Soldier's Stories

[unionblue]

My friend Bill suggested this thread, one which tells the stories of the common soldiers, the PBI (Poor Bloody Infantry), the privates and sergeants, the men who made up the vast ranks of humanity on both sides of the Civil War.

What were their thoughts, hopes and dreams? How did they feel about the war and its causes? What did they write home about and what did they feel and think amidst all the carnage and destruction?

Post their thoughts and writings here and let us all find out together.

Unionblue

Letter from William F. Testerman, on Remembrance stationery, to Miss Jane Davis. Testerman was a first lieutenant in Company C of the 8th Tennessee Cavalry. He wrote the letter from Gallatin, Tennesee. I thought it interesting how quick he got the letter. He was replying to her letter one month after she wrote to him. Not too shabby.




Gallotin, Tenn. July 25, 1864.

Dear Miss,
I again take the opportunity of Droping you a few lines in answer to your kind letters which I recieved a few days ago one bearing date June "23" the other June the "24" it was a plesure to me to have the honor to recieve a letter from as charming a young girl as the one whos name was asscirbed at the bottom of each of them I was glad to hear that you was well but I was more glad to hear you express your mind as fully as what you did this note leaves me well and I truly hope that this will find you in good health I can't say anthing to you by letter more than what you have heard from my letters before + Jane I hope the time will soon come when I can get to see you again I can write many things to you but if I could see you I could tell you more in one minute than I can rite in a week The letters that you wrote to me has proved verry satisfactory to me if you will stand up to what you told me in your letters I will be satisfied which I have no reasons to Doubt but what you will but if you was to fail it would allmost break my heart for you are the girl that I am Depending upon and if it was not for you I would not be riting by my candle to night as you wrote to me that many miles seperated us in person if my heart was like yours we would be united in heart you kneed not to Dout Though we are fare apart at present my heart is with you every moment for I often think of you when you are alseep when Travailing the lonesom roads in middle Tenn The thought of your sweet smiles is all the company I have I trust that you are cinsere in what you have wrote to me. Your sparkling blue eys and rosey red cheeks has gaind my whole efections I hope for the time to come when we shall meet again then if you are in the notion that I am we can pass off the time in plesure My time has come for sleep and I must soon close I want you to rite to me as soon as you can for I will be glad to hear from you any time. Direct your letters as before and dont forget your best friend so I will end my few lines but my love to you has no End remember me as ever your love and friend. Excuse bad riting.
William F. Testerman to Miss Jane Davis

1861 September 6
James Booker, [n.p.], letter to Chloe Unity Blair
James Booker complains of not hearing from his family. He mentions that he and John James and John are twin brothers)are too ill to serve and that consequently they are caring for the sick at a private house. Their three patients, all members of Company D, 38th Virginia Reg. Infantry, suffer from jaundice, typhoid, or yellow fever. One man, Billy Pruett, has even died from eating "too much beef liver." In spite of such news, James Booker claims that the health of the men in camp is improving. He alludes to having received bad news from Texas, where his aunt and uncle have moved. At the end of his letter, he replies to Chloe's supposition that the he would soon return home by maintaining that unless peace is declared, he would have to remain a soldier as long as he retains his health. The postscript states that James will try to send for things via any returning soldiers.



Sept the 6 1861
Dear Cousin

I received your
kind letter last eavning which
gave me great releaf I had not
hird from [ home] in nearly a month
I had [ concluded] that you all had forgoten
us intirely I told the boys if
my relation wanted to hear from
me thay would have to write
to me for I had writen three
letters to thare one, and if thay
would not write to me, I [ [unclear: w] ]
I would not write to them,
tho I will excuse you for
this time if you will not
do so eny more,
I have no news of intrust to
write me and John are boath
well at this time tho we
are staying in a house yet
we are not able [ for ] service and
we are waiting on the sick
we have three patiants to wait
upon [unclear: nan] of [ them] verry bad off it
is James May Hu Norten and Josire Burnett,
Burnett has typhoid fever
May had the yellow janders
he has goten over them
tho he is not well
I dont think thay was
eny thing the matter
with Norten except cold
old man billy Pruett
died this morning he eat
too mutch Beef liver one
day last week which I have
no doubt was the cause of
his deth he is the one that
was going to the flag back.
several of our boys is
complaining tho none of
them are not sick mutch
I beleave the sick in camp
are improveing Jenerally

