In 1861, a Union officer named Sullivan Ballou, assigned to the
        Grand Army of The Potomac, wrote home to his wife Sarah in
        Smithfield, Rhode Island. The letter was read in the PBS Civil
        War series by Ken Burns.
        <blockquote>
            July 14, 1861,
            <p/>
            Dear Sarah,
            <p/>
            The indications are very strong that we shall move in a few
            days, perhaps tomorrow and lest I should not be able to
            write you again, I feel compelled to write a few lines that
            may fall upon your eyes when I am no more.
            <p/>
            I have no misgivings about or lack of confidence in the
            cause in which I am engaged. And my courage neither halts
            nor falters. I know now how American civilization now leans
            upon the triumph of our government and how great a debt we
            owe to those who went before us through the blood and
            suffering of the Revolution. I am willing, completely
            willing, to lay down all my joys in this life to help
            maintain this government and to pay that debt.
            <p/>
            Sarah, my love for you is deathless and seems to bind me
            with mighty cables that nothing but omnipotence can break.
            Yet my love of country comes over me like a strong wind and
            bares me irresistibly with all those chains to the
            battlefield. The memory of all the blissful moments I have
            enjoyed with you come crowding over me and I feel most
            deeply grateful to God and you that I have enjoyed them for
            so long. And oh Sarah, how hard it is for me to give them up
            and burn to ashes the hopes of future years when God willing
            we may still have lived and loved together and seen our boys
            grown to honorable manhood around us. Sarah, if I do not
            return, never forget how much I loved you. Nor, that when my
            last breath escapes me on the battlefield, it will whisper
            your name. Forgive my many faults and the many pains I have
            caused you. How thoughtless, how foolish I have sometimes
            been. But Sarah, my dear, dear Sarah, if the dead can come
            back to this earth and flit unseen around those they love, I
            shall always be with you in the brightest day and darkest
            night. Always. Always. And when the soft breeze fans your
            cheek it shall be my breath or the cool air upon your
            throbbing temple, it shall be my spirit passing by.
            <p/>
            Sarah, do not mourn me dead. Think only that I am gone and
            wait for me. For we shall meet again. My dearest Sarah. We
            shall meet again.
        </blockquote>
        <p/>
        Captain Sullivan Bellou was killed a week later at the first
        battle of Bull Run
        <p/>