War Stories for my Grandchildren

"Near to our camp is a neat little cottage all furnished with everything, nice beds, furniture and carpets, dining-room and kitchen furniture complete. It is the house of a youn...

"The news of the surrender reached here Monday, causing intense excitement and wild joy; but I could not rejoice till I heard from my dear one. And, oh, the dead and wounded, ho...

I have already given a copy of the letter I wrote my father the night after the second day's fighting. Although I cautioned him that it was only for the family, and not for the...

"It is now between eleven and twelve o'clock at night, and I am writing you while you are sleeping with our little darling near you,--if she hasn't waked you up! You may wonder...

"Although the rebels have for five days been removing their property, we came upon the town so suddenly yesterday that we captured a large amount of army property, five locomoti...

"I wrote you a few days ago, just as I was starting on a reconnoissance toward Bristol. We found no enemy nor heard of any this side of Abingdon, Virginia, in any force. We had...

"Our men tried to stand up to it, but everything was breaking to pieces all around us, and it was more than we could do, short of annihilation. We poured in a few well-directed...

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Some time after this visit I was again called down to Smithland, but for a very different reason. The emancipation of the slaves, brought about by President Lincoln's Emancipati...

"Some of the soldiers were out, away off in the dark woods on that terrible night on _picket_ (get Willie or Uncle Aleck to tell you what that is). And they had to sit all night...

"I am now at headquarters of the post very comfortably situated; have a room for myself carpeted and well furnished. Captain Otis, General Van Cleve's adjutant-general, a very c...

When he asked permission to join the army he said that he felt it his duty to go into the service; that neither of his mother's sons were there, and he would never feel satisfie...

And no government has been so liberal in its provisions for the surviving veterans. Listen to a few eloquent figures. At the close of the War for the Union our national debt amo...