WAR LETTERS

Abolitionist Aaron Stevens, Writing to His Brother in 1858, Warns That Slavery Will Only Be Done Away with “By the Sword” / & Stevens Bids Farewell to His Brother from Jail Before Being Hanged for Participating in John Brown’s Raid at Harpers Ferry /

Marcus Morton Sends Fort Sumter’s Maj. Robert Anderson a Message of Support in His “Hour of Imminent Peril” /

P. Burns in Tennessee, Observing the “Spirit of War” Overtaking the Country, Laments to a Friend the Misery to Come /

Lt. Ai Thompson Writes to His Father After the U.S. Army’s “Disgraceful” Loss at Manassas (Bull Run) /

Imprisoned Confederate Spy Rose O’Neal Greenhow Excoriates U.S. Secretary of State William Seward for the “Military Dictatorship” He and President Lincoln Have Established /

Lt. James Trathen of the MS Bark Describes to a Friend a Burial at Sea and Several Encounters with the Confederates /

Patience Black Sends Her Husband, James, News from the Homefront and a Reminder of How Much He Is Missed /& Sgt. Maj. James Black, Writing from “Lone Some Camp,” Vows to Patience That His Love for Her Will “Burn Forever” & Union Soldier William Mayberry Scolds His Wife After Hearing Rumors That She Has Been Unfaithful /

Twenty-Two-Year-Old 2nd Lt. George A. Custer Tells His Sister Ann of a Memorable Scouting Mission Near Rebel Troops /

Union Soldier Columbus Huddle Writes to His Father After Nearly Being Killed at the Battle of Shiloh /

A Union Soldier Unleashes a Fury of Insults on the Officers, Doctors, and “Rebbles” Making His Life Unbearable /& Francis Christiance Assures His Wife That, Despite a Newspaper Story to the Contrary, He Is Certain He Has Not Been Shot for Desertion /& Charles E. Bingham Describes to His Wife the Execution of a Deserter /

In the Aftermath of the Bloodshed at Antietam, an Anguished Maj. William Child Asks His Wife, “Who Permits It?” /

Nurse Clara Barton Portrays to Her Cousin Vira a Hushed, Moonlit Camp, “Still as Death,” on the Eve of the Battle of Fredericksburg /

Dr. Calvin Fisher Reports to His Brother Alfred the “Awful Scene” at Chancellorsville and the Fate of Several Civilians Caught in the Crossfire /

Samuel Cabble, an African-American Private in the Union Army, Promises His Wife That Slavery, the “Curse of This Land,” Will Be Crushed /& Capt. Francisco Rice Assures His Wife That “Although the Day May Be Dark as Ever,” Their “Sacrifices Have Not Been Made in Vain” /

Capt. William T. House Writes Under the “Whistling Bullet” to His Fiancée, Linda Brigham, During the Siege of Vicksburg /& Captain House Expresses to Linda How Thrilled He Is by the “Grand Sight” of the Defeated Rebels /

Pvt. John H. Burrill Sends His Fiancée, Ell, a Brief but Graphic Description of the Battlefield at Gettysburg /

Capt. David Embree, a Veteran of Numerous Battles, Reflects in a Letter to His Sister, Rose, on the Horror—and Exhilaration—of Combat /

Martha Liggan Tells the Mother of a Confederate Soldier of Her Son’s Last Moments and Denounces the “Vile” Yankees Who Let Him Die /

Sgt. Thomas Bowen Provides His Mother with an Eyewitness Account of the Disastrous Battle of the Crater at Petersburg /& Lt. Col. William Pegram, with the Confederate Army, Describes for His Wife an Account of the Same Battle, and Justifies the Massacre of Surrendering Black Troops /

Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman Defends Himself Against Those in the South Who Call Him a “Barbarian,” Denounces Unsupportive Northerners, and, After Conquering Atlanta, Asserts That the “People of Georgia [Now] See We Are in Earnest” /

James Paxton Relates to His Friend Val Giles the Torments He Endured While a Prisoner in a Union POW Camp /

