Delavan Bates, letter
July 21, 1863
“We are wending our way down the old track again where our army passed last fall. We shall not push Lee very hard, I think, until the conscripts are received. Capt. Galpin has gone with a squad to fetch enough to fill our regiment. I would like to write a good long letter describing some of the scenes of the march but cannot until we get in camp somewhere and get rested out. My health as a general thing has been good but you know of course a person anywhere will have a day or two of indisposition now and then. Virginia is suffering tenfold that she ever did before. The soldiers steal and plunder everything they can lay their hands upon and night before last a splendid barn was burned where we camped. I can't like this way of doing business. Private property should be respected the world over. The rebs I know did in Pennsylvania but that does not justify us who have plenty of victories (?) of our own. We crossed the river on the morning of the 19th near Berlin below Harper's Ferry. The men are very hopeful of an early close of the. War since the victories in the Southwest. '
Author
Name: Delavan Bates
Unit: 121st Regiment New York Volunteer Infantry (Slocum’s Division, Franklin’s Corps), Co. I
Document Information
Type: Letter
Subject(s):
- Soldier/Civilian Interaction
Event Location: Loudoun Co., VA
Document Origin: Snicker's Gap (originally Williams' Gap), Loudoun Co., VA
Source
Delavan Bates to Alpheus Bates. July 21, 1863. Transcribed by William S. Saint. Obtained from http://www.soldierstudies.org. Accessed on February 8, 2010.
