Letter From B. F. Burke

Camp near Corinth, Miss.
April 17, 1862

Dear Brother:
I have just received your favor and was very glad indeed to hear from you, as I did not know where to write to you.. Your last letter that I received was dated March 12th and that is the only letter that I have received from you in over two months. I have written you since I have been at this place and was in a quandary whether to direct it to Galveston or home. As we heard that all of the 6th month troops were disbandoned or turned into three years or for the war. I will however risk directing this to Galveston as it will have about time to reach you before you leave provided you leave about the first of May, or at the expiration of your time.

We have been here at Corinth about three weeks now, with the exception of the time we were fighting the great battle of Shiloh which commenced on the 6th day of this month. [??] has not doubt reached you many days before this, but as I was a partaker in the battle I reckon you would like to hear something of it from me. But from two or three reasons it will be utterly impossible for me to give you any but a very short sketch of the battle, at this time. One reason is because I have not got the paper, and the next is because I have not got the time to do so if I did have the paper. I am on guard today and will not be off untill tomorrow so I have not much time to write. You know we will leave this place day after tomorrow for old Tennessee again. I don't know at what place we are going but somewhere in the direction of Nashvill.

I was at the commencement of the battle of Shiloh Church and was at the scene of action all day Sunday and Monday and was in two charges and two skirmishes on foot. We had about sixty-five of our regiment killed and wounded, only four of our company wounded. I came out unhurt luckily though was in some pretty tight places and was hit by a spent ball but was not hurt. It was the most awfull battle I ever expected to hear or see. It was a continuous rear of musketry and canon for two days. We whiped them badly on Sunday clear back into their gunboats on the Tennessee river. I have no idea how many was killed on either side but the loss was very great on both sides. I never saw the like of dead Yankees, strewed for several miles. We quit off about even on Monday we drew our forces off the field and they done the same. They had about three men to our one. We took many valuables from them and took every canon they had but one on Sunday. We took their entire encampment and found many fancy Yankee tricks, but we destroyed most everything on Monday by fire.

Return my best respects to William Brazeel and all the rest of the Fayette boys. The order that we received to go up into Tenn. has been countermanded and we are only going down a little piece in Miss. to recruit our horses. Write me soon and let me know when you expect to start for these parts.

Your brother,
B. F. B.

Heard, Jessie Burke, ed. Terry Ranger Writes Home: Letters of Pvt. Benjamin F. Burke Written While in Terry's Texas Rangers 1861-1864. No Place, No Publisher, 1965. (Available in the University of Houston Library.)