Berlin, Few Miles From Harper's Ferry,
July 17, 1863.
My dear sister:
I received your letter of the 10th instant last night. This
is the first day in the last twenty that we have not been on the move or
engaged in the presence of the enemy, and it is a wet, dreary day. You have no
doubt read that the enemy crossed the river at Williamsport on the 13th. Their
forces now are far superior in numbers to ours. You will hear of the immense
reinforcements that are being sent to this army, and wonder why we do not crush
their army. All the troops sent us are thirty days' militia and nine months'
volunteers, and are perfectly useless. I am tired of risking my corps in such
unequal contests.
Captain Halsted will write you to-day, giving you a sketch
of our marches for the last few days. The battles around Gettysburg were
victorious, and had we been reinforced we could have made it a rout.
I enclose a letter from another John Sedgwick, wanting to
know something of our family. I wish you would send it to Cousin Charles of
Sharon and ask him to answer it. I am not sufficiently acquainted with the “tree”
to give him the information.
I am glad you have found everything so pleasant and looking
so beautiful around our home. I sincerely wish I was there with you to enjoy
it. If it was not for that terrible riot in New York, which has been worse to
us than the loss of a great battle, everything would look as if a termination
to the Rebellion was at hand.
I am, as ever,
Your affectionate
brother,
J. S.
SOURCE: George William Curtis, Correspondence of
John Sedgwick, Major-General, Volume 2, p. 131-3
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