121

"Our colors were shot down three times"

Charles A. Smith.

Letter describing the Battle of Fredericksburg.

Falmouth, VA, 20 December 1862
Autograph Letter Signed to father [Emmons Smith]. 4 pages, 9¾ x 7½ inches, on one folding sheet; folds, minor wear, 2-inch repaired closed tear. With typed transcript.

Charles Austin Smith (1836-1910) was a shoemaker from Barre, MA who served as a corporal in the 21st Massachusetts Infantry. He writes a few days after the bloody Union defeat at Fredericksburg, and alludes to the heroism of his regiment's Medal of Honor winner Thomas Plunkett, who picked up the regimental flag, had both hands blown off by cannon fire, but continued forward with the flag tucked under what was left of his arms. Smith, writing for a family audience, makes it sound not quite that awful.

"We were ordered into the fight and we charged across an open field for about half a mile in front of the rebel batteries, and they were a shelling us as fast as they could, but it did not drive us back. Our colors were shot down three times, but did not stay down but a short time. We were under the fire of the rebels for about five hours, and as hard fighting as I have ever seen." The next day, he was sent to the front on picket: "If a man showed his head in sight, the rebel sharpshooters would fire at him." 

After participating in the butchery of Fredericksburg, Smith has a few words for the armchair warriors back home: "I hope the old hotheads at home will be satisfied now, for they are all the time wanting to know why the Union forces do not advance. Tell them to come out here and try it, and they will find that it is easyer to stay at home and talk. . . . I have been in eight fights, and have come out without a scratch as yet, but . . . it is by the goodness of my God."

Smith survived the war, married, and raised a family in Hubbardstown, MA.

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