For those of you who still remember TG Moses VI, I have taken the liberty of typing up one of his letters “urgently sent from the front.” He sends his regards and hopes to return shortly eager to discuss Axis and Allies on a daily basis. This letter was taken from his accounts while stationed at Fort Wayne, 1862 (historically).
4/25/02
As I write, it is near midnight. Confederate scouts have reported large concentrations of Union soldiers moving in our vicinity. It is certain the Union has numbers in an even greater presence since we last met them at Clarks Mill. I still remember the desperate combat in the dead of night, the stench of gunpowder heavy as pillars of artillery igniting the sky. I hope I will never witness such ghastly imagines again. Only a festering breeding ground of panic and disarray. Least I won’t survive the next encounter, my standard bearer will give my condolences.
Regardless, my men are still confident of victory against the North. Talks of spectacular successes fill the morning conversation, drowning out the lack of food or a decent cup of coffee. All the indications are there. We’ve routed the North many times on the battlefields of Newtonia and Independence, disrupted their supply lines, and harassed all sides of their flank. What my fellow comrades do not understand is the inexhaustible might of the North. Our supplies continue to dwindle; the numbers of dead and wounded already surpassing one thousand. I fear that if Lee does not defeat the Yankees soon, we will be doomed to agonizing defeat. Nevertheless, I have made commitment to both myself and the beloved South.
4/26/02
Today we were on the receiving end of the counterblow. The battle occurred around daybreak and lasted two hours of a bloody mess. Pardon my writing, my hand still trembles on account of memories and sleepless nightmares. We tried to hold the Fort as long as we could… reduced to hand to hand fighting when the ammunition had run out. The cannon erupting on all sides of the Fort, the swarm of Bue-Clad uniforms in tanglement with hues of Gray – only the spoken imagines of human faces unable to talk. We were promised reinforcements, but that was a week ago. Henderson’s Combat Brigade was left to hold off the Yankees until we could make our retreat. None of them made it back. Somehow, I have a feeling that they had a better chance of surviving than what is hellish to come. We have in no means shattered the North’s soul, only hardened it.
4/27/02
Today I write in the bog peat of some engraven rock. I don’t know what’s worse, the insects or the damned Yankees! HaHa! Sorry for the dry humor, it’s all I can muster out of such utter helplessness. Our Captain tells us that it’ll have to make due until new orders arrive. Yesterday’s losses were worst than expected. We had abandoned much of the wounded to fend for themselves in the wake of the rout. No graves for the dead, only rotten corpses basking in the sun. My unit was one of the better spared – we only loss five men. It’s a motley assortment of fellows: Texans, ex-slaves, Europeans, Asians, most of them stripped from remnant units no longer existent. I have grown fond of my brothers at arms, how lost their hopes might be. I often find myself reminding my brethren of the glory of desperate battles and lost causes, like Herman’s Ride to Glory and The Last Stand at Spree. Tomorrow we will have another day, destiny awaits!
Signed,
Moses VI “The Great”
“Abandon all hope lest you enter.” – Dante’s Inferno.