Letter From B. F. Burke to His Father

Camp near Sparta
Middle Tennessee
Sept. 4th, 1862

Dear Father :

I will write you a few lines as I have an opportunity of sending this across the Mississippi river. We are once more got into the edge of middle Tenn. Gen. Bragg's division of infantry has crossed the Cumberland mountains and are at this place in this time about twenty five thousand strong. We are preparing new to start on toward Nashvill. The Yankees are fleeing before us, I don't think they will make any stand this side of Nashvill. The boys are all in high spirits thinking we will soon be in possession of hte entire state of Tennessee.

Our reg't had a fight a few days ago in which we lost several killed & wounded. I cannot give you no particulars of the affair, only that we run into an ambuskade and attempted to charge a stockade and got several killed without doing any good. I don't know as we killed a single Yankee. We had one man killed & three wounded from our company. We were in such a close place we had to leave our dead on the field. I was not in the fight myself. The man killed in our company's name was J. T. Pettis.

Tell John Justice's folks he is quite well & would have written them but was out getting clothes washed. I am very well myself & also the whole reg't.

I have to close as the re't is loading up to start away in about five minutes.

So, good by.

B. F. Burke

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.)

 

---