Letter from Lt. Col. James Hall
This is a letter written by Lt. Colonel James Hall of the 1st New York Volunteers
at Jacksonville Fla., to his wife on Febuary 23, 1864.
The letter describes his participation in the Battle of Olustee.

Jacksonville, Fla.
23 Feb. 1864

Dear ones,
Thank God I am safe, and it is only by his mercy. My clothes are cut. I have lost two horses poor hoxie shot down by my side and death chance (Deaths Havoc) all around me and I have not had a scratch.

We have had a hard fight with nearly three times our force where the enemy had their chosen ground ready to receive us.

Scenes and incidents I cannot give you, as I have come to the state of entire exhaustion. We have lost one fifth of our force, but punished the enemy so that they could not follow us and we retreated in good order, taking all our wounded except those in the immediate front and saving all our stores.

A good many noble spirits are gone. Seymour did gallantly and all together it was a gallant though unsuccessfull fight.

Thanks to Chris Ahrendt for providing us access to Lt. Col. Hall's letter and photograph.

Other Letters from Olustee
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