I was verry sorrow indeed
to hear such bad news
form Texas I had bin think
ing about writing to aunt
Kitty5, I have put it off
too long to talk about writig now,
[ you talked like
you would ]
you said something
about our coming home
I dont think that I'll go
home until my time is out
if keep my helth un
less peace is made,

John joins me in
love to you all
so good eavning write
soon to
your
affectionate Cousin

James Booker


if eny of our boys
goes home soon im going
to send for things by them

[tamaroa]

Quote
--------------
Wednesday, June 24, 1863
Pleasant. Remained in camp. Nothing going on-visible to the common herd. Guess the Rebs are working pretty sly & that "old Joe is uncertain of their exact whereabouts. Feeling very lonesome. because not well. no mail & no news. It is poor policy to keep the news from the army. It gives them the blues. There is nothing like "the paper" for American soldiers.
--------------

This a diary entry of Captain Caspar Tyler 141st PVI as they were marching toward Gettysburg. I chose this entry to point out how desperate the soldiers were for news and how it kept them going. At homes I have hundreds of articles copied from the papers of the era, the soldiers themselves sometimes acted as correspondents. I will post their letters to the papers.

Here is another quote from his diary after Chancellorsville. I think i posted it once before, apologies if have already read it but it reflects the U.S. Army's demoralization the day after the battle of Chancellorsville.In this entry he is mourning the loss of his cousin Logan Tyler, whom he saw get shot in the head as Logan was tending to a wounded private.
---------------
Sunday, May 3, 1863
Eventful day! The roar of battle has ceased and a solemn stillness pervades the air. Thousands upon thousands of brave heroes are threading the mazes of eternity, their lives having been sacrificed to …… war in our holy cause. Ah, I have no heart to chronicle today's disaster. My brave Lieut. Cos. friend gone forever. Here's to thy memory , dear boy. a grateful tear shall be thy tribute and everlasting remembrance, thy reward. My brave companions. They too are gone! Wounded yet cheerful! Thy country owes them much! …. Would that this day might be forever blotted from the book of my remembrance but alas it must remain a lasting landmark. A day never to be forgotten. The 1st brig., 1st Divis., 3rd army corp have won enduring fame--but at the expense of precious blood and noble lives. 234 out of 419 are the casualties in the 141st P.V. Early in the morning was wounded in the arm and retired from the field. Col. Watkins reported killed, a most noble man and brave officer. Indeed death loves a shining mark, Alas! My dearest friends, where are they now?

Sorry Neil, I know he was an officer but his prose and descriptions really appeal to me.

Bill (Unreconstructed Rebel though admirer of some Yanks )



(Message edited by Tamaroa on June 06, 2003)

Since today marks the anniversary of the Union Occupation of Memphis, I thought a letter from Memphis would be appropriate. It too shows the longing for a letter from home.

Myron Mullett
Company ““F””, 26th Iowa Infantry




Memphis,

Friday, September the 18th, 1863

Dearest Annie--

‘‘My’’ is as well as usual tonight and hopes that his Pet is also well and happy as a lark and having just one of the best visits in the world with the good people of LaGrange. Well, darling, I wrote a letter and sent to you day before yesterday and yesterday I sent you a paper and I thought that I would sit down this evening and commence another letter. But this plaguing ink is so thick, I can’’t write. So, Ida you will have to have a good deal of patience or you can never read it.

I got a letter from father and Jerome yesterday and as I have no war news of any account to write, I will tell you something about it. Jerome said that he had enlisted in the State’’s service and was sworn in the day before he wrote. He says that the Copperheads and Rebels up there have organized and are armed and equipped one hundred and eighty strong and mounted on good horses. They were at Tipton, 25 miles beyond father’’s on the Woubsey. O how I would like to take just 1 company of boys here and go up and clean the Sons of *****es out. But I hope that we have loyal men enough to give them just what they deserve.

Father said that he had got his grain thrashed and that he had between 3 and 4 hundred bushels of wheat and over one hundred of oats and that he has got 20 or 30 acres of the best corn in the County……

Well I am really glad that Father’’s crops have turned out so good, for he has always worked so hard. He says that he cut all his grain with the cradle himself and that Jerome bound it and that they minded their own business and got along first rate.

I saw George yesterday. He is getting along now very well, but was pretty sick a few days ago. But I think he will get a long now first rate. He said that he felt better than he had for a month.

