Letter from Thomas B. Hall at Kelly's Ferry, Tennessee, to his father, Bolling, in Alabama.
During the Civil War, Thomas Hall served in Company K of the 24th Alabama Infantry regiment. In the letter he discusses recent troop movements (including a river crossing by a cavalry unit); upcoming campaigns; duties in the area; threats of attack by Union forces ("If they do bring a battery a...
| Format: | Electronic |
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| Published: |
Alabama Department of Archives and History
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://cdm17217.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/voices/id/4887 |
| Summary: | During the Civil War, Thomas Hall served in Company K of the 24th Alabama Infantry regiment. In the letter he discusses recent troop movements (including a river crossing by a cavalry unit); upcoming campaigns; duties in the area; threats of attack by Union forces ("If they do bring a battery and plant it on the mountain right opposite us which they can easily do they can very nearly ruin us. But I am beginning to believe that they are not going to pay us a call"); the shelling of Chattanooga; the morale of the soldiers ("the boys are all in high spirits especially as we are getting plenty of peaches to eat...we can go in swimming at any time although we do it at the risk of being shot in the water by the enemy"); and the landscape of the area ("We are surrounded on every side by a high mountain and as a matter of course its [sic] the very place for poets. But mountain scurvy has long since knocked all the poetical talent (if I had any) out of my head"). He also gives his low opinion of the cavalry: "The boys all say that the chances for a fight are pretty good, as the cavalry have all fallen back and gone to the rear of the infantry. There is no cavalry at all between us and the enemy now, nothing but the solitary Tennesee [sic] river, which however I consider as a more formidable obstacle than our cavalry. Yes I feel much safer with the Tennesee [sic] between me and the Yankees than the cavalry." A transcription is included. |
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