November 12, 1864
Today’s letter is one of the longer ones that Abbott wrote. He had a fairly engaging event to tell the family about as he had just recently been a part of the Battle of Decatur. He mentions that Confederate troops had been sighted at Decatur, Alabama as his regiment boarded a train going in that direction. By the time they reached the front, there had been some minor skirmishes but nothing on too large of a scale. It does sound like Abbott was under fire a variety of time during the course of the battle. This is especially true for when he was sent to stand on the picket-line. This meant that Abbott was a part of the advance guard, positioned a bit away from the main army. They typically were the first to receive enemy fire. Indeed, Abbott tells the family that he had never been “under such a heavy fire of musketry…as soon as it was ling enough to see they opened fire on us and the bullets just more than whistled in there and every few minutes a bullet would strike our dirt piles.” This is one of the few letters in which Abbott describes being in a battle. He’s very descriptive and paints a vivid picture of what was going on. The Battle of Decatur is not one of the more prominent, well-known Civil War battles. However, it is worth noting the details surrounding it. It occurred from October 26-29, 1864, so about two weeks before the writing of this letter. By the end of the battle, there were roughly 605 casualties. This doesn’t mean deaths necessarily- it’s more of a compilation of fatalities, wounded, captured etc. The number is consistent with Abbott’s account as he does say there weren’t many casualties overall. The Confederate leader was General John B. Hood while the Union troops were led by Brigadier General Robert S. Granger. Hood’s forces were attempting to cross the Tennessee River. Even though the entire Union force only numbered 5,000, they were able to keep the larger Confederate group from successfully crossing the river. Therefore, the battle was a Union Victory. I always like coming across battles where Abbott was a participant. It’s not too often that we can get solid accounts from someone who was actually there. It’s one thing to read in a textbook about a battle but an entirely different perspective learning about it from someone who witnessed it. Combining these two different viewpoints creates a more thorough understanding of history. Works Cited: Heritage Preservation Services, CWSAC Battle Summaries. “Decatur.” Accessed December 11, 2013. http://www.nps.gov/hps/abpp/battles/al004.htm Civil War Potpourri. “Definitions of Civil War Terms.” Accessed December 11, 2013. http://www.civilwarhome.com/terms.htm
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AuthorTessa Wakefield, student intern at the Concordia College Archives, assembled these blog entries in 2013-2014 for the Isaac Mark Abbott Civil War Letters Collection. The posts summarize the content of the letters, interpret Abbott's experiences and place them in the larger context of the Civil War. Archives
March 2014
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