Journal Entry for Civil War
Thomas Martin Ward Jr.
Wednesday August 15, 1860
Current Post: Indianapolis, Indiana
Dear Journal,
I now take the opportunity to write you, journal, and a few lines to let you know that I am well and hope the same for my family back home in Massachusetts. We left Baltimore August 11th, and we arrived here August 14th. We rode day and night in the cars. We came here to guard rebel prisons. There is 5 thousand here to guard. I think we shall stay here until our time is out. Only 84 days more to serve under Uncle Sam. After all of this time, it has begun to dawn on me the magnitude of the whole ordeal. Every day puts me in a life or death situation, and I see my colleagues leaving only to never return. The horrors of war are eminent, and I blame it all on slavery. It seems extremely clear to me that all men are equal, in every aspect, and we cannot possibly let people get away with imprisoning our own brothers, and forcing them to work the fields for which we receive the wages. O, but man is a fickle creature who shall not learn his lesson until it has been duly explained, or forced out of him, something that I would hope this war will prove to cement in the minds of those blasted Confederates. The bible clearly says that all men are equal, under God who created us in his own likeness. If only there were an easier way to show the wrongdoings of these slave-owners, then many lives will have been regained, including the lives of those who are presently enslaved or future slave generations, not to mention the casualties of this war! But, the bible also says to judge not your peers, but this certainly could not mean we be ignorant of the trespasses against humanity that are being undertaken by our Southern neighbors! For that is what led me into this pursuit initially, the hope that one day we can see all human beings having the same mutual respect of all people, no matter what color their skin is, and no matter what decisions they make in their life. Under
Wednesday August 15, 1860
Current Post: Indianapolis, Indiana
Dear Journal,
I now take the opportunity to write you, journal, and a few lines to let you know that I am well and hope the same for my family back home in Massachusetts. We left Baltimore August 11th, and we arrived here August 14th. We rode day and night in the cars. We came here to guard rebel prisons. There is 5 thousand here to guard. I think we shall stay here until our time is out. Only 84 days more to serve under Uncle Sam. After all of this time, it has begun to dawn on me the magnitude of the whole ordeal. Every day puts me in a life or death situation, and I see my colleagues leaving only to never return. The horrors of war are eminent, and I blame it all on slavery. It seems extremely clear to me that all men are equal, in every aspect, and we cannot possibly let people get away with imprisoning our own brothers, and forcing them to work the fields for which we receive the wages. O, but man is a fickle creature who shall not learn his lesson until it has been duly explained, or forced out of him, something that I would hope this war will prove to cement in the minds of those blasted Confederates. The bible clearly says that all men are equal, under God who created us in his own likeness. If only there were an easier way to show the wrongdoings of these slave-owners, then many lives will have been regained, including the lives of those who are presently enslaved or future slave generations, not to mention the casualties of this war! But, the bible also says to judge not your peers, but this certainly could not mean we be ignorant of the trespasses against humanity that are being undertaken by our Southern neighbors! For that is what led me into this pursuit initially, the hope that one day we can see all human beings having the same mutual respect of all people, no matter what color their skin is, and no matter what decisions they make in their life. Under