We have a general cleaning out here tomorrow. We sent away 150 men. The worst cases that are able to travel. They will be put [on the] boat, Bell of Memphis, and sent North——some to Fort ? and some home. Poor fellow, I am glad to see them go. I wish that they were all leaving home where they could receive the kind attention of their friends. They get good care taken of them here, but it is not like having a kind Mother or Sister or an affectionate wife to watch over them and nurse them, for there is no man that can take good care of the sick as can our kind hearted and affectionate women.

What fine women that we have about the hospital. [They are] excellent women and always trying to do all that they can for the poor sufferers. Well, dear Ida, if you are a mind to, give me one real good kiss. I won’’t bother you anymore tonight.

Saturday, 10 o’’clock p.m.

Well Annie, I have been whitewashing all the forenoon……and after dinner I went to the office expecting to get another letter from you, but I was somewhat disappointed. I have not had but one letter from you since you left home…….

This is the last letter that shall direct to LaGrange and I shall probably write another in about two weeks and will direct it to Rochester. No more in this time in haste.

From you ever affectionate, My.

Dear sweet, Ida, goodbye.””

[thea_447]

Letter Written by James W. Duke to an unidentified cousin, written from a Union prison camp, 31 August 1864 (Charles Buford Papers) (Note from Thea: Sorry, I could not reproduce the sketch he mentions.)

Military Prison,Rock Island
Aug. 31, 1864
My Dear Cousin,
I received your kind letter acknowledging the receipt of the pin.
I am glad to hear that you prize it so highly! You say you do not know how you will prove your appreciation that you have done already a dozen times. I wrote to Cousin Lucy and directed to Georgetown not knowing she was with you. Tell her that I am a thousand times obliged to her for the tobacco which she was so kind to send me I will in return send her a ring. You spoke of another Cousin having sent me some papers which I received and am under many obligations to her. Give me her name and I will send her a present of some kind. Enclosed you will find a "butter knife" of Rebel manufacture.
If you will send me some silver and buttons I will have you some nice rings made. Tell Cousin Lucy Duke I would like very much to receive a letter from her and will take great pleasure in corresponding with her if she has no aversion to corresponding with a prisoner of war. I send you a picture of our end of Barracks with a limited portion of the balance of the prison. Give my kindest regards to my cousins of whom you speak.
Your affectionate cousin, Jas W Duke

[thea_447]

This is rather lengthy, in future, I will not post this much but couldn't seem to find a good stopping point.
I have begun my first entry on Soldiers Stories with General George Pickett, C.S.A. and begin with his first entry before the War. He is writing to his sweetheart, Sally Corbell.

From the Letters of George Pickett, The Heart of a Soldier.

At the time when these letters begin, the General (then Captain Pickett, U.S.A.)was stationed at Fort Bellingham in the northwest. Before leaving Virginia, he had become engaged to "Little Miss Sally" Corbell, who during his absence was fitting herself at school to be a soldier's wife. The summons to arms in the causes of the seceding states was late in reaching the Captain at his far-away post, and he, being in the dark as to the course of events, was even more tardy to respond; but when the news came telling of the withdrawal of his native state from the Union he resigned his commission immediately and cast his lot with that of the Confederacy.

The letters in this part give many vivid glimpses of the armies in action as they do of the lighter side of a soldier's life, during the first year and a half of the War. There are lapses of weeks-even months-between them, due to the fact that some are missing; others, whoses pages time has stained, are undecipherable, and in still other instances the fortunes of war kept the General so near his sweetheart that letters were not needed to carry to her the tale of his love.

THE HEART OF A SOLDIER
1
In Which the General Tells Why He Sided With the South

Several weeks ago I wrote quite a long letter from far-away San Francisco to a very dear little girl, and told her that a certain soldier who wears one of her long, silken ringlets next his heart was homeward bound and that he hoped a line of welcome would meet him on his arrival in his native state. He told her of the difficulties he had experiences in being relieved from his post, of how sorry he was to sheathe the sword which had helped to bring victory to the country for which he had fought and how sorry he was to say good-bye to his little command and to part from his faithful and closest companion, his dog, and his many dear friends; but sorrier still for the existing circumstances which made this severance Necessary. He told her many things for which, with him, she will be sorry, and some of which he hopes will make her glad. He is troubled by finding no answer to this long letter which, having at that time no notion of the real conditions here, he is afraid was written too freely by far.

