The following letter was written by Corp. William Galbreath Snodgrass of Co. B, 32nd Ohio Infantry. William entered the service on 9 August as a private but was promoted to a corporal by March and mustered out as the 1st Sergeant of his company when he mustered out as a veteran in July The owner of the letter claims it was purchased in an estate sale in Ohio.
I received your letter a week ago last Sunday. We were on the march then and had stopped to rest and was sitting on the side of the road when the mail was fetched up and distributed. We have had several fights with the rebs and have whipped them pretty decently every time. I expect you have saw an account of what we have been doing since we left the river. But we were very lucky We have only had one man wounded in our company yet and that was only a flesh wound.
That was Isaiah Hamilton of Logan county. In the rounds, we took over 6, prisoners and about 70 pieces of artillery, 8 pieces of which our regiment with the 8th Illinois had the honor of taking. We have a lot more of the rebs penned up here in Vicksburg which we intend shall not get away. We have a strong force clear around them. The right of our lines reach to the river above Vicksburg while the left reaches to the river below.
We have been fighting them here for more than a week. There is nothing more than skirmishing going on nowβthat is, with the infantry. The artillery keeps a considerable of noise. They must be very scarce of ammunition for they have not fired a shot for 3 or 4 days that I have heard. Our skirmishers lay within to yards of their fortsβsome within 50 yardsβand if they attempt to fire a piece, they shoot the gunners as fast as they come to their gun.
We undertook to storm their forts but did not make it pay. We got a good many men killed in the attempt. It is fun to hear our boys and then talking to one another.
