By Torey Badar
MSNHA graduate student
Note: This is the second in a series of blog posts about the “Sallie Independence Foster Collection, 1835-1889,” at the University of North Alabama Archives & Special Collections, part of Collier Library. Torey Badar is a public-history graduate student at UNA. Information in this post comes from the UNA Archives.
One Civil War letter written by Wat (Watkins) Foster was sent on July 4, 1861. This letter was sent from Camp Johnson. In the letter, Wat explained how the Confederate troops had gathered at Camp Johnson the day before in order to face the Northern troops. The Union troops were seven miles away at Martinsburg, Virginia, which is current-day Martinsburg, West Virginia. The Union troops had 15,000 men and the Confederates had 12,000. Wat explained that the Confederate soldiers had a large amount of ammunition, and they were waiting & ready to fight. He also stated that he was writing this letter on top of a flares barrel. He said that the men had to leave some sick soldiers behind, and they cried because they could not join the troops. The only item the Confederate soldiers carried were their blankets, which they kept on their backs. Wat then went on to explain how he wanted his mother to send him summer clothing. He closed his letter by reassuring his father that he would write often.