Union Soldier Charles George Sends His Wife, Ellen, a Letter from Appomattox, Announcing That “General Lee Has Surrendered!!!!” /& Mary Custis Lee, Wife of Robert E., Tells Her Cousin That the North “Achieved by Starvation What They Could Never Win by Their Valor” /& Maj. William Child Exclaims in a Letter to His Wife: “I Have Seen the Murder of the President of the United States” /

In the Bitter Aftermath of the Civil War, Union Soldier William Byron Tries to Win the Heart of Caroline Tally, an Attractive Young Confederate Woman /

Joshua Chamberlain Returns to the Field Where He Was Shot and Recalls, in a Letter to His Sister, the “Horrible Carnage” That Took Place That Day /

WORLD WAR I

Social Activist Jane Addams Warns President Woodrow Wilson of the Consequences of Preparing for War Instead of Advocating for Peace /& Mrs. M. Denkert Implores Jane Addams to Continue Her Antiwar Efforts on Behalf of “Poor Stricken” Mothers Everywhere /

Pvt. Lester Hensler, Heading Overseas, Assures His Parents He Is Excited to Be Off to War—“a Man’s Game” /

Kate Gordon Sends a Letter to One of Her Three Sons on His Way to Europe, Telling Him to “Live—or, if God’s Will, Die with Courage” /

Ship’s Cook 3/C Hugh Alexander Leslie Writes Home After Surviving the Sinking of the USS President Lincoln from a Submarine Attack /

Ambulance Corps Driver George Ruckle Describes to His Family a Failed German Offensive and the Skills American Soldiers Brought to the Fight /& “Maj. Edward B. Cole Provides His Two Young Sons with a Lighthearted Account of His Experiences in France /

In a Cable to Gen. Peyton March, Gen. John “Blackjack” Pershing Praises the “Colored Soldiers” Serving with the AEF /

Writing to His Nine-Year-Old Son, Warren, Gen. John Pershing Explains Why He and His Troops Are Fighting in France /

John E. Bott Tells His Son Harry, in France with the AEF, Joyful News of a Recent “Arrival” to the Family—Followed by a Devastating Loss /

Pvt. Walter Bromwich, Writing to His Pastor, Begins to Question the Role of God in War /

Theodore Roosevelt Sends a Letter of Deep Gratitude to Mrs. H. L. Freeland, Who Consoled Him After a Heartbreaking Loss /

On the Eve of the First Major U.S. Offensive at Saint-Mihiel, Lt. David Ker Tells His Mother What He Wants Her to Remember in the Event of His Death /& Col. George S. Patton Writes to His Father After Saint-Mihiel, Which Was “Not Half So Exciting” as He Had Hoped /

In an Impassioned Letter to His Wife, Gertrude, 2nd Lt. Francis M. Tracy Declares That Their Separation Has Only Intensified His Love for Her /

Goldie Marcellus Mails Her Husband, Edward, a Love Letter—Which He Promptly Returns with Commentary /

1st Lt. Edward Lukert Promises His Wife, Mabel, He Has No Interest in Dying for His Country, Shares His Thoughts After Watching Men Get Killed, and, After Being Wounded Himself at Saint-Mihiel, Assures His Wife There Are Young Soldiers in More “Terrible Shape” Than He /

A Soldier Sends a Dramatic “Yarn” to His Friend Elmer J. Sutters About the Meuse-Argonne Battle—the Final, Major Clash of the First World War /

After Peace Is Declared, Lt. Lewis Plush Reflects in a Letter to His Parents on the Haunting Images of War He Will Never Forget /

American Red Cross Nurse Maude B. Fisher Writes to the Mother of a Young Soldier About Her Son’s Tragic Fate After the War /

Col. Robert T. Oliver Shares a Poignant Story with Veteran Frank Cashin About a Memorable Encounter with an Elderly Frenchman in Château-Thierry /

WORLD WAR II

Alexander Goode, an American Jew, Writes a Prophetic Letter in 1933 to His Beloved, Theresa Flax, About Adolf Hitler /& Rabbi Goode, a Month Before His Legendary Act of Heroism, Reminds His Wife, Theresa, How Much He Loves Her /

Ned Black, Visiting England in 1939, Relates to His Family in the United States How Anxious Londoners Are Bracing for War /

