Although we have spent the last several months 
running the Yanks out of Tennessee, we lost 
the big battle with them.  On October the 
8th, we met the Yankees at Perryville, 
Kentucky.  To make a long story short, they 
was just too much fer us.  The Yanks had too 
many men, too many cannons, and they were too 
many fresh troups for us to win.  After it 
was all over, we had to pull back.  I lost a 
couple of good friends in the battle, and the 
Company lost Captain Prusser.  A Yank sniper 
shot him in the chest as he rallied the company 
against a charge.  I saw the whole thing and 
shot the Yankee who did it.  I was sniping 
myself at the time from the fork of a tree. If 
I'd a seen him a little sooner, the Captain 
would still be alive may be. More than like not.  
When it's time for a man to meet the Maker, it's 
time.  I guess if a bullet has your name on it, 
that's that.

Leut. Smith took over the company, and did a good 
job.  He sent Old Mose, the Captain's man servant, 
back to Texas with the body.  He sent Bill 
Stewart, a private who had worked for the Capt. 
back to see that Mose got back home with the body 
alright.  It sure was a sad day for all of us.
Seems like sickness and the DamnYankees keep 
whittling away at us.  We are down to 65 men now.