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Letter. William Lafayette Barrier, Martinsburg, Virginia, to Mathias Barrier, Mt. Pleasant, North Carolina
Barrier writes that he and the regiment fought at the Battle of Sharpsburg (Antietam) in Maryland (17 September 1862), but provides few details. "It's considered one of the big fights of the War. Our loss was pretty great but the enemie's was doubtless much greater." The regiment has lost several men, wounded or missing. There is a scarcity of food, but the regiment and Barrier himself are in generally good health. However, Barrier says "I am sorry to say that our Regiment is going to sticks very fast." There is a shortage of horses; over half the men in the regiment don't have horses fit for duty. Additionally, Col. Baker has begun to drink and the quartermaster and commissary are "both considered swindling scoundrels," Barrier himself now serves as quartermaster seargeant, and he and Capt. Barringer are getting along well. He reports also on the health of his company: "Our Company reports eighty men for duty, this is more than any company in the regiment, and there are several companies who number at least twenty men more than ours." There seems to be discord in the officers' ranks, and Barrier thinks that the regiment is going to be reorganized in some way, though he doesn't know how. Lastly, he has learned that his relation Daniel Moose (Co. G, 5th North Carolina Infantry) has arrived in Virginia, and is apparently doing well: "I guess that he has seen a part of the monkey by this time."