This collection (9 items) contains correspondence and writings related to Ira B. Sampson's service in the 2nd Massachusetts Heavy Artillery Regiment during the Civil War. The Correspondence and Documents series (4 items) includes a letter that Sampson wrote to "Dearest May," his future wife, after being sent to Plymouth, North Carolina, in February 1864. Sampson received one letter from [Arthur] Smith, another veteran of the 2nd Massachusetts Heavy Artillery, in November 1884, containing Smith's recollections about the Battle of Plymouth. Also included are general orders for the Union Army's Sub-district of the Albemarle (February 15, 1864) and an undated casualty roll for the 2nd Massachusetts Heavy Artillery Regiment, Company G, listing the names of men who were killed, imprisoned, hospitalized, and missing.
The Writings series (5 items) includes two essays that Ira B. Sampson composed after the war: "My First Escape from a Southern Military Prison" (31 pages) and "My Second Escape from a Southern Military Prison" (24 pages). Sampson recalled his imprisonment after surrendering Fort Williams in April 1864. He described conditions in prison camps in Savannah, Georgia, and Columbia, South Carolina, and recounted his first escape, recapture, and subsequent (ultimately successful) escape. The series also contains a 10-page toast celebrating escapees and reminiscences and notes about the Battle of Plymouth (all undated).
Ira B. Sampson was born in Middlefield, Massachusetts, on April 22, 1840, the son of Ira B. and Julia A. Sampson. He became a sergeant in the 27th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment in December 1861 and received a promotion to second lieutenant the following March. By early 1864, Sampson was a captain in the 2nd Massachusetts Heavy Artillery Regiment, Company G, and he commanded at Fort Williams during the Battle of Plymouth (North Carolina) in April 1864. Sampson escaped from Confederate prison camps in Savannah, Georgia, and Columbia, South Carolina, in July 1864 and February 1865, respectively, and returned to the Union Army after his second (successful) attempt. He resigned from the army in June 1865. Sampson and his wife May married in Springfield, Massachusetts, around April 1865, and later lived in Springfield and in Albany, New York, with their children Walter and Lula. Ira B. Sampson died on December 23, 1890.
