This 4 page, 7 ½ x 9 ½ inch, letter is written in nice dark ink with legible handwriting.  It has a great look to it… and the content is GREAT!  Charles A. Smith was a Barre, Massachusetts, 24-year-old shoemaker, who fought all 4 years of the war.  Smith was a man of great personal faith and this is expressed well in the letter.  The letter is in fine condition with the usual aging and staining.  Smith would go on to be wounded in June of 1864 at the battle of Petersburg. 

·         “I have been marching and fighting… I have seen some as hard times since I last
wrote as I ever saw in my life and I have lived through them and am all right as yet.”
 

·         “Our men began to shell the city the 11th of this month and there was some as sharp
cannonading as I ever heard in my life.”

·          “Our troops began to cross the river into the city of Fredericksburg.  In the afternoon
our Brigade crossed the 12th and on Saturday the 13th we were ordered into the fight
and we charged across an open field for about a 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 we were then relieved and fell back onto the bank of
the river.” 

·         “We laid there until Sunday night eight o’clock when we were ordered to the front on
picket just before light the next morning…  I never got up again until after dark for if
a man showed his head in sight of the rebel sharp shooters would fire at him.”

·         “About four o’clock in the afternoon the rebels threw three shells at us but it did not
scare us much for it only wounded one man and he was not hurt very bad.”
 

·         “…there was many a poor fellow found his grave on the other side.  I hope the old hot
heads 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 easier to stay at home and talk than it is to come out here and fight.  They
think that we had ought to go ahead and fight all the time but when they are called
upon to come and help they want from one to three hundred dollars bounty but I got
nothing…”

·         “I have been in eight fights and have come out without a scratch as yet but I do not
feel that it is by anything that I have done but it is by the goodness of my God who
has watched over me and kept me from all harm and I am very thankful to Him for
his kindness to me unworthy sinner as I am.” 

·         “Pray for me dear father and if it is not His good pleasure that we meet again on
earth may we so believe that we may meet in heaven.”

It would be hard to find a nicer Fredericksburg battle letter! 

#S56 - Price $950

Transcription:
                                                            Camp near Falmouth, Va. Dec. 20th, 1862

Dear Father,

It is with pleasure that I now sit down with pen in hand to write you
a few lines to let you know where I am and that I am well and hope these
few lines will find you enjoying the blessings.  It has been sometime since
I have written to you or anyone else for I have been marching and fighting
and it has been a long time since I have heard anything from you and I did
not know but the folks at home had forgotten that there was such a person
as Charles A. Smith in the army but I am still alive and kicking but have
seen some as hard times since I last wrote as I ever saw in my life and I
have lived through them and am all right as yet.  Our men began to shell
the city the 11th of this month and there was some as sharp cannonading
as I ever heard in my life.  Our troops began to cross the river into the city
of Fredericksburg in the afternoon our Brigade crossed the 12th and a
Saturday the 13th we were ordered into the fight and we charged across
an open field for about a 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 we were then relieved and fell back onto the
bank of the river.  We laid there until a Sunday night eight o’clock when
we were ordered to the front on picket just before light the next morning. 
We threw up a little earth work in front of us and at day light we laid
down behind it and after, laid down at light that morning.  I never got up
again until after dark for if a man showed his head in sight of the rebel
sharp shooters would fire at him.  About four o’clock in the afternoon the
rebels threw three shells at us but it did not scare us much for it only
wounded one man and he was not hurt very bad.  About eleven o’clock
that night we were relieved and the whole army fell back across the river
again.  So here we are just as we were before only that there was many
a poor fellow found his grave on the other side.  I hope the old hot heads
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 easier to stay at home and talk than it is to
come out here and fight.  They think that we had ought to go ahead and
fight all the time but when they are called upon to come and help they
want from one to three hundred dollars bounty but I got nothing and I
have been in eight fights and have come out without a scratch as yet but
I do not feel that it is by anything that I have done but it is by the goodness
of my God who has watched over me and kept me from all harm and I am
very thankful to Him for his kindness to me unworthy sinner as I am. 
Pray for me dear father and if it is not His good pleasure that we meet
again on earth may we so believe that we may meet in heaven.  Give my
respects to all inquiring friends and tell them that I am as well as could be
expected under the circumstances that I am placed in.  Tell Brother Davis
to remember me at the throne of grace and remember me at the prayer
and class meetings.  Tell Ira and the rest of the children to seek their
Savior early in youth for they will enjoy themselves better both now and
in after years.  I do not know when I shall come home but I want you
should keep the letters that I sent home safe so that if I should ever return
I can have them.  Write as soon as you get this and let me know if you got
a package of letters that I sent and was left with Jem Beamas tell Carle
to write and I will write as soon as I can.  I do not think of anything more
to write this time so I will close by biding you farewell for the present.

                                                            This from your absent Son,

                                                                                    Charles A. Smith

                        Write soon and direct it to: Charles A. Smith

                        Co. K 21st Regt. Mass. Vols. via Washington D.C.

                        Yours in haste, Charles A. Smith