No, my child, I had no conception of the intensity of feeling, the bitterness and hatred toward those who were so lately our friends and are now our enemies. I, of course, have always strenuously opposed disunion, not as doubting the right of secession, which was taught in our text-book at West Point, but as gravely questioning its expediency. I believed that the revolutionary spirit which infected both North and South was but a passing phase of fanaticism which would perish under the rebuke of all good citizens, who would surely unite in upholding the Constitution; but when that great assembly, composed of ministers, lawyers, judges, chancellors, statesmen, mostly white haired men of thought, met in South Carolina and when their districts were called, crept noiselessly to the table in the center of the room and affixed their signatures to the parchment on which the ordinance of secession was inscribed, and when in deathly silence, spite of the gathered multitude, General Jamison arose and without preamble read: "The ordinance of secession has been signed and ratified; I proclaim the State of South Carolina an independent sovereignty," and lastly, when my old boyhood's friend called for an invasion, it was evident that both the advocates and opponents of secession had read the portents aright.

You know, my little lady, some of those cross-stitched mottoes on the cardboard samplers which used to hang on my nursery wall, such as "He who provides not for his own household is worse than an infidel" and "Charity begins at home," made a lasting impression upon me; and while I love my neighbor, i.e., my country, I love my household, i.e., my state, MORE, and I could not be an infidel and lift my sword against my own kith and kin, even though I do believe, my most wise little counselor and confidante, that the measure of American greatness can be achieved only under one flag, and I fear, alas, there can never again reign for either of us the true spirit of national unity whether divided under two flags or united under one.

We did not tarry even for a day in "Frisco, but under assumed names my friend, Sam Barron, and I sailed for New York, where we arrived on the very day that Sam's father, Commodore Barron, was brought there a prisoner, which fact was proclaimed aloud by the pilot amid cheers of the passengers and upon our landing heralded by the newsboys with more cheers. Poor Sam had a hard fight to hide his feelings and to avoid arrest. We separated as mere ship acquaintances, and went by different routes to meet again, as arranged, at the house of Doctor Paxton, a Southern sympathizer and our friend.

On the next day we left for Canada by the earliest trains. Thence we made our perilous way back south again, barely escaping arrest several times, and finally arrived in dear old Richmond, September 13th, just four days ago. I at once enlisted in the army and the following day was commissioned Captain. But so bitter is the feeling here that my being unavoidably delayed so long in avowing my allegiance to my state has been most cruelly and severely criticized by friends -yes,and even relatives, too.

Now, little one, if you had the very faintest idea how happy a certain captin in the C.S.A. (My, but that "C"looks queer!) would be to look into your beautiful, soul-speaking eyes and hear your wonderfully musical voice, I think you would let him know by wire where he could find you. I shall almost listen for the electricity which says, "I am _. Come." I know that you will have mercy on your devoted
SOLDIER.
Richmond, September 17, 1861

(This innocence and naivete about the coming storm is very touching to me when I think to the future of this great General in the coming years. How his heart must have broken in those later days.) Anyone wishing to read further ahead than I can put this into the boards can find these letters at this site:

http://docsouth.unc.edu/pickett/pickett.html#pick33


Thea

[thea_447]

Continuation: The Heart of a Soldier, George Pickett, C.S.A. writing to his fiancee, Miss Sally Corbell.

Written After a Light Skirmish with the Enemy:

YOUR welcome note gladdened my drooping spirits last evening. How can I thank you for the token? (she sent a wreath and stars, which she had embroidered for his collar.) I shall always cherish it, my darling. I sent a short note to you via Petersburg to Wakefield. I sincerely trust you received it, as in it I advised you not to come down into this part of the country. The Yankees are burning everything they can reach, and God only knows what excesses they may commit on the defenseless, should they have the power. So much troubled am I about you, that I send this by a courier of my own, that he may deliver it to you in person (how I wish I were the courier). I'm afraid you will only expose yourself needlessly harm. I don't know when I shall see you, But I should be nearly as far from you as at present. At any rate, I should be worse than miserable did I know you were so near these now
apparently infuriated beings.

Alas, my darling, as the Indian says when despondent, "My heart is on the ground." The enemy has been strongly reenforced, and the town is one network of batteries and entrenchments. I have had two little brushes with them, running them into their works, both times - the first one yesterday week. I was ordered to make a reconnaissance in force, which was done by a part of Armistead's Brigade, and in so doing we got under a concentrated fire of about sixteen guns and had as jolly a little time of it for about fifteen minutes as I ever saw. Parrot and round shot were about as thick as the ticks are, and their name is legion. However, the object was effected, and we have lost altogether only about seventy-five men from my division.

