December 24, 1863
This letter focuses solely on quite a lengthy battle/set of skirmishes with the Confederates. It had been quite awhile since Abbott last wrote his family, so he had a lot to say today. It appears safe to say that the series of battles that Abbott describes were the Chattanooga campaign, which consisted of battles at places like Chattanooga, Missionary Ridge, and Lookout Mountain. It’s hard to say if this is exactly what Abbott’s regiment was engaged in since Abbott doesn’t mention many dates in this letter, but the places mentioned and the time-frame are consistent with Chattanooga. Abbott uses a variety of battle terms throughout this letter, so I thought it would be pertinent to define some of them, since they’ll more than likely be used later in the collection. One such term is “battery,” which I took to mean a collection of artillery that is set up, such as cannons, guns etc. Indeed, according to dictionary.com, a battery is “two or more pieces of artillery used for combined action; a tactical unit of artillery, usually consisting of six guns together with the artillerymen, equipment, etc.” Artillery is “mounted projectile-firing guns” that are either “mobile or stationary,” and are different from smaller arms. This gives a nice visual of what Civil War battles consisted of in terms of weaponry. At one point, Mark talks about advancing on the Confederate lines and then having to stop and literally lay down to avoid being hit by the constant shelling from the other side. Miraculously, no one near Abbott was injured, though shells landed close enough to spray dirt over them. This definitely was a highly dangerous and while no one near Abbott was hurt he does reveal that during the battle, Roe was shot. Abbott received permission to find him and sit with him, discovering that Roe was in quite a bit of pain but thankfully not killed. Abbott says he sat with Roe until after midnight, when he helped him into an ambulance. This is one of the more personal incidents that has affected Abbott thus far in the war. It doesn’t get much more personal when your brother is shot. However, in this letter, we don’t learn of Roe’s fate. Abbott tells his family that he has not heard from Roe since he put him in the ambulance, which was at least before December 3. Yet, Mark emphasizes that he is, despite everything, in good health and happily reassures the family that he is “still above ground.” Again, here is evidence of Abbott’s enduring positivity. It’s interesting to read about how battles were conducted during this time period. Almost all of them were given specific names, a trend that, for Americans, stemmed back to the Revolutionary War and extended to at least World War II. The nature of battles has changed immensely in modern times. Take, for example, the Iraq War. 100 years from now, students are not going to learn about specific battles that took place during the war because that simply is not how battles work anymore. That is very different from today, when we can name the significant battles of the Revolutionary War and the Civil War. With the increase in technology, the way in which soldiers engage in warfare is always changing significantly. Abbott describes the Union regiments lining up and getting themselves organized with the Confederate troops clearly visible. During this time, soldiers were fighting more hand-to-hand combat. They had to personally engage the enemy, as there were no such things as tanks or machine guns. Really, the two different sides would line up opposite one another and have at it. This is unheard of today, especially since, for example, the recent wars the U.S. has been involved in over the past decade haven’t been against foreign armies- they’ve been more engaged with non-state actors, such as terrorist groups. Works Cited: Dictionary.com, LLC, "Dictionary.com." Accessed January 8, 2014. http://dictionary.reference.com/.
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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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