Lt. Cdr. Paul E. Spangler Gives His Old Friends Back Home an Eyewitness Account of the Bombing of Pearl Harbor on December 7,1941 /

World War I Veteran Dwight Fee Offers Some Fatherly Advice to His Son, William, “Off on the Great Adventure” /

President Roosevelt Receives an Extraordinary Appeal from a Half-German Immigrant Who Wants to Join the War Effort /

Sgt. J. M. Smith, Before Being Forced on the “Bataan Death March,” Tells His Wife to Have Faith He Will Return Home Alive /& Capt. James Sadler, Smith’s Brother-in-Law, Adds a Brief Note at the Bottom of the Letter, Sending His Love as Well /& Lt. Tommie Kennedy, Captured at Corregidor and Imprisoned on a Japanese “Hell Ship,” Scribbles Two Short, Last Letters to His Parents /

Pvt. Morton D. Elevitch, in Basic Training, Informs His Mother He Is Learning How to Shoot, Beat, Stomp, and Bayonet Another Human Being /

Pfc. Edgar Shepard Promises the Parents of Pfc. Russell Whittlesey, Who Saved His Life at Guadalcanal, That He Will “Avenge” Russell’s Death /

Capt. Ed Land, an American Pilot Flying with the Royal Air Force, Expresses to His Brother Frank the Exhilaration—and Risks—of His Job /& 1st Lt. Charles S. “Bubba” Young Chronicles for His Family a Dramatic Bombing Raid on Ploesti, Romania /

Maxine Meyers, Working as a Welder, Describes to Her Husband, Nove, a Historic Explosion Near Their Home in California /

Journalist Ernie Pyle Sends an Explicit, Profanity-Laced Letter from North Africa to His Lifelong Friend Paige Cavanaugh /

1st Lt. Paul Skogsberg Flirts with a Beautiful War Nurse Named Vera “Sheaf” Sheaffer Through a Series of Letters /& Seaman Sylvan “Sol” Summers Receives an Unexpected, Crushing Letter from His Fiancée /& “1st Lt. John David Hench Expresses His Disappointment to His Wife, Barbara, Over Her “Nocturnal Adventures” /& Hench, Writing Three Days Later, Assures His Wife She Is Forgiven /

Fifteen-Year-Old Pvt. Bill Lynn Implores His Mother to Send His Birth Certificate and “Get [Him] Out” of Boot Camp, But Then Later Tells Her Not to Worry About Him /& Mrs. Lynn Mails a Series of Short Letters to Bill Asking Where He Is and Updating Him on His Brother Bob, Also in Combat /

Shizuko Horiuchi, an American Citizen Detained for Being Japanese, Depicts for Her Friend Henriette Von Blon Life in an Internment Camp /& Pfc. Ernest Uno, with the Famed 442nd Regimental Combat Team, Explains to His Sister Mae in an Internment Camp About Why He is Fighting /

Lt. Walter Schuette Sends His Newborn Daughter, Anna Mary, a Letter to Be Read to Her in the Event He Does Not Come Home Alive /& After Learning That His First Child Has Just Been Born, Capt. George Rarey Exclaims to His Wife, June: “I’m a Father—I Have a Son! Thank You, Junie!” /

Army Nurse Vera Lee Writes to Her Family About a Deadly German Attack on Her Ship in the Gulf of Salerno /& Pvt. Paul Curtis, Fighting at Anzio, Responds to a Letter from His Younger Brother, Mitchell, Asking What Combat Is Like /

Pfc. Dom Bart Provides His Wife, Mildred, with a Moment-by-Moment Account of Going Ashore at Normandy on the Morning of June 6, 1944 /& S. Sgt. Eugene Lawton Shares with His Parents What Was Going Through His Mind Before, During, and After the D-Day Invasion /

Gen. George S. Patton Jr., Removed from the Main Action on D-Day, Offers Some Fatherly Advice to His Son George /

Pfc. Charles McCallister, with the 101st Airborne, Describes to His Aunt Mimi Her Son Jim’s Heroic Last Moments Before Being Killed /& Shaken by the “Terror” of Battle, Capt. George Montgomery with the Eighty-second Airborne Tells His Fiancée, Arline, He Loves Her More Than Ever /& 2nd Lt. Jack Lundberg Assures His Parents That, If He Should Die in Combat, Sacrificing His Life for the United States Is More Than Worth It /

