Letter 1
Dear Brother,
How is everything on your side? I'm doing all fine, and our force just won two remarkable victories.
Last December, General Lee, aided by Stonewall Jackson and James Longstreet, led us to a victory at Fredericksburg, Virginia. Although we only had less than 80,000 people, we still succeeded in defeating the Union force of about 120,000 soldiers, led by General Burnside. The Union army suffered over double of our casualties.
Battle of Fredericksburg, Morning of December 13
This glorious victory made us regain confidence in the war. Lincoln replaced General Burnside with General Joseph Hooker to command the army of Potomac. And this May, we met his army at Chancellorsville. The battle continued for a whole week, and we had a very bloody day on May 3rd. People have been saying that this is the bloodiest day since September 17th of 1862, when the Battle of Antietam happened. At Chancellorsville, both sides suffered huge losses. But at last, we managed to overpower Hooker's army.
Battle Plan of May 3 at Chancellorsville
In this hard fought battle, our biggest loss was the outstanding commander, Stonewall Jackson. He died after an accidental shot from his own men. General Lee was very upset about this loss, and he claimed that he had "lost his right arm". It's true that nobody can ever replace his great leadership.
General Jackson Wounded
After winning these two victories, General Lee desired to bring a decisive blow to the North. In June, he ordered us to invade the North. He hoped that we would have an opportunity to win international support for the Confederacy, and force an end to the war while demoralizing the Union. The decision of invasion did have good intentions, and most of us supported it because we all were quite confident in our own powers. If we do achieve a victory on the Union land this time, we might soon be celebrating the Confederate victory of the war together.
Yours, John
June 19, 1863
Honestly, I think General Lee didn't make the right decision this time. Although it seemed like that we lost less men than the North, the North actually had more population and more resources than us. And due to the Militia Act, more and more black soldiers have been joining the Union army. If we invade the North, we would eventually run out of supplies and people. Besides, we just lost Jackson, one of the best commanders in our nation. His leadership cannot be easily replaced. Therefore, in my opinion, our best strategy should be keep defending our homeland instead of offending the enemies.
Letter 2
Dear Brother,
I'm sorry that you are injured in a battle recently... Are you all right? I hope you will be well soon.
Our army has entered the Union, and has crossed into Pennsylvania. Yesterday, July 1st, we met John Buford and George Meade's army at Gettysburg. Everything went well the first day, but the situation has turned worse now.
Today, General Lee commanded us to assualt both ends of the Union line, but we failed to defeat them after several hours of fighting. Meanwhile, the Union soldiers attacked one of the undefended camps at Little Round Top, and forced hundreds of our men to surrender.
Attack at Little Round Top
I heard that there will be another attack early tomorrow morning. I am nervous because hundreds of my fellow soldiers have lost their lives in this cruel war. But I'm not frightened by all the death happening around me. I will fight till victory is won, or till the very last second of my life.
Please wish me good luck, as well as all the Confederate soldiers here fighting at Gettysburg.
Yours, John
July 2, 1863
Unfortunately, this letter turned out to be John's last words. On the very next day, when Lee's army rushed to the center of the Union line, my brother fell under the Union fires, became one of the 50,000 casualties in the Battle of Gettysburg. I'm proud that he did bravely fight until the very last second of his young life. But sadly, the battle ended with the Confederate failure. General Lee lost almost one third of his army, and had to retreat to Virginia. He abandoned the thought of invading the North. In the end, we gained nothing but thousands of cold, badly damaged corpses, including that of my dearest brother.
Casualties in Gettysburg
An Overview of the Battle of Gettysburg
As I expected, the invasion failed. We didn't have enough soldiers or enough supplies. We should have taken good use of our strategic advantage -- fighting a defensive war on our familiar homeland. If we did not take the risk to invade the North, we might have lost less of our limited population, and my brother probably wouldn't have died.
This November, while my family in Mississippi were mourning for my brother's death, Lincoln dedicated a cemetry for the fallen Union soldiers at Gettysburg. He gave the Gettysburg Address, and stated that the war was a struggle to fulfill the Declaration of Independence and preserve a nation "dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal".
Gettysburg Address Manuscript
This is complete nonsence -- Lincoln tried to justify himself by saying that he pursues equality in all men. But if he is really so dedicated in seeking equality, why doesn't he give the blacks the right to vote? And why does he outlaw women, when they are the same creatures as men? In my view, he's just trying to get the southern land back, and force us to give up on slavery. He never actually considered about the future of southern slave owners. To be honest, I don't see any good he has brought to the nation, except a bloody war and a stubborn naive belief of "equality". Men are not created equal. Nothing is truly fair in this world. The strongest survive -- that's the only law.
Bibliography
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Congress. Web. 21 Feb. 2016. <http://www.papersofabrahamlincoln.org/
how-you-can-help/our-search-for-documents/notes-on-the-gettysburg-address>.
Jespersen, Hal. "Chancellorsville May 3." Map. Wikipedia. Wikipedia.com, 27 Nov.
2010. Web. 17 Feb. 2016. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
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Kurz & Allison. Battle of Chancellorsville. 1889. Library of Congress, Chicago.
Wikipedia. Web. 17 Feb. 2016. <https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/
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- - -. Battle of Fredericksburg, Dec 13, 1862. 1888. Library of Congress,
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Cong. American Pageant. Web. 21 Feb. 2016. <http://college.cengage.com/
history/us/bailey/american_pageant/11e/students/primary/gettysburg.htm>.
- - -. View of Little Round Top. July 1863. Lib. of Cong. Son of the South. Web.
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view-gettysburg-little-round-top.htm>.
Smithsonian Channel. The Bloodiest Battle of the Civil War. YouTube.
YouTube.com, 2 Dec. 2012. Web. 21 Feb. 2016. <https://www.youtube.com/
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