War letters : extraordinary correspondence from American wars

595 Pages·2002·3.98 MB·English

by  Andrew Carroll & DOUGLAS BRINKLEY

PRAISE FOR ANDREW CARROLL’S WAR LETTERS
“Andrew Carroll has given America a priceless treasure. These letters
are intimate, deeply personal portraits of the courage, sacrifice, and sense
of duty that made this country.”
—Tom Brokaw
“These war letters are more deeply moving, more revelatory, and
more powerful than any dispatch from the front. It’s the truly felt history
of what war is all about.”
—Studs Terkel
“In the sweep of history, the experience of the lone soldier is often
lost, but in this breathtaking collection the individual voices of the men
and women who have served this nation come to life with a power and an
eloquence that is both gripping and unforgettable. I can think of no better
way to understand the horrors of war than to read the words of those who
have been caught in its grasp, and these extraordinary letters offer some
of the most dramatic eyewitness accounts of war imaginable.”
“Andrew Carroll has assembled a collection of previously
unpublished letters that run the gamut of wartime emotion…. An
excellent compilation that I enjoyed reading very much—and believe you
will, too.”
—Stephen E. Ambrose
“It was a letter that moved me to write Flags of Our Fathers. A letter
my dad wrote four days after he helped raise the flag on Iwo Jima. My
father honored his country. And Andrew Carroll honors us all with his
gift to the nation of the superb War Letters.”
—John Glenn
“[T]he power of these voices from various fronts … is undeniable,
and the sentiments and observations they record have a compelling
immediacy.”
—James Bradley, son of flag-raiser Doc Bradley “This wonderful collection of
war correspondence is … a treasure…. For scholars, a wealth of primary-source
material is provided here. General readers will find it an informative and deeply
moving reading experience.”
—Publishers Weekly
—Booklist
WAR LETTERS
Letter by Pvt. John P. McGrath, writing from Anzio, Italy, on April 25, 1944, to his high school friend Dick
Treanor. A bullet ripped through the unmailed letter, which McGrath was carrying in his backpack.
McGrath himself was unharmed.

