ANTIETAM: A Civil War Battle Documentary
Obby_ for Private George Harlow, 23rd Virginia [CONFEDERATE]
Private George Harlow, part of the 23rd Virginia Regiment, was one of the portions of Robert E. Lee's Army who marched through the old Antietam Battlefield approximately 10 months after the battle occured during Lee's 2nd Invasion of the North.
In this quote, George Harlow is writing a letter to his family back home, recalling the appalling sights of the battlefield even 10 months after it happened. Some dead soldiers were still left uncovered on the field, some rotting away in front of his very eyes.
“Dear father, mother, and family. I have been this morning over the old Sharpsburg battlefield, and have witnessed the most horrible sights that my eyes ever beheld. I saw the dead in any number just lying on top of the ground, their bones bleaching, and they by the many hundreds. Oh, what a horrible sight for human beings to look upon. God grant that the time many speedily come that peace may return to our once happy country, and our lives be spared to meet each other again on this Earth. George Harlow, Private, Co. D, 23rd Virginia.”
