Bull Run Letters

My very dear Sarah:

The indications are very strong that we shall move in a few days -- perhaps tomorrow. Lest I should not be able to write you again, I feel impelled to write lines that may fall under your eye when I shall be no more.

Our movement may be one of a few days duration and full of pleasure -- and it may be one of severe conflict and death to me. Not my will, but thine O God, be done. If it is necessary that I should fall on the battlefield for my country, I am ready. I have no misgivings about, or lack of confidence in, the cause in which I am engaged, and my courage does not halt or falter. I know how strongly American Civilization now leans upon the triumph of the Government, and how great a debt we owe to those who went before us through the blood and suffering of the Revolution. And I am willing -- perfectly willing -- to lay down all my joys in this life, to help maintain this Government, and to pay that debt.

But, my dear wife, when I know that with my own joys I lay down nearly all of yours, and replace them in this life with cares and sorrows -- when, after having eaten for long years the bitter fruit of orphanage myself, I must offer it as their only sustenance to my dear little children -- is it weak or dishonorable, while the banner of my purpose floats calmly and proudly in the breeze, that my unbounded love for you, my darling wife and children, should struggle in fierce, though useless, contest with my love of country?

I cannot describe to you my feelings on this calm summer night, when two thousand men are sleeping around me, many of them enjoying the last, perhaps, before that of death -- and I, suspicious that Death is creeping behind me with his fatal dart, am communing with God, my country, and thee.

I have sought most closely and diligently, and often in my breast, for a wrong motive in thus hazarding the happiness of those I loved and I could not find one. A pure love of my country and of the principles I have often advocated before the people and "the name of honor that I love more than I fear death" have called upon me, and I have obeyed.

Sarah, my love for you is deathless, it seems to bind me to you with mighty cables that nothing but Omnipotence could break; and yet my love of Country comes over me like a strong wind and bears me irresistibly on with all these chains to the battlefield.

The memories of the blissful moments I have spent with you come creeping over me, and I feel most gratified to God and to you that I have enjoyed them so long. And hard it is for me to give them up and burn to ashes the hopes of future years, when God willing, we might still have lived and loved together, and seen our sons grow up to honorable manhood around us. I have, I know, but few and small claims upon Divine Providence, but something whispers to me -- perhaps it is the wafted prayer of my little Edgar -- that I shall return to my loved ones unharmed. If I do not, my dear Sarah, never forget how much I love you, and when my last breath escapes me on the battlefield, it will whisper your name.

Forgive my many faults, and the many pains I have caused you. How thoughtless and foolish I have oftentimes been! How gladly would I wash out with my tears every little spot upon your happiness, and struggle with all the misfortune of this world, to shield you and my children from harm. But I cannot. I must watch you from the spirit land and hover near you, while you buffet the storms with your precious little freight, and wait with sad patience till we meet to part no more.

But, O Sarah! If the dead can come back to this earth and flit unseen around those they loved, I shall always be near you; in the garish day and in the darkest night -- amidst your happiest scenes and gloomiest hours -- always, always; and if there be a soft breeze upon your cheek, it shall be my breath; or the cool air fans your throbbing temple, it shall be my spirit passing by.

Sarah, do not mourn me dead; think I am gone and wait for thee, for we shall meet again.

As for my little boys, they will grow as I have done, and never know a father's love and care. Little Willie is too young to remember me long, and my blue-eyed Edgar will keep my frolics with him among the dimmest memories of his childhood. Sarah, I have unlimited confidence in your maternal care and your development of their characters. Tell my two mothers his and hers I call God's blessing upon them. O Sarah, I wait for you there! Come to me, and lead thither my children.

