Letter, 19 May 1901, Albert N Seip to James Risque Hutter (1841-1923)

Letter, 19 May 1901, Albert N Seip to James Risque Hutter (1841-1923)

Letter from Albert N. Seip, former Union officer in the 2nd Pennsylvania Cavalry to James Risque Hutter. Seip recounts his meeting Hutter as he helped escort him and 2,500 other Confederate prisoners captured at the Battle of Gettysburg. He mentions knowing Hutter's brother in Easton, Pa. but likely is referring to one of Hutter's cousins (Reeders), some who served in the Union army. Seip invites Hutter to call on him should he ever visit Pennsylvania and want to talk old war memories.

After the war Seip was President of the 2nd Pennsylvania Cavalry's regimental association and was heavily involved in erecting the 2nd's monument on the Gettysburg battlefied.

From the Philadelphia Inquirer of 11 September 1889: The Monument of the 2nd Cavalry. The survivors of the 2nd Pennsylvania Cavalry, which served at General Meade’s headquarters during the Battle of Gettysburg, will dedicate their monument at 2 P.M. They will meet at 1 P.M. at the court house and proceed to the monument. Captain Albert N. Seip, president of the Regimental Association, will turn the monument over to John M. Krauth, Esq., who will accept it for the Battlefield Memorial Association. An address on the operations of the regiment in that battle will be given by J. J. Galbraith, of Company M, Secretary of the Regimental Organization. A poem from Mr. George Parsons Lathrop, of New London, Connecticut, written expressly for this dedication and entitled “Battle Days,” will be read.

                         1204 S St. N.W., Washington, D.C., May 19th, 1901.

Col. J. Risque Hutter:

Dear Sir:

     Noticing that you were still in the land of the living, the thought occurred to me to inquire how you fared as a prisoner of war after we delivered you to the Union officers at Westminster, Md., on July 4th, 1863. You were then Capt. Hutter, of the 11th Va., slightly wounded, and I was 1st lieut. of Co. H, 2nd Penna. Cav. I knew your brother (I think it was) at Easton, Penna., and I remember giving you something to eat, and asking you to hang on to the stirrup of my saddle, as we marched along the weary road from Gettysburg to Westminster, from midnight until three o'clock p.m. the next day. There is no recollection of the war more indelibly fixed in my memory than this midnight escort of 2500 Confederate prisoners.

      I hope you have prospered in life. I have been living here for the past eight years, and should you ever visit this city be sure to hunt me up, as I will be glad to talk over old war memories with you.