18th Lamb Brigade of Mississippi
Vicksburg, 1863.
From the Correspondence of Ezekiel T. Hightower, Colonel of the Confederate Army and lamb soldier.
"My Beloved Elizabeth,
It has become all too insufferable to tally in my spare moments the sorrowful age that we've spent apart from one another. How many times have I discovered myself gazing to the evening heavens, thinking upon the tender curvature of you figure wrapped against my own in embrace. I fear, falling into slumber each night, that I may never see our serene farm again, and that prospect, too, is something too dreadful to regard in the depths of my imagination.
You will recollect a young privateer I'd become rather fond of on the trail. Parker, his name was. I devastate even the mightiest comforts of my soul to admit he has fallen in battle. In a small skirmish Sunday evening last, young Parker received Yankee artillery in a charge upon the enemy and, in a barrage of Union cannonfire, young Parker exploded. I would have liked to hold the boy as he passed, cradle him and commend his valor. I would have liked very much to speak a word of admiration for his courage. But, alas, the precious soldier had exploded into a great many portions. He quite literally had exploded. To think, Parker was so young, a child by our eyes, Elizabeth. Children ought not to explode as such on a field of war. What a multitude of brethren lambs have left this world at so tender an age for the sake of our fight.I trust that your prayers accompany my own in sending this fair Christian to our Lord above us.
I overheard a group of scouts remarking on our orders to march North in the coming weeks. As Vicksburg has fallen, I suppose it is a choice not left to our deliberation. Grant has taken our high city by river and subjugated its denizens with starvation and constant artillery. How many more cities fall before we find a stroke of prosperous fortune, Elizabeth? In truth, my spirits have been quite shaken as our defeats mound upon one another, and yet, these men with whom I have shared these last two and a half years inspire me daily. Each of their faces reminds me of our cause, and I am blessed to fight for it. I should be even more blessed to die for it, though it pains me tell you so. Do not let me ebb from your mind, sweet Elizabeth, as you yourself have never been foreign to my own. May the Lord take guard and protect us in these impossible months we spend distanced from one another's side. May He watch over us both, but may He watch even more intently over our blessed Confederation of these American states and the countless brave lambs that abhor the wickedness in our aggressors and keep to the defense of our noble campaign. Truly, I miss even your most genteel graces to a degree that no lamb ought to suffer, in war or in peace.
In a Holy and Genuine Affection,
Col. Ezekiel T. Hightower
July 28, 1863
