In his letter today, Capt. Schmidt details one of the grisliest battles that he describes. You can see how, at the end, he tries to keep a sense of humor though it is a little vulgar (but that is not so out of character for him). I only have one or two pictures of Capt. Schmidt, so I included one this time. Some have asked if his writing was really this good. It was not. To not spoil anything in the letter, at the very end I'll type up a line or two just as he wrote it, so you can compare.
Dear Wife,
Your letters of July 8th, 19th and 23rd have come to hand, which pleased me very much, hearing that your health is good. Thank fortune my health is good and so is your brother. We've had some more hard fighting since the battle of the 22nd. On the 26th we got new marching orders. During the night on the 27th I got a bad puking spell on me all night but on the morning of the 28th felt some better, having taken some medication. On the 28th at about 1pm, the enemy advanced towards us in seven columns deep and in some places only four columns, on towards our Division 2nd and 4th Div. of our Corps line. Our line was only single and no support present. Our division, the extreme right and our brigade, the right of that and our regiment, the extreme right of our skirmish line were soon driven back and our line of battle was stationed nearly on open field on a terrible nice rise, which gave us some advantage.
We opened with our musketry and poured a deadly fire into the Rebel advancing columns but they soon fled and the 2nd column advanced on us and they came steady. The dead and wounded just falling by scores and didn't seem to mind it, but they soon fled and so the 3td column advanced and it also fled. The dead Rebels were laying in piles in our front and the enemy charged us until after dark, and then fell back during the night. That day we fought nearly the whole southern confederacy here in Georgia!
The next day, the 29th, the enemy returned during the night in a new line of works near Atlanta. We buried dead Rebels all day and hadn't them all buried again and now we must bury some today. It was a horrible sight to see the dead Johnnies so thick.
Our loss is, in all, small. Our regiment lost one man killed and seven wounded. In my company, C, Christ Henke was slightly wounded and Major Hipp lost his left arm. He was wounded by a musket ball above and near the elbow and broke the bone. The arm was immediately amputated. He was also wounded slightly in the left side, this we regret very much. Captain Moritz commands the Regiment now. We look for some more fun today.
You wanted to know what we used the sweet oil, for, ha ha ha. I caught a sucker this time. Why, we grease the Rebel's asses so as to make them slip back into the Union. ha ha ha.
I remain your true husband,
H. Schmidt
(the way he wrote it:)
we opend with our musketry and poored a deadly fier in to the Reble advancing colums but they soon fled and the 2ed colum advansed on us and they came steady, the dead and wounded just falling by scors and dit not seem to mind it but soon fled and so the 3ed colum advansed and it also fled for the dead Rebels ware laying on piles in our front and the enemy charged us until after dark, and then fell back during the night.
Also, of some note, according to Wikipedia "the 37th Regiments last Medal of Honor was earned on July 28, 1864, during the Battle of Ezra Church, when Sergeant Ernst Torgler saved the badly wounded commanding officer, Major Charles Hipp, from capture." They also note that there were some 3,000 casualties that day on the Confederate side and 642 on the Union side.
HeadQuarters, Co. "C" 37th Regt. O.V.V.Inf.
In the field near Atlanta, Ga.
July 30th, 1864
Dear Wife,
Your letters of July 8th, 19th and 23rd have come to hand, which pleased me very much, hearing that your health is good. Thank fortune my health is good and so is your brother. We've had some more hard fighting since the battle of the 22nd. On the 26th we got new marching orders. During the night on the 27th I got a bad puking spell on me all night but on the morning of the 28th felt some better, having taken some medication. On the 28th at about 1pm, the enemy advanced towards us in seven columns deep and in some places only four columns, on towards our Division 2nd and 4th Div. of our Corps line. Our line was only single and no support present. Our division, the extreme right and our brigade, the right of that and our regiment, the extreme right of our skirmish line were soon driven back and our line of battle was stationed nearly on open field on a terrible nice rise, which gave us some advantage.
We opened with our musketry and poured a deadly fire into the Rebel advancing columns but they soon fled and the 2nd column advanced on us and they came steady. The dead and wounded just falling by scores and didn't seem to mind it, but they soon fled and so the 3td column advanced and it also fled. The dead Rebels were laying in piles in our front and the enemy charged us until after dark, and then fell back during the night. That day we fought nearly the whole southern confederacy here in Georgia!
The next day, the 29th, the enemy returned during the night in a new line of works near Atlanta. We buried dead Rebels all day and hadn't them all buried again and now we must bury some today. It was a horrible sight to see the dead Johnnies so thick.
Our loss is, in all, small. Our regiment lost one man killed and seven wounded. In my company, C, Christ Henke was slightly wounded and Major Hipp lost his left arm. He was wounded by a musket ball above and near the elbow and broke the bone. The arm was immediately amputated. He was also wounded slightly in the left side, this we regret very much. Captain Moritz commands the Regiment now. We look for some more fun today.
You wanted to know what we used the sweet oil, for, ha ha ha. I caught a sucker this time. Why, we grease the Rebel's asses so as to make them slip back into the Union. ha ha ha.
I remain your true husband,
H. Schmidt
(the way he wrote it:)
we opend with our musketry and poored a deadly fier in to the Reble advancing colums but they soon fled and the 2ed colum advansed on us and they came steady, the dead and wounded just falling by scors and dit not seem to mind it but soon fled and so the 3ed colum advansed and it also fled for the dead Rebels ware laying on piles in our front and the enemy charged us until after dark, and then fell back during the night.
Also, of some note, according to Wikipedia "the 37th Regiments last Medal of Honor was earned on July 28, 1864, during the Battle of Ezra Church, when Sergeant Ernst Torgler saved the badly wounded commanding officer, Major Charles Hipp, from capture." They also note that there were some 3,000 casualties that day on the Confederate side and 642 on the Union side.
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