| Summary: | From November 1863 through the end of the Civil War, John Hall served in Co. B, 59th Alabama Infantry regiment. In the letter he discusses recent campaigns and losses ("Fort Morgan we learned yesterday, has been surrendered. Next may be Mobile"); the "unexampled spirits" of the Confederate soldiers ("All evince a determination to remain at their posts until taken away by the hand of fate. All desire peace, but peace with our Independence"); fighting between Generals Lee and Grant in Virginia, particularly in the area around the Weldon railroad; and skirmishes between his regiment and local Union troops. He also mentions the employment of African Americans by the Northern army: "We occasionally are aroused & every man made to seize his gun, by the report that Mr Grant is about to hurl against us his hordes of Blacks & Whites but we have been, so far, always disappointed. It is thought that the troops in our front are negroes. Circumstantial evidence is strong. Capt Jones has been in the habit of exchanging papers with them every day in front of the 43rd Ala but yesterday he went out & called them & proposed an exchange but could get them to say nothing, or to show themselves. We therefore concluded that the whites had been relieved by negroes, the latter fearing to show themselves, knowing that the Reb's would shoot them on sight under any circumstances." A transcription is included.
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