Dear John, July 2nd, 1863

Hey son. I am writing to you from Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. It’s currently 9:00 at night here. Things are looking quite bad at Gettysburg. We outnumbered them on the first day but since many of our soldiers have died in battle, both are very bad diseases that you hopefully don’t get. All of us are scared, many soldiers have been crying for their mothers and the doctors aren’t good. In fact, so many soldiers are hurt that we don’t have enough doctors. I’m feeling pretty healthy though besides having a few headaches and being dehydrated. I haven’t shot yet either, so I’ve had a pretty safe ride. On the first day I was helping supply ammo to fellow soldiers, but while I was handing it out one of them got shot. It was the most horrifying thing and I hope you never have to go through seeing someone die. I guess that’s what war is though. Nothing gets resolved until the enemy is gone.

How are you doing? And how’s little William and your mum faring. I know things may be tough at home, especially with the Confederate soldiers all around. I bet mum’s having a hard time keeping the family crops healthy. The sunlight has been especially low considering it’s July. I know you must be doing a good job helping her though. When I get home hopefully all in one piece, we can go back to the peaceful way things used to be. But the war is pretty scary son, and I’m worried it will affect our family forever. It’s pretty scary being a soldier and seeing all these other people die. Writing this letter and playing cards with other soldiers has been calming though, and I hope to see you soon.

Love,

Your Father, James