Manuscript Database
Creator/Title
Burgess, John F., 1835-1918. Letter, 10 June 1864. 2 pages.
Call No.
Mss. C B
Content
A letter written during the Civil War by Sergeant John Burgess, a Union soldier in Company H of the 14th Kentucky Infantry. Burgess writes to "James" (possibly his older brother, James E. Burgess?) from Allatoona Mountain, Georgia near Atlanta on 10 June 1864. Burgess recounts the movements of his regiment in recent weeks, with detailed descriptions of engagements they fought during the Atlanta Campaign. He describes an engagement with General Joseph Wheeler's cavalry, in which the Confederates fought under a black flag; several days of fighting as part of General William Tecumseh Sherman's army, during which his regiment fought six days without relief and withstood three bayonet charges in one night; and the continued Union advance on Atlanta, including the reported sizes of the Union and Confederate armies, as well as a description of how General Joseph Hooker's troops were outflanked and forced to retreat across the Cattahoochee River. Burgess also comments on the hot weather and the scarcity of food and water in Georgia; the fear the men experience in battle; the high mortality in the Confederate Army; and experiencing friendly fire on the skirmish line during an engagement with rebel sharpshooters. Despite the recent days of hard fighting, Burgess's observations are often humorous in nature.