Dear Parents,

It has been some time since I wrote to you but this is the first opportunity I have had.  We left Cedar Run the next day after I wrote.  We retreated to Kelly’s Ford and stayed one day and a half.   Since then we have been at Rappahannock Station, Sulfur Spring, Warrenton, Warrenton Junction, Manassas Junction, Bull Run, Centreville, Fairfax Court House, Alexandria and are now at Washington, just outside the city.  We have been marched so hard that we are all wore out and exhausted.  We have not had half enough to eat since we left Fredericksburg.  We have not been over one day and night at any one place.

We were in the (2nd) Battle of Bull Run.  The first day, our brigade supported a battery.  The next day we supported the batteries until about 4 o'clock.  The enemy forced back our left.  We were in the center.  Our batteries mowed them down awfully but they closed up.  Then for more than a mile our batteries in the center had to change position.  The rebels got range on us.  Such cannonading I have never before heard.  The balls, shells and railroad iron came over our heads like rain.  Some fell short; some went over but few did any harm.  Our men acted as cool as if there was no danger at all.  Troops were rushed to the left to keep from being out flanked but they were repulsed.  At last our brigade was ordered around.  We went in with wild cheers and poured the lead into them as fast as we could load and fire.  We held them in check.  A battery got into position.  They poured the grape and canister into them.  They run and rallied again and closed up in four ranks but were repulsed again.  We held the field till the rest of the army retreated and then fell back to Centreville.

We evacuated that place the next day and preceded toward Fairfax.  We met the enemy about half way between [ The Battle of Ox Hill (Chantilly) ].   Our regiment fell into an ambush.  Twice the regiment was cut up.  A great many were taken prisoners, killed or wounded.  I narrowly escaped being taken prisoner.  I got a bullet through my collar.

[ See notation at the end of the letter ]

You can direct your letter to Washington .  There will be no trouble but that it will come to me.  We got here night before last and are going away tonight.  We probably shall not go far.  We have not had anything to eat but a loaf of bread, except what we bought.  I will write again as soon as we get settled down.   I received your letter yesterday.

Goodbye,

Henry Brown

Editors Note: The war had suddenly turned savage for Henry and his regiment. Immediately after Second Bull Run the 21st Massachusetts encountered Stonewall Jackson's Corps at Ox Hill (Chantilly) and was decimated in what became the regiment's heaviest loss of the entire war.  Compared to earlier battle descriptions, it is obvious that Henry was having a hard time describing what had to have been a traumatic experience. Perhaps he didn't want to worry his parents or couldn't find the words to describe the carnage, but there is no doubt he and his regiment were still in shock in the days that followed.

The "ambush" Henry speaks of, took place where a Rebel brigade was positioned on the backside of a small wooded ridge on the east side West Ox Road. Well concealed in thick woods and a raging thunderstorm, the Confederate line poured a tremendous volley into Henry's regiment just as they crested the ridge. In some places the opposing lines were only 30 feet apart as hundreds of Rebel muskets let loose at point blank range. The one-ounce lead balls riddled the front ranks of the 21st Massachusetts, killing or wounding over a hundred men in the blink of an eye. Five of the regiment's officers were killed including the Lt. Colonel who was second in command. 

During the Battle of New Berne it had also been noted in the official regimental report how many  in the 21st Massachusetts had trouble loading their weapons in wet conditions... "In some the powder became too wet to ignite, and in very many of the Enfield rifled muskets the rammers were almost immovable from the swelling of the stocks." Aside from being surprised, those who had Enfield rifled muskets (including Henry), must have had a difficult time loading their weapons in the torrential downpour. 

(See continuation at the bottom of next letter)