Following the American Civil War Sesquicentennial with day by day writings of the time, currently 1863.

Post image for Diary of a Tar Heel Confederate Soldier by Louis Léon

Diary of a Tar Heel Confederate Soldier by Louis Léon

April 3, 2013

Diary of a Tar Heel Confederate Soldier By Louis Léon [53d North Carolina Regiment, infantry]

April 3—Little Washington is on Tar River, and as one of the Yankee gunboats was trying to get in, one of our cannon gave them a ball, which caused heavy firing all day, and, in fact, the shells came very close to our flag, which made us dodge pretty smart. We have Washington besieged. At 8 o’clock to-night Colonel Owens called for volunteers to go as near the Yankees as they could, to see what they were doing. Tom Tiotter and myself went. We got to within two hundred yards of Washington, when we were compelled to halt, as we were near the bridge, where we could hear the Yankee sentinels walking their beats very plainly—so we returned to camp and reported.

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