A Soldiers Last Letter Home. (The Civil War Diaries S1E1)

[Music] [Music] dear father and mother nearly two weeks has gone past since i bid you goodbye how time does go i can hardly see how it is gone in what i have accomplished i am well with the exception of a slight cold i called it washington having gone out of an evening without my overcoat i am nearly rid of it a few good days will drive it away i was pleased to learn by sarah's letter that father was no wiser and that dear mother was in her usual good health father must not spare expenses or fail to take the proper medicines because he has not taken such before is no reason he does not need such now medicine is proper at certain times yesterday was a very strong rainy discourageable day some of us were nearly drowned in our little huts and poor walled tents puddles of water stood in my tent and mr graham complains of his tent roof leaking battery this bad weather has suspended all duty accepting guards today the sun has shone and the wind has blew a hurricane completely drying up all the mud and mud puddles left yesterday by the rain colonel vincent took his wife home on friday last and mr graham says she will not leave until the last minute probably the very first day of april we are expecting captain austin here every day good night your son john dear father mother sister and brother yesterday found us back to our old camping grounds after a life of excessive tribulations in the woods of 10 days four slight casualties are the extent of our loss corporal graph of company b hayes of company d jonathan albo and os kinnear of company i we all thank god we have been so fortunate i've not seen a paper since the engagement began thankful i am ignorant of the details sarah's letter dated the 26th of april was received this afternoon mail also her photograph we'll answer in a day or two and will write you of the particulars of the doings of the 83rd when i have rested and got some of the dirt off your son john dear parents we had a cavalry fight yesterday pleasanton drove the enemy into ashby's gap and the third brigade colonel vincent supported them several killed and wounded but i've heard of none in the 83rd love to all your son john [Applause] miss your favor of the sixth instance was received by me yesterday an answer to your queries in regard to your late brother i begged lee to say that i was with him at the time of his death arriving there only a short time before that event transpired say 20 minutes at the time of my arrival he had just been removed from a barn in the vicinity he was apparently weak and on my inquiring he stated that he suffered considerable pain principally in his breast i saw that he was very low but supposed that he was suffering from the effects of his removal i immediately sent for one of the surgeons who on his arrival stated that he would not live an hour i was as you may suppose extremely surprised having suspected that there was no danger of the final result i remained some five minutes conversing with the physician in regard to his care whence he told me that he would not live 10 minutes in about that time he expired without apparently experiencing the slightest of pain he went off as calmly as i ever saw anyone a few convulsive gasps and all was over i got all of his personal effects and handed them to adjutant clark and also made the necessary arrangements with him to have the body properly interred he was wounded about five and a half o'clock on the afternoon of the second of july by shell striking him on the leg below the knee which nearly carried the lower half of the limb entirely away it was attached merely about a piece of skin he could not be immediately removed owing to the fact that we had been temporarily driven back as soon however as we regained the lost ground which was about an hour afterwards he was carried to the rear and the amputation was performed by dr howard of the artillery corps he being under the influence of chloroform the best possible care under the circumstances was bestowed upon him and i am informed by those who conversed with him on the morning of the third that he expected to finally get well but he had lost so much blood on the field before being removed that he had succumbed to that ruthless destroyer death he was indeed as you say a good brother and in his death the regiment lost one of its best officers in the country a true patriot i can deeply sympathize with you in this deep bereavement i should have written before this offering you what little consolation lies in my power but i deemed that you might consider it presumptuous in me an entire stranger as you truly say god's will be done he knows what is best for our good and as it was his will to take poor john away we should not grieve too much over it but bow with humble submission and reflect that jesus has taught us to say thy will be done i should indeed be but too happy to accept the likeness of john if you have one to spare if there was anything further you wish to inquire about please do not have the slightest hesitancy in writing it for information as i will feel but too happy in doing anything that may tend to comfort you in your deep affliction with the renewal of my heartfelt sympathies i remain very respectfully at your service william h edmund if you'd like to learn more about captain john cell and the 83rd regiment of pennsylvania volunteers the links to all of the source material are in the video description below and if you enjoyed today's video and would like to see more content like this be sure to hit the subscribe button and ring the notification bell to stay up to date with the latest bird dog videos

Channel: BirdDogg

Views: 22,547

Keywords: History, Metal Detecting, Metal Detecting Vlog, NuggetNoggin, BirdDogg, Relic, Show, Relic Hunting, Relics, Outdoor Adventure, Garrett AT Pro, Garrett AT Gold, Nautilus Metal Detector, Daily DIg Log, A Day in the Life, Day in the Life, Vlog, Treasure, Man FInds Treasure, Treasure Hunting, Bluegrass, Pulse induction, Nokta, Nokta Makro Simplex, Simplex, Anfibio, Nokta Makro Anfibio, Anfibio Multi, Amazing Treasure, Civil War Relic

Id: -V0Y59X5jEs

Length: 9min 49sec (589 seconds)

Published: Thu Sep 03 2020