It was April 14, 1861. The Rebels attacked Fort Sumter, after hearing this I went to the recruiters to become infantry since I was 21 I won’t have a problem enlisting. Before I decided to join I was a farmer on my family’s farm since I can remember. My father died a year earlier from disease when I was 14 leaving me to support my mother and younger brother. I was able to get my friend William to enlist with me, we have been friends since we were 8 every now and then he would help me with the livestock.
April 17, 1861. Today we were marching, doing drills, and shooting. We did this over and over again. It is currently night, William, a few comrades, and I are sitting by the fire. I've been writing to my mother, she is concerned for my safety. I told her we might not even fight.
April 18, 1861. Today we will march to the front lines to fight, all of us are a bit nervous. Then we are called to get ready to go. I check my rifle and supplies, make sure I have water. We are marching through towns with people cheering for us and telling us “Go get those rebels!” or “Go get 'em!”. The commanding officer told us we will get there in a week or so. “How are you doing William?” I asked, “I’m nervous.” he replied “There is nothin to worry about, we’ll beat them in no time.” I said confidently, he just nodded in reply, I knew he was scared, he’s scared of death, he has a son that looks up to him, he talks about him all the time, John, he named him.
April 20, 1861. We were in trenches right across the valley stood those dirty rebs. Behind me and my fellow Union men were cannons ready to fire at a moment's notice. Then we hear yelling, I look and see the rebels running at us. The sergeant yells at us orders, I couldn’t hear him but I followed what the others were doing, I got into line next to me was a friend I made during training, named Frank Lemon, he is 34 years old, has a wife back in New York. then the sergeant yells “Ready!” we ready our rifles, “Aim!” we aim, “FIRE!” We fire. We see confederate soldiers fall, I don’t know if I hit someone, I didn’t care. Then they return fire, in the corner of my eye I see some fall, then as I look at Frank a bullet hit him right in the chest then another right to the eye sending blood and brain flying, Then I hear thunderous booms going off behind me I look to see them firing the cannons, I look to the enemy and see them get torn apart by cannon balls or grapeshot, then I realize I haven’t reloaded so I start reloading then I hear “Fix bayonets!” so I do just that, I put the triangle shaped bayonet on the front of my rifle after I finished reloading. Then I hear “CHARGE!” and again I do just that with my bayonet pointed towards the enemy. I get up to one and I stab him right in the stomach then pull the blade out I get charged by another one and I quickly stab them in the neck then swing to the left ripping the bayonet out. I see one of my comrades get stabbed by a rebel so I shoot him, on the inside I am panicking but I need to stay calm. Then the rebels retreated, I have never felt so relieved then everything that just happened rushes through my mind, I look around seeing the bodies litter the ground. We won this battle but I lost friends, mothers lost sons, children lost fathers…
April 23, 1861. We are moving again, we pass by people of color, a woman runs up to us and gives us pastries, she offers one to me and I take it, “Thank you.” I say, she nods and I continue to march forward. I start eating the treat that she gave me. It taste good, the best thing I've had in a while. I look ahead and see our Colonel, Scott Rush, I think his name was. He replaced our old one, he got his head replaced by a cannonball.
April 27, 1861. I couldn’t see them but I knew they were there. We have been stuck in this one spot for some time. They have tobe in the woods across from us, every once in a while I could see them move, or see the grey of their uniforms. William has been writing letters to his family, I haven’t sent one to my mother since our first battle, she shouldn’t have to know about this.
April 28, 1861. Today we are going to get them we are we will be marching shoulder to shoulder towards them. "FIX BAYONETS!" Colonel Rush yelled, I fix my bayonet, then a few seconds pass and we get ordered to start moving, I breath in and out to calm myself and start moving.
To be continued
YOU ARE READING
The Civil War
Historical FictionSo this was an assignment for school, I'm still working on it because my teacher said I'll get extra credit so I thought why not share it with you lovely people?
