Monday, April 10, 1865

Dear Diary,

It has only been a couple of hours on this dusty old train. The train was going to Fort Hill, Pennsylvania which was up north. I miss my family already. I hope the kids are ok. I’m starting to think maybe I won’t even make it back home. I’m so scared. It was the evening of Wednesday, February 16, 1865, me and the other people that were recruited for the war had just arrived at a camp. There was a decently big flag of America. I’m happy to at least be fighting those damn Confederates. Going back to what I observe, I haven’t seen anything like it before. I saw so many new things here. There is a circle of tents surrounding some benches and a table along with a rack of guns. This was the first time I have seen this many guns in one place. Since it was already nighttime, all of the soldiers as well as me gathered up by this strange looking campfire that I didn’t even notice was there to eat some water crackers and some pork. That night, I couldn’t sleep. I was up all night thinking about my family back in Salisbury. I hope that they’re ok. Now I have bigger things to worry about. I need to stay alive and make it home to my two daughters and my beautiful wife. Thursday, February 17, 1865, I woke up really tired this morning. I wake up to the sounds of gunshots. I’m shocked. I guess I’m going to have to get used to this.

Tuesday, March 1, 1865. I have a little time to write right now. I’m hiding behind a barricade. I hate this. This is really scary and all I can think about is being on the train back to my family. I got up at one point and let off some shots not knowing what to do with my rusty waterlogged shotgun. I saw people being shot all over the place. Some soldiers around me were also scared. That’s enough for now. I’m going to have to finish this writing later.

Friday, April 8, 1865. I’ve been to so many towns I can’t even keep track of them. I’ve traveled so far too. I really miss my family back in Salisbury and hope nothing bad has happened to them. I’ve never been so far from home and I have never had so many injuries at once. At least I am going back to my family. The Union is doing really good and they are going to win without a doubt. Saturday, April 9, 1865. I can’t believe that I made it. The Union won and the war is over. I made it at a train stop in this town called Berlin. I’m happy to have stayed alive to write this beautiful journal but unfortunately I’m going to have to fully embrace myself coming back to my family.