On July 7, 1864, Daniel Boyd wrote his father from his camp near the lines in the trenches of Petersburg, Virginia. He tells of a number of friends he has seen and about deaths and wounds among the men. His division has been resting for a week and tells about pursuing Union raiding parties, chasing them back to their gunboats along the river. He gives this description of the situation:

“Everything has bin quiet for several days with the exceptions of heavy shelling and picket fighting which has become as common as a man’s voice. They have bin shelling the town but they not done much damage yet. The citizens has moved out of town to get out of the way of the shells. They have wounded some few woman and children. It was thought that they wold tare the place down on the fourth, but we was deceived. It was the quietest day we have had since we have bin hear…

They have kild a great many of our men.  We pay them back in the same kind of corn.”

Boys of Diamond Hill

The Military Writers Society of America Gold Medal for History 2012.

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