Camp Piatt, Ten Miles Above Charleston,
West Virginia, June 30, 1864.
Dear Uncle: — Back home
again in the Kanawha Valley. Our raid has done a great deal; all that we at
first intended, but failed in one or two things which would have been done with
a more active and enterprising commander than General Hunter. General Crook
would have taken Lynchburg without doubt. Our loss is small. [The] Twenty-third
had nobody killed. My brigade loses less than one hundred. Our greatest
suffering was want of food and sleep. I often went asleep on my horse. We had
to go night and day for about a week to get out. We are all impressed with the
idea that the Confederacy has now got all its strength of all sorts in the
field, and that nothing more can be added to it. Their defeat now closes the
contest speedily. We passed through ten counties where Yankees never came
before; there was nothing to check us even until forces were drawn from
Richmond to drive us back.
There are rumors
that we are to go East soon, but nothing definitely is known. We hope we are to
constitute an independent command under General Crook. We have marched, in two
months past, about eight hundred miles; have had fighting or skirmishing on
over forty days of the time.
My health, and my
horse's (almost of equal moment) are excellent.
Send letters to the
old direction, via Charleston, for the present.
Sincerely,
R. B. Hayes.
S. Birchard.
SOURCE: Charles Richard Williams, editor, Diary and Letters of
Rutherford Birchard Hayes, Volume 2, p. 477
No comments:
Post a Comment