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movements & as they tell me after the
first minutes with no fear -- not stupid
foreigners, but intelligent New England young men -- sober --
many of them Christians, & as they talk it
over tender, thoughtful & calmer now than
in those awful hours of strife --
How all this can be & ready to fight again in the same way I am at a loss
to explain -- I have said to myself many
times to day, "Mass, boys forever," "[Noreaster?]
country ahead" -- & yet this does not
solve the problem. A Higher Power [?]
these soldiers. It is a heroism of
which they are unconscious themselves.
The hand of God is in it -- [?]
through these brave fellows a power
prophetic of ultimate triumph.
The battle was a military mistake un-
doubtedly. Of this you can all judge
as well as myself but as exhibiting
soldier like qualities there was nothing like
it at Bull Run, & when overwhelmed, that
awful mad plunge down the precipice &
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