Henry, Josiah E. (b. 1840) to Sister
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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC02749.007 Author/Creator: Henry, Josiah E. (b. 1840) Place Written: Richmond, Virginia Type: Autograph letter signed Date: 16 June 1862 Pagination: 4 p. : envelope ; 21.2 x 26.0 cm. Order a Copy
Henry's camp is on picket duty, and there has been a great deal of shooting during picket duty. Writes that some of the rebels climb into trees to get a better opportunity to shoot at their camp; one of the boys in Company G shot a rebel who was in the tree. The next day, the rebel sharpshooters shot into the Union camp and into a crowd of men; two boys from the 4th Regiment were wounded. Did not realize that the rebels could shoot into their camp, but bullets come into the camp everyday now. Writes that it was a "curious circumstance that out of about 200 men in the very crowded and jammed" camp, the bullets struck only two men. Writes that yesterday, their boys "changed coffee and newspapers and crackers for cakes with the rebels on picket and the time before that… it was worth a mans life to show his hand but the other day the men went out with a flag of truce and made an agreement that there should be no more picket shooting. The day before, one of the 4th Regiment boys went into the woods to find out what was happening in the rebel camp, but the rebels saw him and stoned him back. A rebel cavalry came out of Richmond, Virginia and went around the right wing of the camp to the rear and destroyed some government property. L Briggs of Mount Holy, a boy from Henry's company, died yesterday of a fever.
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