Combat Nurse June Wandrey Describes to Her Family the Challenges of Working in a Field Hospital, Receives a “Dear June” Letter from Her Beau in the U.S., Writes to Her Sister About a Memorable Visit to the Vatican, and Grieves Over the Fate of a Young Patient/

Lt. jg. George Bush Updates His Parents on His Recovery After Being Shot Down and Nearly Killed During a Bombing Mission in the South Pacific /

1st Lt. George S. McGovern Shares with His Friend Bob Pennington a Few (Surprising) Comments on the 1944 Presidential Race /

CPhM Fritz Houser Describes to His Parents the Critically Wounded Patients He Treated During the Invasion of the Philippines /& Lt. Cdr. Douglas Fairbanks Jr. and John Steinbeck Offer Words of Condolence to the Widow of Their Friend, John Kremer, Killed in a Kamikaze Attack /

Pfc. Richard Cowan, Just Before the Battle of the Bulge, Writes a Profound Letter to His Mother About Ethics and Morality /& Pfc. DeWitt “Chick” Gephart Informs His Parents He Has Been Seriously Wounded in the Battle But, Nevertheless, Is in Very Good Spirits /& Warrant Officer Frank J. Conwell, Having Survived the Battle of the Bulge, Sends His Family a Poetic Reflection on War and What He Has Seen /

1st Lt. James Carroll Jordan, in a Letter to His Wife, Details the Atrocities Committed in the Buchenwald Concentration Camp /& 1st Lt. Fritz Schnaittacher, a German-Born Jew Serving in the U.S. Army, Writes to His Wife After the Liberation of the Dachau Concentration Camp /& S. Sgt. Horace Evers, in Adolf Hitler’s Munich Apartment, Uses Hitler’s Personal Stationery to Describe to His Family the Horrors of Dachau /

2nd Lt. Richard Wellbrock Chronicles His Remaining Days as a Prisoner of War in a Letter/Diary to His Wife, Mary /

1st Lt. William Lee Preston Characterizes for His Brother, John, a Parade of German Soldiers—Once the “Terror of Europe”—Now Defeated and Powerless /

Seaman Robert Black, Aboard the USS Swenson, Berates His Father for Embarrassing Him in Front of His Crewmates /

2nd Lt. Sidney Diamond Writes to His Fiancée, Estelle Spero, to Remind Her How Much He Loves Her, Shares His Fears About How Veterans Will Be Treated After the War, Reflects on His Fellow Soldiers Who Have “Departed,” and Describes the Melancholy Among the Soldiers on Christmas Day 1944 /& Estelle, During the Final Months of the War, Tells Her Fiancé She Is Thinking of Him Always and Loves Him Dearly /

Pfc. Bill Madden, Wounded Twice in Combat, Describes to His Father Coming in with the First Wave at Iwo Jima /

Pfc. Richard King Recalls the Fighting on Saipan and Okinawa in a Graphic Letter to His Parents /

A Survivor of the USS Indianapolis Disaster, RT 2/C Herbert J. Miner II Assures His Parents He Is Alive and Recuperating After Being Lost at Sea for Four Days /

Fireman Keith Lynch Describes to His Parents the “Dead City” of Nagasaki, Japan /

Cpl. Robert S. Easterbrook Writes to His Parents from the Hospital Bedside of Ex-Premier of Japan, Hideki Tojo, After Tojo’s Failed Suicide Attempt /

Gen. Benjamin O. Davis Sr. Reports to His Wife, Sadie, His Efforts to Promote Racial Equality and Understanding in a Postwar Era /

Stationed in Japan, Sgt. Richard Leonard Explains to His Friend Arlene Bahr Why, Despite All That Has Happened to Him, He Does Not Hate the Japanese /

THE KOREAN WAR & THE COLD WAR

Shot During One of the U.S. Army’s First Major Defeats in Korea, Pfc. Donald Luedtke Tells His Mother His Fate Could Have Been Much Worse /