Haven't you some relatives living this side of the Blackwater - a Captain Phillips of the 3rd? Write me, my dearest. Two long, weary weeks since I drank comfort from those bright eyes - to me a YEAR of anxiety.

Your devoted and miserable
SOLDIER.
New Somerton Road, April 21, 1862.

[tamaroa]

“On the ground upon which the Battle of Bull Run was fought, I saw pretty pure delicate flowers growing out of the empty ammunition boxes; and a wild rose thrusting up it’s graceful head through the top of a broken drum, which doubtless sounded its last charge in that battle; and a cunning scarlet Verbena peeping out of a fragment of a buried shell, in which strange pot it was planted? Wasn’t that peace growing out of war? Even so, shall the beautiful and graceful ever grow out of the horrid and terrible things that transpire in this changing but ever advancing world. Nature covers even the battlegrounds with verdure and bloom. Peace and plenty spring up in the track of the devouring campaign; and all things in nature and society shall work out the progress of mankind.”
============
This was an observation of a war correspondent printed in the April 1, 1865 edition of the Rockland Journal. It speaks for itself.

Bill

[tamaroa]

A letter to his father about the battle of Gettysburg by Capt. John James, 11th Regiment Virginia Volunteers.

CAMP PICKETT'S DIVISION,
BETWEEN HAGERSTOWN AND WILLIAMSPORT
WEDNESDAY, JULY 9,1863
MY DEAR FATHER:
As I am wet, dirty, tired and miserable in every way, I will not attempt to write a letter but merely copy off a few of my "pencillings by the wayside." for my mind is in about as low a state as my body. We had been lying at Richmond and Hanover Junction for some time when orders were received to break up camp and join the rest of the corps at Culpeper Court House. After three days' march we arrived at that place in time to join Hood and McClaws, who had just started with their divisions in the direction of Blue Ridge Mountain. On our way we passed through the villages of Paris and Upperville, and at the latter place learned that Hooker was endeavoring to reach the gap in our front, known as Snicker's.This, of course, caused us to increase our gait and although we had a severe march, yet we accomplished our work in a short time and gained for ourselves and advantageous position, should the enemy deem it necessary to attack us. We remained at this place and Uppeville for three days, when we again started out, passing through Martinsburg and several minor villages on the way. About 3 o'clock in the evening we arrived on the south branch of the Potomac, opposite Williamsport, Md., and commenced crossing. The crossing was anything but pleasant, as the bottom was full of rock and a great crowd of men shoving and jostling you about the whole time you were in the river. But, like everything else, it had an end, and so after a great deal of labor we landed on the Maryland side.

Across the Potomac and in the land of our enemy! How often had we looked forward and hoped for the long-expected time! Virginia, our native State,, was now for a time at least to be freed from the desolation and cruelties incident to the presence of an armed foe, whilst the land of our enemy was to receive some of the treatment (but not all, thanks to our great-hearted General!) which had been so lavishly dealt to ours! Everything seemed to favor us. An army that had never been defeated, flushed by recent brilliant victories, and now by marching against its old antagonist-an antagonist we had met so often, and whipped as often as we had met. On, on, we march, welcomed by the smiles of the ladies and cheered by our numerous sympathizers in Maryland, until at last we step from her territory into that of her neighbor, Pennsylvania- frightening by our armed presence rather than aggressive acts, by our shouts of joy rather than barbarous threats, out of our comfortable and heretofore happy homes, the inmates who had all along imagined themselves free from the ravages of war, living here in ease and contentment, furnishing men and means to carry on the war against the "rebels".

The heavens were dark and gloomy, but our hearts were glad as we now stepped forward for the first time upon the soil of the foe, never stopping until we pitched camp in the very midst of the Philistines at Chambersburg. Our division, the rear of Longstreet's Corps, here remained two whole days and the part of a third. About 2 A.M. on the third day of our stay we broke up camp and marched toward Gettysburg, having received marching orders the evening before. We had not marched far before we heard that Ewell and Hill had met the enemy the day previous (Wednesday, July 1) just this side of Gettysburg, and after killing and wounding a great many and capturing two thousand, had driven them back to the food of the South Mountain on the left. On Thursday, the 2d, the same day, we marched from Chambersburg to Gettysburg. Longstreet, with Hood's and McLaws' Division, made a stubborn attack upon the enemy's left, with a result only partially successful. We could hear from where we were all of the cannonading, and that night we went to bed a few miles from the town fully convinced that the merrow would bring forth the great fight.

