Box Number

6

Folder

1

Item Description

Letter, August 2, 1864, T. W. Brevard, ''In front of Petersburg,'' to ''My Dear Mother,'' 4 pp., discussing his letter-writing habits and the war: ''We are generally in trenches, without any means very often of writing even a note. . . The 'situation' here is unchanged. The armies occupying the same relative positions held five weeks ago. Grant varied the monotony . . . by a few days since exploding a mine beneath one of our batteries . . . The battery was destroyed and the men in it blown up. The enemy poured in through the breach in large numbers . . . The slaughter of the enemy was very great. . . I visited the scene of explosion and fight . . . and the sight was ghastly enough to have satisfied Abe Lincoln himself. The dead covered the ground more thickly than I have ever seen . . . the victims of the explosion particularly were mutilated and disfigured beyond description . . . I am getting uneasy about Atlanta . . . I still hope however to see Shermans communications destroyed and his army defeated. . . Mays is very well - he is not in my regiment but I see him daily - he is a very good officer - stands very well, and is much improved in health.''

Box Description

BREVARD FAMILY PAPERS

Folder Description

Correspondence and Papers, 1820-1864