Volleys Are Fired Over Union Dead At Vicksburg

This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 8/31/2008

A good war-date Union soldier's letter written by Sgt. Jordan C. Harriss, Co. A, 81st Illinois Vols, 4p. folio, Vicksburg, Mississippi, August 31, 1863, with stamped cover, it reads in part: "…I have heard no reliable news from the Regt. yet everything appears to be hushed & still but occasionally it is broken by vollies of musketry, the last military honors paid to a soldier who sleeps the sleep that knows no mortal waking. These vollies are fired over the grave of the deceased, how solemn the thought for if it be melancholy for a man to die in youth surrounded by loving friends in the quiet of his home how much more is it to perish in the tented field especially the battle field surrounded by the faces of the enemies the din & horror of war. War at the best is a stern and terrible evil an evil which nothing perhaps can outweigh unless it be a doubtful & dishonorable peace but a noble cause a cause involving a great principle the triumph of which is more than life or death such a cause as we have espoused to secure the blessings of justice, truth, liberty, union, & harmony not only for ourselves but humanity, not only for the present generation but for posterity not only for this age but for ages hence when our names shall be wrapped in cold oblivion to all mankind who breaths the air above the soil which gave us our last resting place. Such a cause I deem worth contending for, such a cause me thinks ennobles war if there be anything which does….We go to preaching sometimes in town of Sundays & sometimes go to the Catholic Church & witness what appears to me the theatrical performances of the 'Robed Priest' & his attendants. I could not understand much that the Priest said as I was situated but I took up some of his arguments made to show that Catholics were right. He said that all the other denominations were always disputive on doctrinal points that no tow of their brethren could scarce ever wholly agree but go wherever you might in all nations and you would find Catholics & they all agreed they were all a unit…I think it not strange if they act just as the Priest tells them. He also spoke of the Protestants as being the cuttings off from the true church as they had protested with Luther for their leader & withdrew from the Catholics and were consequently branches separated from the 'True Vine' & therefore without life. He thought the very word protest or rebel sounded bad to the ear & abhorred the idea…" VG. Harriss was captured with a majority of his regiment at Guntown, Miss. on June 10, 1864 and sent to Andersonville prison. After his exchange, he was mustered out with his regiment at the end of the war.

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