"...but one of them would make war rather than let the nation survive, and the other would accept war rather than let it perish, and the war came." Abraham Lincoln, 2nd Inaugural Address March 4,1865 The Civil War was a major turning point for the American people. It was the "last of the old wars and first of the new." Still prominent were muzzle-loading rifles, horse cavalry, and chivalrous respect for the enemy. New were the use of railroads, the telegraph, ironclad ships, observation balloons, conscription, and the concept of "total war." When the fighting ended, close to 600,000 Americans had lost their lives, slavery had been abolished, and much of the South lay in ruins. Major Ballou "Abridged" Letter to His Wife Sarah Seventh day at the 1st Battle of Bull Run, Major Sullivan Ballou wrote to his wife Sarah one of history's most beautiful and loving letters. It reached national importance 129 years after he wrote it, when it was read on the widely watched television series, "The Civil War," produced by Ken Burns. The beauty of the language as well as the passion of the sentiments touched the popular imagination, and brought home to Americans once again what defense of democracy entailed.   My very dear Sarah: The indications are very strong that we shall move in a few days - perhaps tomorrow. Lest I should not be able to write again, I feel impelled to write a few lines that may fall under your eye when I shall be no more... I have no misgivings about, or lack of confidence in the cause in which I am engaged, and my courage does not halt or falter. I know how strongly American Civilization now leans on the triumph of the government and how great a debt we owe to those who went before us through the blood and sufferings of the Revolution. And I am willing—perfectly willing—to lay down all my joys in this life, to help maintain this government, and to pay that debt... Sarah, my love for you is deathless, it seems to bind me with mighty cables that nothing but omnipotence could break; and yet my love of Country comes over me like a strong wind and bears me irresistibly on with all these chains to the battlefield. The memories of the blissful moments I have spent with you come creeping over me, and I feel most gratified to God and to you that I have enjoyed them so long. And it is hard for me to give them up and burn to ashes the hopes of future years, when, God willing, we might still have lived and loved together, and seen our sons grown up to honorable manhood around us... I have, I know, but few and small claims upon Divine Providence, but something whispers to me—perhaps it is the wafted prayer of my little Edgar, that I shall return to my loved ones unharmed. If I do not my dear Sarah, never forget how much I love you, and when my last breath escapes me on the battle field, it will whisper your name... Forgive my many faults, and the many pains I have caused you. How thoughtless and foolish I have often times been! How gladly I would wash out with my tears every little spot upon your happiness... But, O Sarah, if the dead can come back to this earth and flit unseen around those they love, I shall always be near you, in the gladdest days and in the darkest nights... always, always, and if there be a soft breeze upon your cheek, it shall be my breath, as the cool air fans your throbbing temple, it shall be my spirit passing by. Sarah do not mourn me dead; think I am gone and wait for thee, for we shall meet again... Sullivan Ballou   Ballou wrote the letter at Camp Clark, Washington, July 14, 1861, while awaiting orders that would take him to Manassas, where he and 27 of his men would die one week later at the Battle of Bull Run. Unabridged Ballou Letter   Click photos to enlarge. Date: February 1891 Title: Columbiad guns of the Confederate Water at Warrington, Florida (entrance to Pensacola Bay). Source: National Archives and Records Administration Date: 1863 Title: Pennsylvania, One Hundred and Fourteenth Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers, Guard Mount, Headquarters Army of the Potomac Source: National Archives and Records Administration Date: ca.1860-1865 Title: Infantry Camp Source: National Archives and Records Administration Date: August 17, 1864 Title: Drawing rations; view from main gate, Andersonville Prison, Georgia. Source: National Archives and Records Administration Date: ca.1860-1865 Title: Camp scene, (22nd N.Y. Volunteers, Lt. J.T. Baldwin) Source: National Archives and Records Administration Date: 1865 Title: In the trenches before Petersburg, Va. Source: National Archives and Records Administration Date: November 19, 1863 Title: Abraham Lincoln delivering the Gettysburg Address. Source: Elizabeth L. Hill, Chief, Still Picture Branch, National Archives Click here for more information.

A Final Salute — Americans To Americans "Joshua Chamberlain was given the task of receiving the flags of the tattered Confederate Army during the formal surrender of the Civil War. Chamberlain called his men into line and as the Confederate soldiers marched in front of them, the veterans in blue gave a soldierly salute to those vanquished heroes—a token of respect from Americans to Americans."—Ken Burns, Mystic Chords Of Memory Confederate General John B. Gordon and his soldiers were met by Chamberlain and the Fifth Corps at Appomattox. Upon their arrival, the Confederates were astonished to be honorably welcomed by the marching salute. This gracious reception prompted Gordon and his soldiers to salute Chamberlain and his men in return. In his speeches and memoirs, Gordon would always remember Chamberlain as "one of the knightliest soldiers of the Federal Army." Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, The Passing of the Armies: the Last Campaign of the Armies Source: Life Stories of Civil War Heroes Clara Barton’s Search for Missing Soldiers On October 7, 1865, Harper’s Weekly carried this sketch of the cemetery at the site of the former Andersonville Prison. Clara Barton, pictured raising the flag, received numerous requests from families and friends on both sides seeking word on the fate of their loved ones. She ultimately answered over 63,000 letters and identified some 22,000 missing. Many of the missing were found in the Confederate prison in Andersonville, Georgia. The work often worried her though, and she once wrote: "The heart-broken friends appealed to me for help, and by the aid of surviving comrades, I gained intelligence of the fate of nearly one-half the number of soldiers: I greatly fear there are some whose names stand today on the rolls against the dark word--Deserter--who were never faithless to their trust, who fell in the stern path of duty on the lonely picket line, perhaps, or wounded, and left in some tangled ravine to perish alone. . ." —Source: The American Red Cross