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Day as a Private
[https://ohiohistorycentral.org/w/Conscription_Act#:~:text=The%20Conscription%20Act%20required%20states,their%20enlistment%20quotas%20through%20volunteers.&text=The%20Conscription%20Act%20permitted%20drafted,service%20if%20they%20were%20drafted.] Horace starts his day as a private by finding Captain Walden with 50 men in line. The Conscription Act made all of those men except Horace and 7 other people got off early unexpectedly. He writes a letter while at camp, to his wife about it, shook. -
Not a Fan of "Pickle Beef"
[http://www.civilwar.com/history/soldier-life-85851/148553-soldier-s-food-during-the-civil-war.html#:~:text=The%20average%20Confederate%20subsisted%20on,when%20fighting%20was%20not%20underway.] Horace is at the camp and has plenty of food to eat, although, Horace thinks the pickle beef does not taste good. The pickle beef wasn't being eaten by the boys either. He writes this to his wife, Mary, when he's at camp. -
The Acquaintances
[https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4790547/.]
Horace talks about seeing his acquaintances Joseph and Leonard Lawrence, and Winston Gay, at the camp. They get along well and visit him. Dr. L B Parker visits and stays until the next morning. L B Parker mentions getting a letter from Clay Parker. Clay says Frank was preparing to practice medicine at Rockford. Horace tells his wife about it. He's happy to hear that his acquaintances are well. This was written on the fourth of May of 1862. -
Sickly or Deathly.
[https://www.civilwarmonitor.com/blog/the-most-fatal-of-all-acute-diseases-pneumonia-and-the-death-of-stonewall-jackson] Horace wrote a letter to his wife, talking about illnesses going around at camp. There were some deaths, but others are measles & pneumonia. He wrote this on May 4th, 1862. Then he witnessed a Pike soldier drown himself and then saw a soldier shoot another soldier. The soldiers were drunk. He is scared of the battle since he thinks the soldiers are losing all manner of respect -
Prisoners of Shiloh
[https://www.essentialcivilwarcurriculum.com/the-battle-of-shiloh.html] Horace writes Mary a letter on May 4th, 1862, of how he visits the prisoners of Shiloh near his camp. (After asking permission.) He describes 700-800 prisoners there and them as dirty and lousy. He makes conversation with some of them and thinks they're people of low class. A guard from his camp watching over them, and has killed one of them. Horace thinks there's going to be more prisoners buried and killed during the week. -
Passing of Mother-in-Law
[https://connecticuthistory.org/death-and-mourning-in-the-civil-war-era/] Horace writes to his wife, when he's at camp, about a letter he received. Letter was written on 5-4-1862. He got a letter from A J Thompson. A J Thompson's wife told A J about the passing of Horace's mother-in-law. Horace feels sorry for his wife and is surprised to hear about it. He finds out a few days after her passing. Mr. Boyd told Horace that her mother was getting better and would have called instead if he had time. -
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Being In Charge
[https://www.battlefields.org/learn/articles/life-civil-war-soldier-army] Horace after being a private for a day is now in charge of the army squad and luggage. Captain Walden, made him in charge until the 6th of May. Horace thinks he will be stressed during that day and afterward, but thankfully will get to go home and spend a few days there. He writes this to Mary, his wife, from the camp, in 1862. -
Daily Routine
[http://digitalexhibits.wsulibs.wsu.edu/exhibits/show/civilwar/life-of-a-confederate-soldier] On 5-16-1862, Horace writes Mary a letter from camp. He is doing hard work when having a cold. Each day, he cooks 3 meals a day for 6-8 people. Then 8 am to noon he works and then relaxes until 3 pm. After 3, he continues working till night. Sometimes after night he still is working. Afterward, he eats his supper. He feels like the soldiers around him observe that he's the man working the hardest there. -
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Staying at Alabama, Going to Atlanta.
[https://www.americaslibrary.gov/es/ga/es_ga_atlanta_1.html ]Horace writes a letter to Mary from his camp in Alabama, on July 7th, 1862. Horace had a congested liver and lost 20 pounds, which delayed his reply. He feels like he should have written sooner but isn't completely better yet. On July 8th, he leaves Alabama and goes to Atlanta, Ga, so he can get to Tennesee. In his next letter from Tennesee, he states that they stayed at the Alabama Camp for 4-5 days, around July 4th/5th to July 8th. -
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The Continuing Cold in Chattanooga.
[https://www.civilwaracademy.com/civil-war-diseases]
Horace writes a letter on July 16th to Mary, when in Chattanooga, Tennessee. He tells her how he has had a bad cold and cough for a week, which he is coughing all night, and having difficulty breathing. He worries that it will turn into pneumonia, but tells Mary to not worry about it, because he will be taken care of at most of their military stations. He has had a cold for about a week around when he wrote the letter. -
Moved to Chattanooga Tennessee.