In a Letter Home, Sgt. John Wheeler Harshly Condemns the Communists Fighting in Korea and Their Sympathizers in the States /& Wounded Twice in Action, Sergeant Wheeler Assures His Father He Will Not Be Sent Back into Combat /& Sgt. Gordon Madson Provides Sergeant Wheeler’s Father with a Firsthand Account of His Son’s Fate /

Writing from the Osaka Army Hospital, Pvt. Bob Hammond Describes to His Father the Brutal Fighting at the Chosin Reservoir /

In a Letter to Carlos P. Romulo, Gen. Douglas MacArthur Defends Himself Against the “Radical Fringe” Maligning His Leadership /

A Young Officer, Feeling Ignored, Implores His Wife to Send More Letters—and to Stay True to Him Back Home /& A Nineteen-Year-Old Soldier Replies to His Sweetheart After She Rejects Him for Another Man /

World War II Veteran S. Sgt. Joe Sammarco Bids His Wife, Bobbie, Farewell as He Embarks for Korea, Tells Her He Has Survived the Battle of Chipyong-ni and Other Close Calls, and, After Witnessing the Accidental Killing of Two Korean Children, Pleads with Bobbie to Take Extra Care of Their Little Girls /

Sgt. Don Gore Informs His Girlfriend That, If Ordered to Korea, “[He] Ain’t Goin’” /

Capt. H. Richard Hornberger, M.D., Shares with His Parents the Antics of His Fellow MASH (Mobile Army Surgical Hospital) Doctors /

Capt. Molton A. Shuler Jr. Describes to His Wife, Helen, the Makeshift Church He and His Friends Have Created in the Midst of Battle /

Ardith Morrisseau Gently Chastises Her Former Boyfriend, Lt. jg. Carroll Briggs, for “Getting Himself in Such Messes” with Other Women /& Briggs Confesses to Morrisseau That He Has Fallen in Love with Her /& Hardly Able to Contain Himself, Briggs Declares He Has Come to a Decision He Is “Just Dying to Tell [Her]” /

Demoralized by His Experiences in Korea, Pfc. Jack Train Jr. Instructs His Friend, Kathie, to Tell Her Younger Brother the Realities of War Before He Enlists /

Julia Child Admonishes Aloise B. Heath for Questioning the Patriotism of Smith College Professors with Alleged Communist Connections /

In a Letter to Reverend G. A. Zema, Helen Keller Denies That She Is a Communist Sympathizer /

Lt. Jack Sweeney Sends a Letter to His Future Wife, Beebe Matthewson, After a Disastrous, “Trans-Oceanic” Phone Call /& Cdr. Sweeney Assures Beebe That Even if He Should Die on One of His Missions, He Considers Himself “One of the Luckiest People” to Have Lived /

Convicted Spy Alger Hiss, Writing from Prison, Advises His Young Son Tony on What Is Required for an Individual to Be Truly Happy /& In a Letter to the Writer James Rorty, Whittaker Chambers Reflects on the Explosive “Hiss-Chambers Case” Twelve Years After It Was First Reported /

Writing from Moscow, Francis Gary Powers Sends His First Letter to His Parents After Being Shot Down Over the Soviet Union /

Former President Dwight Eisenhower Tells His Friend Jock Whitney That All Americans Must Be “Unified” Behind President Kennedy After the Bay of Pigs Disaster /

THE VIETNAM WAR, THE PERSIAN GULF WAR, SOMALIA, & BOSNIA

The Sister of an Army Specialist Killed in Vietnam Asks President John F. Kennedy “If a War Is Worth Fighting—Isn’t It Worth Fighting to Win?” /& President Kennedy Responds /

Lt. Roy Boehm, “Father” of the U.S. Navy SEALs, Wishes His Mom a Happy Valentine’s Day from Vietnam—the “Damndest Crazyiest War” Ever /

Cpl. Mike Jeffords Offers His Parents His First Impressions of Vietnam and Describes the Experience as “Something of a Vacation” /

In a Private Letter to Lt. Col. Lewis L. Millet, Gen. William C. Westmoreland Articulates the Difficulties American Forces Are Up Against /

