July 4, 1883

A Confederate hospital 4 miles south of Gettysburg Pennsylvania 

My Dearest Mary,

Hello, my darling, I haven’t seen you in 3 months, and I long for the day I will see you once again. We have lost the battle of Gettysburg, and so this long war will not end as quickly as planned. I am able to write this to you because I was shot two days ago and am in a hospital now. My left hand has been amputated. I was lucky to have been shot, I was rushed to a hospital right before the Union soldiers stormed our campsite.

 I was on the front lines for only one day and it was like a scavenger’s playground I saw hundreds, no thousands of bodies. Of all the battles I have been in this has been the worst, even worse than the Battle of Chancellorsville in Virginia back in May. All of my comrades are dead. My brother’s last words will haunt me till the day I die. He told me: “everything is going to be okay.” I don’t think he anticipated the entire camp to be invaded. I can’t wait to see you and the rest of the family. 

What is the purpose of this war, what will it accomplish? I wish this war could be over so I could come and see y’all. You and the kids are the only ones once who help me keep my humanity at this time. I’m fighting for something I don’t even believe in. I was forced to fight, drafted against my own will, like a dog. Slavery is horrible, how could people bring themselves to do such terrible things? If only other Southerners weren’t so greedy. 

All this misery these slaves are put through is all because Southerners want to make more money. That is what this war will accomplish, the right that black people always deserved, freedom. I think we should move north or even west when I get home, maybe all the way out to California, or maybe New york. I won’t have to fight against my will, or even fight at all. The war will be over by the time I do get home. The north will have won, and I will be free from battle. 

Sincerely 

Fredrick R.