I’ve not yet had the opportunity to see Ken Burns’ masterful work, The Civil War.
But I did see this one clip. [1]
A week before the Battle of Bull Run, Sullivan Ballou, a Major in the 2nd Rhode Island Volunteers, wrote home to his wife, Sarah, in Smithfield. The letter was written from Washington, D.C. July 14, 1861, on the eve of his unit moving out to war.
He wrote the letter in anticipation of his death.
It is, to me, the most moving love letter I’ve ever read. By the end, I was reduced to tears.
(Bull Run, Virginia – View of the battlefield)
Sullivan Ballou was killed a week later at the First Battle of Bull Run.
In this 150th anniversary of those horrible, bloody years of the American Civil War, please take a few minutes and listen to Sullivan Ballou’s heart-felt sentiments.
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[1] The music in the background is entitled Ashoken Farewell.
koshersamurai 