Dear Father,

It is September 18th, 1862. I am writing to you to tell you that I was one of the few people who survived the Battle of Antietam. We won, thankfully but this war has to go down in the history books as the largest most bloodiest battles in history. I was awaiting the arrival of Confederate troops on September 17th, 1862 hunkering down in a bush not far from the Antietam Creek where the battle would soon take place. When the confederate troops got here, I could tell that we were outnumbered. I began to shake holding my gun as I pondered in my chances of surviving, I would probably be dead by the time this was over. I remember the sounds of gunfire and cannons blasting on the field as the battle began to take place. I heard screams and cries as I ran with the Union soldiers each being picked off one by one from gunshots or cannonballs. I remember seeing people die before my eyes and friends that I had gotten to know saying there last words as they ran out onto the field and never came back. The battle lasted 12 hours but finally, the Confederates gave in and the union claimed its victory. I heard from a surviving soldier that we had lost almost 13,000 people and watched as many severely injured people crawled to the hospital beds crying out in pain. I myself had lost my right arm from a cannonball ripping it off and remember seeing it fly into the air. Today would be the worst and most painful day of my life.

During the battle I didn’t feel anger, I felt shocked. I wondered during the battle why was I doing this, how would this war help me, why was there so much suffering. I could not comprehend seeing my friends die one by one and soldiers crying as they were shot. I realized that I was the luckiest person to be alive, so many people who died for me were not here anymore. How would this war help me? I finally realized that this wasn’t just some war. It was the war to create freedom for slaves, this was the war that Union soldiers would fight in to ensure that everybody was equal.  I valued that. This was my purpose in the fighting. I am willing to risk my life, lose my limbs, and even die, just to ensure that there is going to be freedom for all. As the Declaration of Independence said “All men are created equal”  I fight for that cause. Father, I will write to you once I get to the next camp.

From Thomas