Civil War Letter

This was for a Social Studies class of mine. We were studying the Civil War and had to write a letter to another person in the class. We had to choose a battle and this is the battle of Shiloh. I made her Alice or Anthony and I made her about 16 or 17. I

Dearest friend,

It’s been a few months since we last saw each other. In that time, I have enlisted myself as a male soldier, under the name Anthony Ross. I have made a few friends, most helpful and close is a man named Eli Davis. He and I are neighbors and, as far as I know, he is still unaware of my true identity.

The living conditions are horrible, nothing like home. Death is everywhere. Many good men die from the diseases. Only last week, a friend of mine, Geoffrey, died from small pox. A nurse who came by to cure another soldier told me she probably thinks more people died from the infections than from wounds from combat. Our water supplies are very contaminated and most men have limited knowledge about proper sanitation and safe hygienic practices. Thank goodness we learned from our town healer at least the basics. I am teaching them many of the things we learned.

We sleep right on the ground, under our “dog tents” as the others joke. They say that only a dog could crawl under it and stay dry from the rain. It really is just a piece of rectangular canvas buttoned together to another to make a small two-man tent. I always keep my light steel saber at my side at all times.

Our uniforms are just as plain. The uniform is mostly blue for the Union. We wear a blue forage cap with black leather visor, a dark blue flannel sack coat, some blue wool trousers, and some leather brogans (heavy, but sturdy shoes).

It was very hard to get used to the hardship of the army life. We had many drills that are so firmly imprinted that I swear that I do them in my sleep. Discipline was a difficult concept to understand. Only a few days ago, I had to salute the baker’s son, who is now an officer. There are also long stretched of time where everyone is free only broken by a few heartbeats of excitement.

The food here is fairly good. We usually are given rations that are meant to last about three days. We get flour biscuits that are called hardtack or “sheet iron crackers” as Eli jokes. We also get salted pork, on rare occasions, fresh beef. I watched the other men fry and cooked their meats over the campfires. The hardtack is usually eaten with soup or toasted. Eli and some other men showed me a delicious dish made of pork, bacon fat, and hardtack. They called it skillygalee. We sometimes get things like rice, peas, dried fruit, molasses, vinegar, beans, potatoes, and salt.

I had always believed war life was just the battles, but as I live life here, I see there is so much more. First, we have fun. In our free time, we write letters, play card games, and even reading. Eli and I have great fun playing games together. But it isn’t all fun and games. There are many odd jobs such as guard duty, gathering wood for cook fires, and grooming and watering the horses.

I had been assigned the job of a cavalryman, or woman as we know, I am trained to fight well on the ground as well as horseback. I received a horse, a beautiful roan mare that I named Storm. Though Storm is sometimes very energetic and a little mischievous, we are like one person and work well together. Flame, Eli’s bay stallion, is very quiet and well behaved. If only Storm could be like that one in a while.

        Today we went to battle. At dusk, Eli and I followed our fellow cavalrymen and our 45,000 men army advanced at General Grant’s order. The other side had been weakened by our battle yesterday, that I was unable to battle in. Eli heard from a fellow soldier that we would win this battle. The other side only had 20,000 men. We doubled them. We marched forward through the dark marshes and dense forests. My head spun with the thoughts of the coming fight. I wondered things like “Will I ever live to see the end of this war?”, “Will our cause win out?”, “Is this God’s will and I am I following Him?”, and most of all “Will I ever see my loved ones again?” My tears fell and I wiped them away. Storm seemed to know my pain for she slowed and gave me what seemed an encouraging whinny.

Suddenly, there was gunfire. I rode with Eli at my side and killed gray-uniformed men, left and right. I was sick with remorse. Eli was an encouraging partner and he told me that this was the price of wars- deaths. But we also should remember the generation after us. He smiled and said that this war is the war to abolish slavery. We rode on and more than once, we both came close to death. My heart became hardened and I no longer suffered the immense pain of ending a person’s life.

At around early afternoon, the Confederates pushed in and we had to retreat a little. We battled some more and I received a slash to my back. I still have the scar, though it doesn’t hurt nor slow me down. Not much longer, the Confederates retreated and our side won!

That night we all celebrated our victory. As I gazed at the glinting stars that night, I thought about the words Eli had said about the future generation. Had I made an impact? Most definitely.

        I hope your side hadn’t lost as bad. I remember on that battle field I thought about you and how you were my enemy. I thought to myself, “Had the two of us been on the same battlefield?” I pray to God that you live and you will see tomorrow’s morning light. Tomorrow, I will stand at the hill near our camp and watch the morning sun rise over a better nation.

When this war is over, I hope that, if we both survive long enough, we will be able to set aside our beliefs and go back to the good times we had before. Good-bye and the best of luck to us both.

 

Sincerely from your Soldier Girl,

Alice Ross

Reviews

[Emunah June.]

I'm studying the Civil War right now, and I must say, you kept names and such very accurate. I was pleased.

At some points, it was hard to tell which side Alice was on. Union, correct? Sometimes she spoke as if she was a Confederate, so you may want to keep that in mind when attempting to tackle this kind of work again. :)

Aside from her being a female, this was really accurate. The details of the battle and the relationships presented (such as the one between Alice and her horse) were very cleanly written and I enjoyed reading it. Very interesting. I'm quite pleased :)

90/100

[A sea person]

Interesting write! The perspective was, as I said, interesting, if unrealistic.

Next time when you write something along these lines, put yourself in the narrator or protagonist's shoes. Are you aware of what would happen to a woman caught enlisting under false pretenses in the military at that time period? Would she really be able to hide her appearance so that even her neighbor wouldn't recognize her? Would she really take the risk to write home detailing everything, knowing that letters easily fall into the wrong hands? These are just things to consider when writing something from another time period.

Thank you for submitting this to my Support our Support contest!

v.r.
Ryan

[Emily B]

You've done a wonderful job with this. . . I say that as a living historian. You've learned some wonderful, horrible things. I would suggest you visit a battlefield site when you get the chance.

[Gaiamethod]

This is a good story and very interesting. How usual was it that girls/women joined the army? I imagine that there were quite a few.
Well done.