Unfortunately there is no signature on the following letter and I have not been able to identify him based on the content except to note that he addressed it to someone named “Adah” and we can also confirm that he served in Co. D, 121st Ohio Infantry. His writing skills were subpar so I would not think him highly educated. No doubt he worked at a trade with his hands, not his pen.

His letter is dated 8 [or 9th] October 1862, coinciding with the day of [or day after] the Battle of Perryville that he recounts. The regiment had served for scarcely a month when they were hastily dispatched to Cincinnati to defend against Bragg’s impending invasion, armed with antiquated Prussian muskets and lacking adequate training in their usage. Their subpar performance at Perryville is not unexpected, and morale sank further when assigned the grim task of remaining in Perryville to inter the fallen soldiers from both sides. For an in-depth exploration of the 121st Ohio’s experience at Perryville, I recommend the article, “Wipe out Perryville!” The 121st Ohio’s Redemption at Chickamauga by Dan Masters.

T R A N S C R I P T I O N

Perryville, Kentucky
October 8, [1862]

It is with pleasure that I sit down at this time to let you know that I am well and hope these few lines will find you enjoying the same blessing. I suppose you are anxious to know how we got through the battle we had here. Well, I do not know how it happened that our company was not cut to pieces for we was in the fight about six hours. The shell and cannon balls whistled over our heads like hail. It is through the Providence of God that we live and enjoy health.

We are stationed here to guard the town but we do not know how long we will stay. I suppose you know more about the battle than I can tell you for the soldier knows nothing—only as he sees it. We can get no papers here. It is rumored that Richmond is taken but we do not know. I hope it is so.

It is estimated there is twenty-five hundred killed and wounded on our side and three thousand on the Rebel’s side. Adah, it is a heart-rending sight to go through the battlefield and see the poor soldiers laying scattered over the field. I have feeling for my fellow man. I am a soldier but I came here to fight and expect to until this war is [brought] to a close, if God spares my life. I thought that I knew something about war but I must acknowledge that I knew nothing about it.

The South is all turned out to the common. The fences are burned, the corn is turned out, the hogs and cattle are fat and the soldiers are using them as fast as they want them. I hope this war will close soon but we do not know nothing about it.

Now Adah, I must close soon. I must go on duty. So goodbye. Write soon as this comes to hand. Give my respects to all inquiring friends. I have wrote about three letters a week and have not received but three from home. Direct to Louisville, Kentucky, in care of Capt. [Samuel L.] Sharp on the march. 121st OVI