Airman 3/C Robert Zwerlein Sends a High-Spirited Letter to a Friend Back in the States Only Days Before the Fatal USS Forrestal Fire /

Pvt. Brice E. Gross Offers His Younger Brother, Jerry, Words of Advice and Encouragement After the Death of Their Father /& In a Letter to His Wife, Joyce, 1st Lt. Dean Alien Reflects on the Physical and Emotional Challenges of Leading a Platoon /

Chaplain Ray W. Stubbe Writes to His Parents from the Marine Base at Khe Sanh on the First Day of What Was to Become a Lengthy and Terrifying Siege /& Lt. Col. Gerald W. Massy III Offers His Daughter Lynn a Firsthand Report of the Tet Offensive as It Unfolds Around Him /

In a Letter to His Parents, L. Cpl. Stephen Daniel Laments the Death of a Close Friend “in a Damn Country Not Worth Fighting for” /& SP4 Richard Baltzegar Shares with His Friend Mike Engel His Disgust for the U.S. Army “and the Country It Represents” /

Pfc. Timothy Robinson Chronicles His Combat Experiences in Vietnam in a Series of Short, Descriptive Letters to Anxious Family Members Back in the States /

SP4 Bob Leahy Explains to His Family Why One of the Worst U.S. Atrocities of the War Was No Surprise /& Another Army Specialist Four Describes to His Parents the Extent to Which Accidents, Friendly Fire, and Fragging Are Killing U.S. Troops /

The Parents of Sandy Scheuer Receive a Series of Letters, Including One from President Richard Nixon, After Their Daughter Is Shot Dead at Kent State /

2nd Lt. Scott Alwin Shares, in a Letter to His Father, a Secret He Has Been Keeping from Him for Some Time /

Tom McCabe, Writing to His Parents from the Hospital, Reflects on Being Back in the States After Fighting in Vietnam /& Shaken After an Attack at Fire Base Mary Ann, an Anguished Young Sergeant Tells His Mom He Wants to “Get the Hell Out of Here” /

Ambassador Graham A. Martin Dispatches Three Urgent Telegrams from the American Embassy in Saigon Pleading for More Helicopters /

Maj. Michael O’Donnell Sends His Friend Marcus Sullivan a Poem That, Decades Later, Would Be Read and Cherished by Thousands of Vietnam Veterans and Their Families /& Gold Star Mother Theresa O. Davis Writes to Her Son Richard, Killed in Vietnam, Thirty Years After His Death /& Richard Luttrell Leaves a Heartfelt Letter of Reconciliation at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. /

Bill Hunt Shares with Fellow Vietnam Veteran David H. Hackworth His Concerns About an Impending U.S. War with Iraq /

Sgt. Tom Shaffer Jokes with His Friend Kathleen Williams About the Precautions They Have Been Given in the Event of a Chemical Weapons Attack /

S. Sgt. Frank Evans Describes to His Mother and Stepfather the Anxious First Hours of the Air Campaign Against Iraq /

Writing to His Wife and Sons, Maj. Bob Munson Downplays a Scud Attack and Relates Some Lighter Moments on the Base /

Capt. Samuel G. Putnam III Chronicles for His Wife and Family His Participation in the Ground War /& S. Sgt. Dan Welch Reflects in a Letter Home How Strange the War Seemed and Expresses His Regrets the Allies “Didn’t Go Far Enough” /

Gen. H. Norman Schwarzkopf and Gen. Colin Powell Console the Families of Two Men Killed in the Persian Gulf /& General Powell Responds to a Withering Onslaught of Questions—from a Class of First Graders /

Photojournalist Dan Eldon Sends a Short Note to His Girlfriend from Mogadishu About the Plight of Somalia /

Black Hawk Pilot Michael Durant Writes from Captivity in Somalia to Assure His Wife and One-Year-Old Son That, Although Injured, He Is Still Alive /

1st Lt. Erin Shuler Writes an E-mail from Bosnia to Her Family Back in the States Detailing Serbian Atrocities /& Maj. Thomas O’Sullivan Sends His Son, Conor, a Special Gift from Bosnia for His Seventh Birthday /

Afterword

Editor’s Note and Acknowledgments

Permissions

Index

CONTENTS