A Thirst for Battle

Anne SK Brown Military Collection

In this watercolor by Henry Alexander Ogden, Confederate troops rush a union position during the Battle of Corinth.

“[A] feeling more like a fiend than human takes possession of me and I only feel an intense desire to kill, to strike to the earth all that come in my reach.”

Georgia officer Barrington S. King, on his reaction whenever he saw an enemy’s blue uniform in battle, in a letter home during the fighting near Atlanta in July 1864

Anne SK Brown Military Collection

Painting of Confederate troops rushing a Union camp.

“I shall now strive to win glory enough to fill the void. I wish for nothing else now than to make a name that my friends and country may be proud to point to.”

David Norton, 42nd Illinois Infantry, in a letter to his mother after learning that his sweetheart had left him for another man, September 30, 1861

“We shall see fun before long. We all want to see it badly…. I think if we could get a chance at a Southerner we would suck his blood.”

Horace Ensworth, 81st New York Infantry, in a letter home, April 20, 1862

“[W]hen the order to charge was given, I got happy. I felt happier than a fellow does when he professes religion at a big Methodist camp-meeting.”

Samuel R. Watkins (above), 1st Tennessee Infantry, on the Battle of Shiloh, in his memoirs

“I went so far ahead when I fired that I was ordered back by our major and lieutenant. I was mad, yet calm; how I itched for a hand-to-hand struggle…. I believe I could have whipped my weight.”

Walter Carter, 22nd Massachusetts Infantry, in a letter home about the Battle of Fredericksburg, December 20, 1862