Camp near Fredericksburg, Virginia, May 15th, 1863.
...Of course, anyone on the eve of a battlefield is serious and some even anxious and apprehensive, but every sensible and patriotic man knows that on the morrow, he must battle for his rights and on his deeds and bearing hangs the honor and existance of the Confederacy and the sanctity and preservation of home and family, and steeled with this idea and fired with determination to do his duty, every true soldier commits himself to the strife, confiding his fate to the Great Giver of Eternal Life....
3rd Lt. William Henry Harrision Lewis, Co. K, 16th Miss. Inf.
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...."Of the thousands who at this time rushed to arms, I believe very few had in their minds the question of slavery. Many had before them the question of "States Rights" versus "Federal authority," but the greatest number were animated only by a determination to resist Lincoln's proclamation."...
Orderly Sgt. William Watson, Company K, 3rd Louisiana Inf.
"Life in the Confederate Army"
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..."but our country calls & he that would not respond deserves not the name of man & through we fall, we fall battling for our rights & are determined to have them or die in the attempt."...
A Life For the Confederacy.. War Diary of Robert A Moore, Pvt., Co. G, 17th Mississippi
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David Upton