May the 25^th 1863

 

Elijah Newlon. Dear father I take my pen in hand this morning to write you a few lines to let you know that I am well, and where I am we are now in the rear of Vicksburg, and we have plenty of fighting to do. our brigade went in to the fight last tuesday and we fought five days without being relieved. day before yesterday we charged on a fort, and went to it and tried to climb the walls, but could not do it so we had to fall back in a hollow about 200 yards from the fort where we are lying yet, we were skermishing all day yesterday, and if the rebels raises their heads to look over their breastworks we plug it to them. we have them entirely surrounded, and I think we / will have to starve them out. I dont believe we can take the place by fighting. we cant get over their breastworks, and it is like taking men in a slaughter house to go in front of them to fight. we had about 400 men in our Regiment when we went into the fight and we got about 100 of them killed and wounded. nearly all the officers in our Regiment are killed or wounded. there is’nt but one captain now in the 80^th Regiment, and that is captain Fowler. we have been very lucky with our company we are the flanking company on the left of the Regiment, and when we charged on the fort it throwed us under a bank till we got so close to the fort that the grape shot went over us. we havent had any killed yet in our company

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