SCRIBNER
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Copyright © 2001 by Andrew Carroll
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First Scribner trade paperback edition 2005
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Simon & Schuster Special Sales: 1-800-456-6798 or
[email protected] DESIGNED BY ERICH HOBBING
Text set in Bembo
Manufactured in the United States of America 11 13 15 17 19 20 18 16 14 12
Library of Congress Control Number: 2001020574
ISBN-13: 978-0-7434-1006-9
ISBN-10: 0-7434-1006-8
eISBN: 978-1-43910731-7
Permissions appear on page 499.
All of the author’s earnings, minus limited expenses incurred in the preparation
and support of the book, will be donated to nonprofit organizations, memorials,
and institutions, particularly those working to honor and remember the men and
women who have served this nation in wartime.
In memory of my uncle FRANK W. HARTMANN (1920-1999) and my godfather
JONATHAN H. “JACK” LASLEY (1910-2001), two of the most honorable veterans I
have ever known.
CONTENTS
Foreword by Douglas Brinkley
Introduction
THE CIVIL WAR
Abolitionist Aaron Stevens, Writing to His Brother in 1858, Warns That
Slavery Will Only Be Done Away with “By the Sword” & Stevens Bids
Farewell to His Brother from Jail Before Being Hanged for Participating in
John Brown’s Raid at Harpers Ferry
Marcus Morton Sends Fort Sumter’s Maj. Robert Anderson a Message of
Support in His “Hour of Imminent Peril” /
P. Burns in Tennessee, Observing the “Spirit of War” Overtaking the
Country, Laments to a Friend the Misery to Come /
Lt. Ai Thompson Writes to His Father After the U.S. Army’s “Disgraceful”
Loss at Manassas (Bull Run) /
Imprisoned Confederate Spy Rose O’Neal Greenhow Excoriates U.S.
Secretary of State William Seward for the “Military Dictatorship” He and
President Lincoln Have Established /
Lt. James Trathen of the MS Bark Describes to a Friend a Burial at Sea and
Several Encounters with the Confederates /
Patience Black Sends Her Husband, James, News from the Homefront and
a Reminder of How Much He Is Missed /& Sgt. Maj. James Black, Writing
from “Lone Some Camp,” Vows to Patience That His Love for Her Will
“Burn Forever” & Union Soldier William Mayberry Scolds His Wife After
Hearing Rumors That She Has Been Unfaithful /
Twenty-Two-Year-Old 2nd Lt. George A. Custer Tells His Sister Ann of a
Memorable Scouting Mission Near Rebel Troops /
Union Soldier Columbus Huddle Writes to His Father After Nearly Being
Killed at the Battle of Shiloh /
A Union Soldier Unleashes a Fury of Insults on the Officers, Doctors, and
“Rebbles” Making His Life Unbearable /& Francis Christiance Assures His
Wife That, Despite a Newspaper Story to the Contrary, He Is Certain He
Has Not Been Shot for Desertion & Charles E. Bingham Describes to His
Wife the Execution of a Deserter
In the Aftermath of the Bloodshed at Antietam, an Anguished Maj. William
Child Asks His Wife, “Who Permits It?” /
Nurse Clara Barton Portrays to Her Cousin Vira a Hushed, Moonlit Camp,
“Still as Death,” on the Eve of the Battle of Fredericksburg /
Dr. Calvin Fisher Reports to His Brother Alfred the “Awful Scene” at
Chancellorsville and the Fate of Several Civilians Caught in the Crossfire /
Samuel Cabble, an African-American Private in the Union Army, Promises
His Wife That Slavery, the “Curse of This Land,” Will Be Crushed /& Capt.
Francisco Rice Assures His Wife That “Although the Day May Be Dark as
Ever,” Their “Sacrifices Have Not Been Made in Vain” /
Capt. William T. House Writes Under the “Whistling Bullet” to His
Fiancée, Linda Brigham, During the Siege of Vicksburg /& Captain House
Expresses to Linda How Thrilled He Is by the “Grand Sight” of the
Defeated Rebels /
Pvt. John H. Burrill Sends His Fiancée, Ell, a Brief but Graphic Description
of the Battlefield at Gettysburg /
Capt. David Embree, a Veteran of Numerous Battles, Reflects in a Letter to
His Sister, Rose, on the Horror—and Exhilaration—of Combat /
Martha Liggan Tells the Mother of a Confederate Soldier of Her Son’s Last
Moments and Denounces the “Vile” Yankees Who Let Him Die /
Sgt. Thomas Bowen Provides His Mother with an Eyewitness Account of
the Disastrous Battle of the Crater at Petersburg & Lt. Col. William Pegram,
with the Confederate Army, Describes for His Wife an Account of the Same
Battle, and Justifies the Massacre of Surrendering Black Troops
Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman Defends Himself Against Those in the
South Who Call Him a “Barbarian,” Denounces Unsupportive Northerners,
and, After Conquering Atlanta, Asserts That the “People of Georgia [Now]
See We Are in Earnest” /
James Paxton Relates to His Friend Val Giles the Torments He Endured
While a Prisoner in a Union POW Camp /
Union Soldier Charles George Sends His Wife, Ellen, a Letter from
Appomattox, Announcing That “General Lee Has Surrendered!!!!” & Mary
Custis Lee, Wife of Robert E., Tells Her Cousin That the North “Achieved
by Starvation What They Could Never Win by Their Valor” & Maj. William
Child Exclaims in a Letter to His Wife: “I Have Seen the Murder of the
President of the United States” /
In the Bitter Aftermath of the Civil War, Union Soldier William Byron Tries
to Win the Heart of Caroline Tally, an Attractive Young Confederate
Woman /
Joshua Chamberlain Returns to the Field Where He Was Shot and Recalls,
in a Letter to His Sister, the “Horrible Carnage” That Took Place That Day /
WORLD WAR I
Social Activist Jane Addams Warns President Woodrow Wilson of the
Consequences of Preparing for War Instead of Advocating for Peace /&
Mrs. M. Denkert Implores Jane Addams to Continue Her Antiwar Efforts
on Behalf of “Poor Stricken” Mothers Everywhere /
Pvt. Lester Hensler, Heading Overseas, Assures His Parents He Is Excited
to Be Off to War—“a Man’s Game” /