Sullivan Ballou

Ballou’s letter was extremely sentimental and touching. His words completely expressed the extent of his love for his wife, Sarah. He reassures her multiple times throughout the letter that he will always love her and be with her even if the war takes his life. Though this seems to be the focal point of the letter there was another topic that came up a few times in his writing. He was not only expressing his love for Sarah but also for his country. The words he used to describe his devotion to the country were just as passionate and eloquent as the ones he used to describe his love to Sarah.

The second paragraph of his letter focusses on his feeling about the war and the country. His confidence in his actions and what he is fighting for is strong and constant. He tells Sarah that he doesn’t doubt for a minute what he is doing. He is so sure of the cause he writes “And I am willing—perfectly willing—to lay down all my joys in this life, to help maintain this Government.” Though this is only the writing of one man it can also help to understand how much this mattered to the soldiers.

It’s easy to read about the civil war. We can take notes and learn facts but to actually understand it is another thing entirely. That’s not referring to understanding why or what happen but in how it affected the people who actually lived it. When writing down how many people died in this battle or how many people died of disease it seems like it is just numbers but it happened. Each of those numbers represented a person who each had their own lives inside and outside of the war. Thousands probably wrote letters to their wives that would never reach its destination like Ballou’s didn’t. This letter is a glimpse of one person who fought and died in the war. So many others had stories of their own that will never be heard but meant so much to them.

Letters like this may have been soldiers’ last chance to say to those they loved what they needed them to hear. Going to war and...