The following letter was written by William E. Joshua (1833-1869), who came to the United States from Wales with his parents, Joseph Joshua (1810-1878) and Sarah Lewis (1813-1887) in the 1850s and resided in Newport, Campbell county, Kentucky. William enlisted as a private in Co. D, 46th Ohio Infantry on 10 September 1861. He died of disease at the City Hospital in St. Louis, Missouri, on 28 January 1863.

This letter was written just a week before the Battle of Shiloh. For a great article on the 46th Ohio and the role they played in that two-day engagement, see “Crank” Worthington’s Boys at Shiloh, published in Dan Masters’ Civil War Chronicles in 2020.

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Pittsburg, Tennessee
Camp Shiloe [Shiloh]
Company D, 46th Regiment Ohio Volunteers
March 30, 1862

Dear Father & Mother & Sisters & Brother,

With pleasure I write to you these few lines in hopes that you are all in good health as this leaves me at present. I do have good health & that is great comfort to my mind. We ought to be very thankful to our Crestor for his kindness towards us. There was two young men died in our regiment. They was buried last night. There disease was typhoid fever—smart young men. Death with its arrows took them away to the land where there is no shot nor shell. Our band played very mournfully the Dead March. It was very striking. It’s a hard thing for a young man to die in a strange country without any parents, without relative or friends. I hope it will never come to my lot to be numbered with the dead in this country. But I hope that I shall return home safe and sound again.

Today is Sunday—the Lord’s Day. It’s a very fine day. How brightly the sun shines today. We are encamped in the wild woods of Tennessee. Our soldiers does burn the woods for miles. It looks very pretty at night. It gives a good sign that the Union brave boys are approaching. They are in camp about 18 miles from here. The name of the place is Corinth, Mississippi.

There was two young men deserted from their camp. One of them is from Cincinnati. He is a very smart young man. His name is Rice. They pressed him at New Orleans. The came in last night. They are very glad that they have come to us. They told us that the Rebels had 80 thousand men there. They said they had not much to eat. There is two railways at Corinth & we are a going to attack them some of these first days. We are waiting for General Buell’s Army to come. As soon as they come. we are going to take the junction & cut all communication from east and west so we intend to starve them out. They say after this fight the war will be at an end. I say may it be so.

We have got a very large force here—enough to sweep Secesh out of the land. We do not get much news here. Everything is kept so quiet here because there is so much Rebels around.

Give my respect to all our friends & to Mr. & Mrs. Rogers & to Wm. James. I hope you received 20 dollars I sent to you in care of Mr. Howell Powell. Give my respect to him & all the family. We do expect to get paid soon again & then I will send you more money. When you write directing letters to Paducah because I am more sure to get them. Directions: In care of Captain H[arding] C. Geary, for William E. Joshua, Paducah, Headquarters, Pittsburg, Tennessee, Company D, 46th Regiment, Ohio Volunteers. If I will be live & well, I will write to you again soon. Please to write soon. I would be glad to get a letter. It would cheer me up a little. Goodbye for the present.