"A
soldier’s life to all appearances is one of idleness. There being no
responsibilities resting upon him, he carries himself lazily about and
performs reluctantly the duties which necessarily devolve upon him Far
away from home sweet home and the loved ones there, surrounded mostly be
strangers, and always in anticipation of a bloody struggle with the
enemy, he sees but little pleasure in the things transacted in camp.
Besides, a great many circumstances occur to mar what little of pleasure
is allotted to him as his portion. But there is a moment of his life
which is transcendentally sweet, rendered still sweeter the more seldom it
appears, and that is the moment he is made the recipient of a precious
letter from home. It matters not in what he is engaged, what troubles
and vexations are harassing him, a letter from home renders him
oblivious of all his trials and sends him dreaming such dreams as
thoughts of home can alone suggest."
An excerpt from a letter home written by Corporal Taliaferro N. "Talley" Simpson, Company A, 3rd S.C. Infantry Regiment, C.S.A. on the evening of Tuesday, December 2, 1862 in camp outside Fredericksburg, Virginia.
Source: "Far, Far From Home": The Wartime Letters of Dick and Tally Simpson, Third South Carolina Volunteers. Oxford University Press; 1st edition (June 9, 1994). Edited by Guy R. Everson and Edward W. Simpson, Jr. ISBN-10:
0195086643 ISBN-13:
978-0195086645.
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