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Regiment: 1st U.S. Volunteers Sharpshooters
Battles Mentioned: Bull Run, Virginia
Historical Figures: Hiram C. Berdan
Camp of Instruction
First Reg. U.S.S.S.
Washington Mar. 12th 1862
My Own Mary.
I run the guard the
fore part of the evening and went
to the city so could not write and
after getting back found we had got
to take a days trump some where.
and I would not have time to write
to-morrow.
Your accustomed Mon-
day letter has not yet come probably
it will be along next mail.
“Manassas
is ours” is on every lip. the cowardly
fools ran away instead of fighting
to the last as they claimed they were
going to. one thing is certain if they
had fought we should have over whelmed
them with numbers and though it would
have cost thousands of lives to fight
as they might have fought would have
much more in their favor and shown
themselves more men in ernest. besides
would not half so much demoralized
their entire army.
It is very possible
they may have an
[ ? ] object in withdrawing
their forces from the place. possibly to
draw us into a trap. in that they
will fail we will not be fooled again
in the same way we were last July.
now at Centerville and vicinity we have
nearly one hundred thousand well
disiplined. well offerceed troops. then
less than half that
that number with no
Officers worth the name, strunken
regiment and many of them nearly
Traitors. It is not to be wondered at
we were whipped it looks totally different
to me now than it did the morning
we first got the news
of about the
Bull Run
affair.
We cannot tell what a day may
bring forth. but you need not stare if
some bright morning you get up know-
ing that U.S.S.S. existed only as a name
of the past as a disgrace for the future
I dont say it will happen and I dare
not say it will not. why some men are
born for Arsnal disgrace I know not
but in every war there must be
some Benedict Arnolds and also some
stumbling blocks in the path of the
Government. Berdans U.S.S.S. is a case
in point in the present war.
Please
drop the Berdan in directing your letters
I despise the man and the name
to that extent that I only write it now
with a curse on my tongue and a
feeling of undying hatred in my heart.
But I must bid you good night.
Believe
me always true.
to with a kiss.
Gardner
[On Envelope:]
Miss Mary J. Baxter
Grand Rapids
Michigan
