lincoln's Assassins"; and two later clips - Image and caption of the surviving members of the Ballou Post GAR, Central Falls RI, 1926; and other (added likely by Aigan's or his wife's family [Frances Allen Aigan died in 1907].
Also, one page with affixed early 1860's postage stamps - Andrew Jackson 2 Cent black (2); CSA Jeff Davis 10 Cent (2) and rare bisected George Washington 20 Cent (diagonal bisect) franked COLUMBIA S.C.

Sold for
$600