ALS
2 p.
1864 March 1
John Booker, [n.p.], letter to cousin, Chloe Unity Blair
John Booker describes the attempt by Virginia Governor William "Extra Billy"
Smith and Colonel [Joseph Robert] Cabell to make the men of the 38th Regiment
re-enlist. He deplores the strategies they used: calling the men to stand before
the "Colors," declaring that any man who wanted to be a slave to the enemy
should not re-enlist. John fears that his leaders want to continue to fight at
all costs, rather than press for peace; and as long as men re-enlist the war
will go on. John also expresses his dissatisfaction with the administration of
the Regiment: only the men who re-enlist are granted furloughs, and John has
still not received the furlough owed to him in 1862. He mentions that the two
new recrutes to Company D are receiving their furloughs ahead of him. Changing
the subject, John writes of nearby Union activity and says that they have been
expecting a raid. Finally, he writes of Memory Inman's court martial and Captain
John Herndon's marriage. He closes the letter by apologizing for its angry tone,
writing, "I have bin mad all day."
