Collection Search

to Nancy E. Jones

He is on picket and it is difficult to write because "there is so many generals passing and we [have] to fall in to line evry time one comes along to salute him." On 27 November his brigade was ordered to scout towards Murfreesboro and skirmished...

GLC02739.026

to Nancy E. Jones

Apologizes for not being able to keep her letters but asks that she save his until he comes home; regiment will likely move towards Alabama and Georgia; rumors that Richmond was captured; advises her not to visit as "here is no place for a woman."

GLC02739.027

to Nancy E. Jones

George Cooper died of the measles. The Confederates tried to capture their grain train but were unsuccessful. He lists the hierarchy of officers above him: Sill, Rosecrans, Kirk, and Reid.

GLC02739.028

to Nancy E. Jones

He hopes that Martha's health will improve. Many men are "joining the regulars for three years service" but he is not.

GLC02739.029

to Nancy E. Jones

He went out on a very difficult picket but slept that night in a Confederate's barn to stay out of the rain.

GLC02739.030

to Nancy E. Jones

Joseph Walker and John Millis were killed in the Battle of Stones River.

GLC02739.031

to Nancy E. Jones

They left the Nashville area on 26 December and fought almost every day on their way to Murfreesboro. He describes a very tough battle and his own close call. The Confederate guns were "so hot that they burnt our hands when we took hold of them."

GLC02739.032

to Nancy E. Jones

He does not think the South can be defeated: "we can't starve them out for they have a plenty and we can't whip them out for they are armed as well as we are, and they are as brave a men to fight as we are."

GLC02739.033

to Nancy E. Jones

He grieves for George Cooper, John Millis, and Joseph Walker. He describes Joseph's and John's deaths and how he helped bury them. He isn't sorry that he enlisted but if he would never "go in another such a wore as this for it is an unholy war on...

GLC02739.034

"Savage Barbarity."

He saw a wagon master whipping a black man who had trouble driving his team of mules across a river. He has seen many similar cases; "Soldiers hate The negros as a general Thing and would rather Kill them than to do them a favor."

GLC02739.035

to Nancy E. Jones

He sends Phebe Jane Walker his sympathies about Joseph's death. They are working on a fort and he hopes they will get to stay in it. He finds the Confederates "al friendly and kind I tel you it is awful to think that we half to kill them on the...

GLC02739.036

to Nancy E. Jones

He thinks they will stay in Murfreesboro. He would like to know how the Confederates are faring near home.

GLC02739.037

to Nancy E. Jones

There was a very difficult battle but his regiment killed more Confederates than any other. If those she sells crops to will not "take Uncle Sam's money at ful face let them go without it for I don't want to serve in their place and then them not...

GLC02739.038

to Nancy E. Jones

He does not regret joining the army "for it has bin a blessing to me, and I think it wil work out for good to us all in the long run." He will never desert but does not blame anyone for deserting as "our men is meaner than the rebbels."

GLC02739.039

to Nancy E. Jones

He will not pretend to be sick just to get a discharge like many others. He was discouraged after Stones River but is in good spirits again. The fort "is going to be the greatest in the United States when it is done."

GLC02739.040

to Nancy E. Jones

They have marching orders but he hopes they will stay. There are so many dead Confederates in the river that "our men crossed on them dry shod."

GLC02739.041

to Nancy E. Jones

Their orders to leave were countermanded. The graves on the battlefield sadden him to think of all the brave men lost on behalf of their country. The mail was robbed and this letter was taken but he found it floating in the river the next morning.

GLC02739.042

to Nancy E. Jones

"The rebbels is failing in evry sense of the word." The Confederates attacked their pickets but his regiment held them off and will "slay them by the thousands if they try to take this place."

GLC02739.043

to Nancy E. Jones

He is glad she received the 30 dollars he sent. He is sorry for her hardships and "would do anything for you if I could."

GLC02739.044

to Nancy E. Jones

He was detailed and had to leave the 79th to work a twelve pound brass cannon in the 20th Ohio Battery. He does not feel in any more danger as "I can dodge a shell or canon ball some times but a musket ball I can not." The battery consists of two...

GLC02739.045

to Nancy E. Jones

He cannot pray at night in the 20th Ohio and must rely on secret prayer. All the prisoners "that we get say that the rebel armey is both starveing and getting naked for the want of clothes."

GLC02739.046

to Nancy E. Jones

The men and officers of the 20th are all "persecutors of religion" but he will persist in his prayers. They expect a battle soon, "one of thee hardest battles ever fought in America."

GLC02739.047

to Nancy E. Jones

"If general hooker is successful at [Fredericksburg] I think that will end the war." They get good news from the armies of the Mississippi and the Rappahannock every day. He wants a likeness of her and the children. He closes discouraged, having...

GLC02739.048

to Nancy E. Jones

The men of the 20th are by "far mutch the hardest men that I have ever bin with" but they treat him like a gentleman. They no longer expect a fight and he has no doubt "but that our forces have gained a complete victory at fredricksberg."

GLC02739.049

to Nancy E. Jones

"I feel as mutch assured that I will git home alive as mutch as I feel assured that this war will end in the distruction of the southern confederacy." He believes that they will soon have Vicksburg and hopes to move to Fort Donelson soon.

GLC02739.050