A Fictional Letter

As I was searching for a reference to the woman on the steamboat at the Battle of Shiloh on the internet, I cam across a blog dedicated to General Ulysses S. Grant with this interesting fictional letter signed Ambrose Bierce:

"This is a historical fiction letter that could have been written from one of the Union soldiers in the Battle of Shiloh

My Darling Wife,
I write to you with a heavy heart to tell you of the most recent battle at Shiloh. I was virtually uninjured expect for a broken foot and several deep cuts. I cannot say the same for most of the other men in my regiment. My two good friends Claude Hopkins and Fletcher Gownson were brutally killed. As I was fighting, I saw them both go down to my right. I foolishly stopped to look around the battlefield and saw hundreds of men littering the fields all dead, dying, or wounded. This is also when a Confederate soldier tried to blow off my foot, but only succeeded breaking it. I tried to keep fighting, but I could barely walk. A medic came onto the field to help me to the medical tent. As I limped through, I heard the screams of the dying and the wounded. I looked to my left and saw a young man, no more than 20 getting his leg amputated. I can still hear his screams sometimes. One of the nurses bandaged and splinted my foot and stitched one particularly deep cut on my arm. To be truthful, the only reason I am still alive is because I was taken off the field to recieve medical attention. After the battle ended, I went with what was left of my regiment to see the outcome and what I saw will haunt me for life. The bodies of men that I knew, and many more that I didn't, strewn all throughout the field. There were men going around to check to see if the men lying on the field could be saved, or if they were already dead. The smell of blood and gun powder was all around me. These men and boys were supposed to have along life ahead of them. They were meant to live, but now they will never get to go home to see their loved ones and the ones they left behind.
Your faithful husband,
Ambrose Bierce"

http://sgacivilwar.weebly.com/the-public-response-to-the-battle-of-shiloh.html


I was very much astounded when I saw the name signed at the bottom as I did not know such a letter existed. Bierce was not married at such a time, so it is definitly fictional. This letter therefore confirms, if it is indeed written by Bierce, the full effect Shiloh had on him. It is with no doubt then, that Shiloh would have impacted profusely on any soldier involved in the campaign.