MORRIS ISLAND. S. C. July 20
MY DEAR AMELIA: I
have been in two fights, and am unhurt. I am about to go in another I believe
to-night. Our men fought well on both occasions. The last was desperate we
charged that terrible battery on Morris Island known as Fort Wagoner, and were
repulsed with a loss of 300 killed and wounded. I escaped unhurt from amidst
that perfect hail of shot and shell. It was terrible. I need not particularize
the papers will give a better than I have time to give. My thoughts are with
you often, you are as dear as ever, be good enough to remember it as I no doubt
you will. As I said before we are on the eve of another fight and I am very
busy and have just snatched a moment to write you. I must necessarily be brief.
Should I fall in the next fight killed or wounded I hope to fall with my face
to the foe.
If I survive I
shall write you a long letter. DeForrest of your city is wounded George
Washington is missing, Jacob Carter is missing, Chas Reason wounded Chas
Whiting, Chas Creamer all wounded. The above are in hospital.
This regiment has
established its reputation as a fighting regiment not a man flinched, though it
was a trying time. Men fell all around me. A shell would explode and clear a
space of twenty feet, our men would close up again, but it was no use we had to
retreat, which was a very hazardous undertaking. How I got out of that fight
alive I cannot tell, but I am here. My Dear girl I hope again to see you. I
must bid you farewell should I be killed. Remember if I die I die in a good
cause. I wish we had a hundred thousand colored troops we would put an end to this
war. Good Bye to all
Your own loving
LEWIS
Write soon
SourceS:
Carter Woodson, The Mind of the Negro, p. 544; Andrew Carroll, Editor, Letters of a Nation: A Collection of
Extraordinary American Letters, p. 115-6
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