THE TIMES-VIRGINIAN, APPOMATTOX, VIRGINIA
Rare Civil War Letter
Describes Action in 1864
A most interesting letter from
a Civil War soldier has come to the
attention of The Times Virginian.
Sent to us by Mrs. T. M. Goldsby,
Concord, Va., a member of the lo-
cal U.D.C. Chapter, the letter was
written Nov. 1, 1864, by Captain
George W. Cherry, of Company D,
45th Alabama Regiment, He was the
father-in-law of Mrs. Goldsby's sis-
ter. This is one of many items in
possession of Mr. and Mrs. Goldsby,
pertaining to Southern History. The
letter referred to above is copied
below:
Near Tuscumbiba Ala., Nov. 1,
1864.
Dear Fannie,
I, at last, get one more chance to
have a letter mailed and I gladly
avail myself of it.
We marched into Tuscumbia yes-
terday and I suppose will stay here
a day or two for the purpose of
washing up, sending off the sick, is-
suing shoes, clothing, etc., prepara-
tory to another hard tramp in some
direction and as usual, nobody
knows which way. Genl. Hood suc-
ceeds in always fooling everybody in
his plans, generally goes where no-
body thinks he will go. I wrote you
my last letter from Gadsden, Ala.
Since then we have been marching
hard all the while except one day
we stopped at Decatur, Ala. We
went from Gadsden to the Sand
Mountain and marched westward on
the top of it until we got opposite
Decatur. We then went and attack-
ed the fortifications there as if we
intended to take the place, but while
our Corps was pretending to be-
seige the other two Corps were
marching still down the Tennessee
River. It is thought by a great many
we will cross the river at Florence.
Lee's Corps is now there as is also
our Pontoon train.
I have stood the trip thus far very
well but am very tired of acting
cavalry without a horse. I have not
heard from home since Bob John-
son came to us and am afraid if we
do not stop it will be a long while
before I do. You will please continue
to write just as though I got them
regularly and maybe I will get some
of them.
We have suffered considerably
for rations a part of the while, but
have managed to get enough beef,
bread and parched corn to keep us
in good health. We had corn rations
issued to us one day, two ears to
the man. I guess they thought that
we were doing a horse's service so
we needed a horse's feed. We some-
times get an old piece of tin of
which to make a grater and grate
the corn to make mush or bread
and I assure you we make good
bread from the grated meal.
The poor soldier frequently
marches 25 miles, carries his blank-
et, gun and ctg. box and what little
clothing he has, gets to camp after
dark, goes off to some corn field,
maybe a mile, gets a few ears of
corn, comes back, makes himself a
log heap, sits down by the fire, gets
out his old piece of tin, grates
enough corn to make him a hoe-
cake, cooks it, eats it alone, lies
down and takes a short nap by day,
when he is aroused to march anoth-
er 25 miles. It is astonishing how
much a man can endure. I fully be-
lieve he can stand more than a
horse.
We are camped within 300 yards
of the Tennessee River, from which
we get the water we drink. The wa-
ter is as clear and sweet as spring
water, not withstanding the poor sol-
dier washing his shirt, his body, and
his feet in it - one will be wash-
ing his feet and another filling his
canteen nearby and each good hu-
moredly chatting with the other,
or bawling to scare the horses as
they are brought to water.
May God help and protect us."
Cherry Family Civil War Letters
