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Monroe by some silly boy who wanted to cut off a leg. Mr. Brown, too, my valuable 1st Lieutenant, who has been since that same day Acting Adjutant, is now detached on Brigade Staff, so that, except by a temporary assignment, I see no prospect of relief.104 To-day we have been jubilant over the news from Gens. Thomas and Sherman . Next, in all probability, we shall hear of the occupation of the centre of communications at Branchville when, I doubt not, it will be the business of the Armies of the Potomac and James to accomplish something which shall rival the feats in Tennessee and Georgia.105 Yesterday Mr. Tiffany came to see me again, mounted on Mr. Eustis’s horse which made our swamp look in his immediate neighborhood like some New Haven road. The Rev. Mr. DeGoss Love also called here and took dinner on Friday. I was at first glad to see him, not knowing until I had experienced his obnoxious disregard of taste and discretion, what sort of a ranter he was. It is hoped he will not again be able to find my camp. Not that I object to ministerial visitations , but the ideas one received in the College part of New Haven are perhaps squeamish.106 You say nothing about my proposition that when Father is at Washington, he should take a week for a trip to the army. All hands hereabouts would be but delighted to see him and I’ve no doubt Gen’l Terry would detail an ambulance for his own use as long as he might remain.107 But there is no use writing so long a letter when we have no news and when we have to turn out each morning at four o’clock to remain in line of battle until day light. Affectionately yr. Brother, Edward W. Bacon (3) Promotion and Victory AS 1864 ENDED, MANY BELIEVED THAT THE SOUTH HAD RUN OUT of time, space, men, and materiel. Yet Confederates stubbornly continued the struggle, and most Federals expected that more hard fighting lay ahead. Early in 1865 Colonel Robert W. Barnard, 101st U.S. Colored Infantry, wrote home, “I do not see how our Southern brethren are to stand another season, it seems to me their game is nearly up. How they hold on is a mystery, for endurance they certainly deserve great credit. I wish they had less of it.” Realists among the shivering and hungry “brethren” in the trenches also wondered how they could survive another season. One of them, 1st Sergeant James E. Whitehorne, 12th Virginia Infantry, wrote that “I have fought, suffered, bled and almost died for nearly four years, but I fear the end is very near.” 140 The Soldier, 1864–65 But William R. J. Pegram, one of Lee’s colonels, insisted that their prospects were “growing brighter each day.” Much more realistic was Lieutenant Colonel Walter S. Poor, 14th U.S. Colored Heavy Artillery, who said that “it is a question of resources between North and South and we can endure the longest.”1 On the fighting fronts, Sherman had captured Savannah and prepared to push through the Carolinas; desertions thinned Lee’s ranks during the winter stalemate on the Petersburg-Richmond lines; Major General Philip H. Sheridan had routed Confederate forces in the vital Shenandoah Valley; and Butler had bungled again in an attack upon Fort Fisher, N.C., a debacle that enabled Grant and Lincoln to get rid of him.2 Motivated by glowing ambition, Bacon transferred from the 29th Connecticut to the 117th U.S. Colored Infantry. With this move he abandoned friends and connections he enjoyed in the 29th. But by shifting to the 117th, Bacon acquired a major’s commission while still just twenty-years-old. He also joined a United States regiment which he had always considered more desirable than a state regiment. Planning to make the army his career, he mistakenly believed wartime United States Colored Troops would become part of the postwar Regular Army.3 Exactly how the transfer and the promotion came about is uncertain. Probably Bacon heard about the vacancy in the newly organized 117th and applied for it, although not with his father’s approval. While the number of black regiments steadily increased, it was always difficult to fill officer ranks. Many whites still regarded service with blacks as demeaning and believed that such service tarred them as second-class soldiers. By that time recruiters also...

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