I hope this letter finds you and the rest of the family in good health. My parents and I are doing well, but we continue to worry and pray for our friends and neighbors who are either serving in the Union or have loved ones who are serving. My friend James was considering enlisting as a private in the New Jersey regiment, but a letter from his friend, George B. Wright urging him not to enlist has James reconsidering his decision. In the letter, George talks of the fatigue, and in his words, “your health would break down before you had been in service a month” (Lurie pg. 160). His hopelessness saddens me. Our neighbor, Willie Duncan received even worst news from his brother Sebastian. In his letter he describes the horror of seeing heads, arms,