Sullivan

2. What does "garish day" mean on the 2^nd page?

3. How would you describe Ballou's feelings going into the battle (is this his first?)?

4. What portrait of war does he paint with words (include quotes to support your answer)?

5. What values &/or beliefs can be identified in his writings?

Letter 2:
Private J.W. Reid of the 4th South Carolina Infantry wrote several letters to his family between July 23 and July 30, 1861, from the vicinity of the first Manassas battlefield. The following is a compilation of four letters excerpted from Reid's book, History of the Fourth Regiment, South Carolina Volunteers (pp. 23-28), first published in 1891 and reprinted in 1975 by the Morningside Bookshop, Dayton, Ohio.
I scarcely know how to begin, so much has transpired since I wrote you last; but thank God I have come through it all safe, and am now here to try and tell you something about the things that have just happened. As you have already been informed, we were expecting a big fight. It came; it is over; the enemy is gone. I cannot give you an idea of the terrors of this battle. I believe that it was as hard a contested battle as was ever fought on the American continent, or perhaps anywhere else. For ten long hours it almost seemed that heaven and earth was coming together; for ten long hours it literally rained balls, shells, and other missiles of destruction. The firing did not cease for a moment. Try to picture yourself at least one hundred thousand men, all loading and firing as fast as they could. It was truly terrific. The cannons, although they make a great noise, were nothing more than pop guns compared with the tremendous thundering noise of the thousands of muskets. The sight of the dead, the cries of the wounded, the thundering noise of the battle, can never be put to paper. It must be seen and heard to be comprehended. The dead, the dying and the wounded; friend and foe, all mixed up together; friend and foe embraced in death; some crying for water; some praying their last prayers; some trying to whisper to a friend their last farewell message to their loved ones at home. It is heartrending. I cannot go any further. Mine eyes are damp with tears. Although the fight is over the field is yet quite red with blood from the wounded and the dead. I went over what I could of the battlefield the evening after the battle ended. The sight was appalling in the extreme. There were men shot in every part of the body. Heads, legs, arms, and other parts of human bodies were lying scattered all over the battlefield.

I gave you the particulars of our fight as best I could under existing circumstances. I still have a strong presentiment that I will be home again, some time. It may be a good while, and there is no telling at present what I may have to go through before I come, if I do come, only that I will have to encounter war and its consequences.

J.W. Reid

1. How many men were at the battle?

2. What does "transpired" mean in the 1^st sentence?

3. How does Pvt. Reid describe the battlefield?

4. What do you think the "consequences" are that Reid refers to in the last sentence?

5. This is the beginning of the war. How does it make you feel knowing that there are four more years of bloodshed yet to be faced?

On Sunday, July 21, 1861, Mrs. Judith Henry, her daughter Ellen, and hired colored girl, Lucy Griffith, were living at Spring Hill Farm with Hugh [one of Mrs. Henry's sons] coming & going frequently to look after them. Hugh had established a school for boys in Alexandria and had special pupils even in summer. He was not at home on this day, but John [another of Mrs. Henry's sons], who had ridden down from Loudoun just to spend the day was....When the battle of that day began on the opposite hill across Young's Branch, shots from the cannonading were coming threateningly near, the family first considered trying to get Mrs. Henry, who was bedridden from the infirmities of age, with soldier help, removed to "Portici," the home of Mr. Robert Lewis, one mile s.e. of Henry home; but in the growing confusion this was out of the question. There was a spring house to the s.w. of the house in a depression which seemed less exposed. Here they did carry her, only to have her beg to be taken back to her own bed. This was done as soon as it was seen the spring house was no safer than the house.

The hall in front of the two downstairs rooms was entered by both Union soldiers and Confederates. A Union soldier was shot in this hallway by a Confederate, and fell almost at Ellen Henry's feet. When Ricketts' battery shelled the house, as he himself testified before a Congressional Committee the following year, to drive out the Confederate sharpshooters, the bed on which Mrs. Henry lay was shattered, she was thrown to the floor, being wounded in neck, side, and one foot partly blown off. She died later in the afternoon or early evening. Ellen Henry sought refuge in the big chimney to the fireplace during the bombardment and her subsequent deafness was attributed to injury to her eardrums from the violent concussion produced by the shelling. Whether John was in the house during the shelling or not was never stated, but since he was unhurt, it is presumed that he was outside when the bombarding began. Many years after the events of the day, an old man visiting the battlefield [said] that he was walking through the yard sometime after the close of the battle noting the many dead who had fallen fighting around the house when he came to a man lying face downward; and as he came up to this man, the man raised his face and said "They've killed my mother."

Reading Response (answer on your own paper):
1. Write a short summary of what occurred.

2. What does "battery" refer to in the selection?

3. What does "refuge" refer to in the selection?

4. What is interesting to you about this account?