September 14, 1862, Union Encampment, 
                    Boonsboro, Maryland

We left Washington, DC, on the 6th of September 
and marched to Frederick, Md.  The march took 
five days.  We arrived in Frederick on the 11th.

We were on the move again the very next morning, 
the 12th, marching on to Middletown, Md.  This 
morning, using Middletown as our base, we 
launched an attack against Turner's Gap which 
was being held by Confederate Generals Hill and 
Longstreet.  We whipped 'em good!  We finally 
won one!

We pushed them back through Boonsboro, Md., 
that's where we're camped now, the last we seen 
of them they had split up.  Some of them 
Confederates was skedaddling toward Hagerstown, 
Md., and the rest of them toward Williamsport, 
Md.

We beat Longstreet.  He's one of their best.  
Turner's Gap had been considered a Confederate 
stronghold but that was before they ran into 
us boys of Burnside's Corps.

I saw the elephant here, and I spit in his eye!  
When the battle first started I was in the first 
rank and  couldn't understand why the birds in
the trees we were advancing through were singing 
in the middle of a battle.  Then I realized that 
it wasn't the birds singing, but musket balls 
ripping through the leaves that was making the 
whistling sounds I was hearing.

I panicked and was ready to run, but as I 
started to turn I saw that behind me was one of 
our new fellas.  A youngster named Nate Leeks, 
from Atlantic City.  He was crying, and he was 
looking at me.

I could see in his eyes that he was going to 
follow me no matter what I did.  I looked  
around and saw that a lot of the other fellas 
also seemed to be looking at me.  l didn't 
want to be the one who caused the entire 
regiment to run.

I think that I was more afraid of being afraid 
than I was of the elephant.  I let out with a 
yell and started running forward, firing and 
reloading my musket on the run.  I was like a 
crazy man, but the whole regiment followed
screaming just as loud as they could.

At one point as I was advancing, it felt like 
someone was tugging on my shirt but I wasn't 
ready to stop, I just kept moving forward and 
firing.  The smoke from the firing of the 
muskets and cannons, on both sides, was so 
thick you had to bend over almost to the 
ground to see where you were going.  I later 
found out that the tugging I had felt was no 
tugging at all, but was two musket balls that 
had passed through my shirt and never touched 
my skin.

I started to laugh and laughed until I cried.  
Our new Sergeant, Sergeant Reed, told me he was 
real proud of the way I fought today.  A lot of 
the other fellas stopped by to pat me on the 
back, have a smoke (I've taken up the pipe but 
haven't told the folks), laugh,  and tell me I 
was crazy.

Nate Leeks stopped too and told me he was ready 
to run, and would have too, but that when I took 
off the ranks behind him started rushing forward 
too.  He was afraid that if he turned around 
he'd be killed by the stampede.  He said he was 
more afraid of the Yankees behind him than he 
was of the Confederates ahead of him.

We had a good laugh.  Nate seems like a nice 
fella but I don't want to get too friendly with 
him.  I still think of Homer a lot.  Having 
friends dosen't seem like a good idea in a war.

Word is that tomorrow we'll be on the march again.  
There's quite a mix going on down at Harper's Ferry 
and that may be where we're headed.  Rumor is we'll 
be spending tomorrow night in some little town named 
Sharpsburg, Md.