[https://www.britannica.com/event/Battle-of-Chattanooga] On July 16th, Horace writes to Mary and directs all to family, from Chattanooga Tennessee. On Sunday, July 8th, 1862, at 5 pm, they left Alabama to go to Tennessee by going through Atlanta, Ga. They arrived in Chattanooga, Tennessee, on July 16th, at 8 am. The town is poor, dirty, & hungry. Not far from Horace, are about 40,000 troops, making a forward movement upon the enemy. The citizens sympathize with the enemy and it satisfies Horace. -
Chattanooga's Crops
[http://www.tn4me.org/article.cfm/a_id/6/minor_id/2/major_id/5/era_id/5] On July 16th, Horace arrives in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and writes to his wife about it. He writes from the camp there and tells Mary about how the crops are very late including the corn. But there's silk, some that have been bunched, but mostly not bunched silk for tassels. But the crops that they do have there, are quite good in Horace's opinion. The late crops will affect how much food they have there. -
Battalion Company
[https://military-history.fandom.com/wiki/Quartermaster_sergeant]
On July 20th, 1862, Horace writes a letter to Mary, from Camp Shorter near Chatanooga Tennessee. He is a Quarter Master Sergeant and was assigned to the Second Battalion
Walden & Stubblefield's companies. Mary needs to compose the two companies of the Battalion when directing the letter. They will find Horace to give him the letter. There were deaths in the Battalion company and Horace thinks that will stay the same. -
Writing Winston Back
[https://about.usps.com/news/national-releases/2012/pr12_civil-war-mail-history.pdf] On July 31st, 1862, Horace writes a letter to his wife about his acquaintance, Winston Gay. His wife wrote him a letter and said that Winston didn't get his letter. So, Horace immediately writes him a letter upon the receipt. Horace hopes his original letter got to him but wrote another in case it didn't. He wrote him originally about how he was glad to hear that the health of Winston's family was improving. -
Jaundice Remains.
[https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/epidemiology-and-infection/article/19thcentury-and-early-20thcentury-jaundice-outbreaks-the-usa/D6D84B02EA8B722537F885C886C2E5B8]
On July 31st, 1862, Horace writes to Mary McLean & John McLean from Camp Shorter near Chattanooga Tennessee. He has had jaundice which has caused him a loss of appetite. He thinks it as the meanest sickness he's ever had. He doesn't even eat as much as he'd eat in a day, during a week with jaundice. His health is not improving. -
Lost Soldiers
[https://www.historynet.com/civil-war-soldiers]
Horace writes his wife in August of 1862 from Tazewell Tennessee. There was a battle currently before he arrived there and 10 men of his own were lost. ("The other day" before he arrived.)30 of his enemies were killed. Although since there was a detachment of 12 men to act as couriers, Horace thinks there is no chance for a fight soon. -
Tazewell Tennessee
[https://www.civilwarmed.org/quick-facts/onthego/]
From Tazewell Tennessee, Horace writes a letter to Mary in August of 1862. He last wrote her from Maynardville Tennessee and moved to Tazewell Tennessee. Around August 4th, he leaves around 2 o'clock with his baggage on his back. The trip made him sore & a headache pretty severe. He had to wade through the Clinch River to get to the town. There were only 25 people living there. He thinks it looks like fine brick houses deserted and destroyed. -
Camp Randolph.
[https://tnmuseum.org/junior-curators/posts/what-does-a-soldier-eat#:~:text=The%20most%20common%20food%20given,t%20able%20to%20keep%20up.] Horace wrote Mary a letter on August 22, 1862. He made it to Camp Randolph and has been there for 5 days. They have no orders and are resting while wagoning everything in way of commissary stores from Knoxville. The health of Horace's army company is tolerably good, some sick although. His forces took 29 horses & five people on August 20th & August 22nd. -
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Mary writes Horace After a Long Break.
[https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/letters-to-loved-ones] On Sept 8th, 1862, Horace writes letter to Mary from Camp near Cumberland Gap about how he hasn't gotten a reply from Mary in some days. He feels like he can't see why or what is the reason that he can't get letters from home. He wants to receive letters because everybody else gets letters at the camp. 7 days later he writes her, saying he received her letter a few days before the 15th. It made him feel like an old friend came to visit him. -
Fellow Soldier's Suffering and Death.
[https://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/national_cemeteries/death.html] From Louden Station in Tennessee, written Nov 17th, 1862, Horaces writes to Mr. John & Mrs. Mary A O McLean. (His father and wife.) He tells them how the men in the company are suffering from exposure to snow and how there were all but four men lost from death. This is in all since they left home, and have been in service a little over seven months. During this time, they didn't get to fire their guns at their enemy. -
Horace Finds out When he can Return Home.
[https://boft.org/after-the-fighting-ended] From Cumberland Gap, written on Feb 24th, 1863, Horace writes to his Father with great news. Horace is coming home by the end of the year and is looking forward to it. He looks forward to great things happening between then and the first of May. He is confident that his company army is in better condition to meet the enemy & by far in better spirits than ever they have been. -
Period: to
Last Dated Letter/The Bad Weather.
[https://www.battlefields.org/learn/articles/winter-encampments] From Camp Near Bristol, on April 9th, 1864, Horace's last dated letter is written. It's believed he died the same year later on. He experiences a great deal of bad weather from the camp for 40 to 50 days. There was an abundance of snow and snow disappearing from the tops of mountains a day or two days ago before it was written. He deals with rain after that, thankfully with a good board shelter to stay under.