Slayton, Chester M. to Asa W. Slayton
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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC03955.03 Author/Creator: Slayton, Chester M. Place Written: Georgia Type: Autograph letter signed Date: 5 July 1864 Pagination: 2 p. ; 11.7 x 13.7 cm. Order a Copy
All is quite on the front but troops expect to fight again soon. Chester requests that Asa send him a new diary. He mentions the inferiority of camp medical care and fear of comrade's death. A comrade who had a good chance of recovery in last letter is now facing a chance of survival that is less than one in ten. Chester also mentions theft of rations among Union troops. He has received a pay raise to 18.00 per month, "a little better wages, and every little helps."
Asa W. Slayton and Chester M. Slayton were brothers from Grattan, Michigan who served in the 25th Michigan Infantry Regiment. Asa W. Slayton enlisted as a sergeant at age 30 and Chester as a corporal at age 27, the later being promoted to full sergeant on 15 July 1864 during his participation in the Atlanta Campaign. Asa resigned from his position in the army in 1864 and returned to Grattan where he worked a school teacher, farmer and amateur artist. Chester served as a surveyor and draughtsman in the Engineers Department of the 25th Infantry until the end of the war. After being mustered out in June of 1865, he returned to Grattan to live as a farmer.
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