Clarke County and the Civil War

Union Sentinel - 4 APR 1863

Dunlap Springs

September 20th 1863 [sic - more likely 1862]

Ever Loved Parents:

You wish me to tell you how a soldier's life suits me, and if I still succeed in avoiding those snares that harness our gallant boys, which are winning so many brave hearts, and are almost destroying their souls. As far as soldiering is concerned, it is not the easy life some northern well fed, well sheltered people seem to imagine. Exposed to all kinds of weather, to hunger and thirst, it shows the truly loyal, and devotedness to country heretofore unequaled in history.

Another great incentive to wrong doing is the utter want of suitable reading matter in camp; waiting longing for letters from friends and home, they spend in any manner that wears out the long hours of the day, ere they dream by the swift passing night. Write often dear parents, for "As cold water is to a thirsty soul, so is good news from a far off land." I can see standing between myself and the angel of Iniquity, the form of you, mother telling me of my dead brother, who sleeps the dreamless sleep, far from home, of the broken home circle of your hopes; and I call in my heart, "Our Father! Deliver me from evil, and lead me not into temptation."

Your affectionate son,

Frank Clarendon

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