Corporal Titus Moss Letters - Cheshire Historical Society

Corporal Titus Moss Letters, September 1862 – March 1863 Page 81
This is a second letter to Julius Moss from Captain Timothy
Guilford written two months later. He is evidently replyin g t o a n
inquiry from Julius Moss about Titus’s death. He gives additional
details about the last time he with Titus during the battle and
describes how Col. Wooster saw the body on the battlefield.
Camp at Kelly’s Ford, Virginia
August 28, 1863
Friend Moss,
Dear Sir,
Your letter of Aug 2 nd and 6 th was received two weeks ago
and I sad down at my hard bread box table the next day to answer
it. Just then an order came requiring some Company writing to be
done and the answer was delayed, and still has been delayed until
the present time. I received a letter from my wife yesterday telling
me of her visit to your brother’s wife lately and that put me
strongly in mind of my promise and the unanswered letter of yours.
Your brother was near me for through most of the time we
lay behind the Breastworks. It was on the highest ground which the
Company occupied in its entire line (the ground was very uneven)
and was the best place from which to watch the movements of the
enemy and also was more exposed to the enemy’s artillery fire
than the hollows. The last conversation I had with your brother was
during one of the enemy’s most rapid bursts of shell canister and
grape upon us preparatory to a charge of their infantry. I noticed
blood on his face and asked him if he was wounded? He said he
“thought twas a scratch from a splinter knocked off the works” –
he did not know it until he felt the blood trickle down. We were at
this time all lying as close to the ground as we could and keep the
use of our arms and a keen lookout for the enemy infantry.
Immediately after this, one of the enemy’s guns had obtained so
close a range on us – right on the knoll – that I ordered the men to
move to the right & left a little out of range. The infantry soon
charged upon us and I moved toward the left of the Company, the
better to see them and do not recollect seeing your brother again.
Col. Wooster was on the field as a prisoner a few hours
afterward. He saw your brother lying he thinks just as he fell, not
directly in the rear of the Company’s position in the works but to
the right and on the ascent of the next rise of ground or knoll to the
spot we occupied in the works. That was the direction the
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April 2005