Franklin County: E.D.R. to [recipient unknown],
March 28, 1864
Summary:
E.D.R. of the 107th Pa. shares his thoughts about service
in that regiment and about the prospect of returning home.
March 28, 1864
MITCHEL'S STATION, VA.,
Our Regiment -- the 108th Pennsylvania Volunteers -- expects to be home in a few days. No doubt our place of rendezvous will be Camp Reynolds or Curtin. It is now a little over two years since we left Harrisburg for Washington about nine hundred strong. We can return with something over two hundred, all told. With few expectations, nearly all have reinlisted as Veteran Volunteers. Unfortunately we are none of the pet Regiments; but what have those darlings performed? Let the honest soldier answer. When you look upon the decimated ranks of the 107th, and ask the question, Where are all those bouyant souls that left Harrisburg March 8th,1862? I can only say -- let the battles from Cedar Mountain to the Three Days' fight at Gettysburg furnish the reply. -- Our Regiment has indeed seen active service. Never favored, but knowing our services in the field were required, we always held in remembrance, when a soldier is called upon, to battle he must go, and nobly would the 107th carry aloft the bright "escutchon of our own Keystone State, in the din of battle," amidst the clash of arms, and the cannon's roar. We have established a bright record in the service of our country, and I hope the historians will do us justice. I could write a volume, but I must be brief. We are holding the post of honor on the extreme front. I will close by adding, the boys are all well, and as we expect soon to be home, I will give you a greater detail of our doings, &c.
E.D.R.
