Near Ackworth's Station,
June 9, 1864.
My last was from Kingston; that place we left on the 4th,
being part of a force to guard twelve hundred wagons to the front. Four days of
hard work, night and day, carried us over the Altoona mountains to this place,
where we joined the brigade.
We now occupy a very strong position, with the enemy in our
immediate front. Their pickets and ours are on perfectly good terms: the men
off duty meet each other between the lines, exchange papers, and barter sugar
and coffee for tobacco. We shall probably make another grand movement in a day
or two, which will carry us somewhere near Atlanta.
The loss in our corps so far has been about four thousand
killed and wounded, — a heavier loss, I think, than any other corps has
sustained in this army. We were about twenty-five thousand strong at the
beginning of this campaign. Life is cheap this year almost everywhere in the
army.
We don't indulge ourselves now in any irregularities of
diet, but stick consistently to our pork and hard-tack moistened with coffee.
Most of us probably eat about a third as much in weight as if we were at home
doing nothing. Still, I have never felt in better health in my life, and feel
strong and fit for work, notwithstanding the hot sun.
We are so far from home (that is, this army) that I don't think
the newspapers pay much attention to what we are about, and seem to be conveying
the idea that Johnston has only a small force, and is constantly reducing it to
help Lee out of his scrape. I don't know how large an army is in our front, but
I do know that wherever we bulge out, we find rebels who fire bullets fully as
injurious to the health as any I have ever seen used. As yet we have had no
great battles, but there has been a great deal of sharp fighting. I think
Sherman means to get nearer Atlanta, and then have the grand smash-up.
SOURCE: Charles Fessenden Morse, Letters Written
During the Civil War, 1861-1865, p. 169-70
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