Before daylight on Friday, the 3d, we were put in motion and before 10 o'clock A.M. we occupied the ground from which the charge was made. A short time after we got there General Longstreet, and after him General Lee, rode along in front of us to see if everything was right and examine the position of the enemy. As soon as we saw this we knew a fight and a big fight at that was brewing, and it was hardly necessary for General Kemper to come around, as he did, and tell us that our division as assigned the task of storming the heights in our front and capturing the artillery of the enemy; that the two signal guns would be fired upon our right, after which our artillery would open a heavy fire and continue for some time. Upon the cessation of the fire we were to move forward and capture the heights or die in the attempt.

We were then behind a hill (a gently sloping one) from which we could not get a very good view of the enemy, and I went up to the top to reconnoitre. Immediately in our front was a range of lofty hills (I term then mountains) and a little distance beyond and above of the foot of these hills were posted the enemy, strongly entrenched, whilst in the right and left of the point which we had to attack was a very high knob, on the top of which the wood had left a mile's distance betwen us and them, and with the exception of an orchard covering one tenth of the distance, and one small house, we had no protection whatever. I was almost fully convinved, after looking at the situation of affairs that I would never get back safe, and I am even now almost persuaded that I was saved in that charge by a miracle of some kind of other.

We waited patiently and wished, though dreaded, for the signal to commence the action and probably for the order that would seal our fate. At last my company was thrown out as skirmishers (Captain Houston was acting as a field officer), and soon afterwards the skirmishers of the other regiments were placed in a line with mine and marched some distance to the front and ordered to lie down and await until the artillery had ceased firing. Soon the signal gun fired, and then from the throats of over two hundred cannons such a storm of shot and shells were sent forth as not battle-field in America ever witnessed before. The Federals were not taken by surprise, fort in a few seconds their solid shot were tearing up the ground around us, and their shells busting in our very faces. I have heard and witnessed heavey cannonading, but never in my life had I seen or heard anything equal to this. Some enthusiasts back in the Commissary Department may speak of it as grand and sublime, but unless grandeur and sublimity consist in whatever is terrible and horrible, it was wanting in both of these qualities. Whilst this artillery duel was in progress we were lying in a field with a very heavy growth of grass, so thick in fact, it was impossible for any wind to get throughit, and this with the intense heat of the sun, produced several cases of sunstroke among our men.

After about and hour's work the artillery ceased firing and allowed the infantry to pass them. SLowly but steadily we marched forward, the line of battle suffering terribly, but we skirmishers being in front and extended across the field they shot over us, seeming to prefer the larger mass. I may remark here that this thing saved our company from the fearful loss that befell those in the regular line.By some mischance the line of battle, instead of following us, obliqued to the left, and by the time they came on a line with us we were on their right instead of being immediately in front, but as soon as I noticed this I tried to get my men to go with me to the brigade; but the noise was so great and the line of skirmishers so long I could not get them to hear me. I followed out with those near me, trusting the rest would follow as soon as they noticed the mistake. At every step some poor fellow would fall, and as his pitiful cry would come to my ear I almost imagined it the wail of some loved one he had left at home. The ground was covered with the dead, but not all ours, for the Federals had been driven over the same ground the day before. As the brigade reached nearer the enemy's position the death rate increased. After terrible loss to the regiment, brigade and division, we reached and actually captured the breastworks. Some of the men had taken possession of the cannon, when we saw the enemy advancing heavy reinforcements. We looked back for ours, but in vain, we were compelled to fall back and had again as targets to their balls. Oh, it was hard to be compelled to give way for the want of men, after having fought as hard as we had that day. The unwounded (I among the number) soon got back to the place where we started from. We gained nothing but glory and lost our bravest men. Captain Houston was mortally wounded. I did not get to see him during the engagement and cannot tell how he acted, but as he was as brave as the brave can be, no doubt as to what and how he did. He was shot through the bowels with a Minnie ball while leading the regiment into the thickest of the charge. General Garnett was killed on the field, General Kemper* mortally wounded and General Armstead**slightly wounded and taken prisoner. The only field officer left in our brigade (Kemper's) is Colonel Mayo, of the Third Virginia Infantry, who is now in command. The other two briagades of the division are in command of majors and captains. The brigade went into action with fifteen hundred strong. It now numbers five hundred all told. Owing to our unusual loss we have been placed in charge of the prisoners captured during the three days' battle. It is even reported that we are now on the way to Richmond with them.
Your affectionate son,
JOHN T. JAMES