Letter from James A. Hall in camp near Chattanooga, Tennessee, to his father, Bolling, in Alabama.
During the Civil War, James Hall served as a captain in Company K of the 24th Alabama Infantry regiment. In this letter he discusses the evacuation of Chattanooga ("It is an empty, dismal place but the river banks are still lived by our batterries [sic] and our Sharpshooters. We still hold the...
| Format: | Electronic |
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Alabama Department of Archives and History
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| Online Access: | http://cdm17217.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/voices/id/4893 |
| Summary: | During the Civil War, James Hall served as a captain in Company K of the 24th Alabama Infantry regiment. In this letter he discusses the evacuation of Chattanooga ("It is an empty, dismal place but the river banks are still lived by our batterries [sic] and our Sharpshooters. We still hold the town"); troop positions; expected reinforcements; and upcoming battles. He also describes the attitude of the men in camp: "Notwithstanding the fact that the enemy fire on our batteries from theirs and our Sharpshooters, from theirs almost every day and sometimes all day, we are here quietly in camp, doing our regular duties as if we did not expect soon to meet the enemy in the most deadly struggle that has been on the continent. Even while I write I can hear the booming of the cannon 5 miles distant at Chattanooga. No one seems to pay the slightest attention to it. If you were here you would probably think the soldiers were deaf such is the stolid indifference of a 2 years soldier...to danger not confronting him immediately and directly. If there be one man hung in camp it is something unusual and there will be more excitement over him than over a hundred slain in battle." A transcription is included. |
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