Anthony W. Ross Civil War Letter Regarding War and the Draft

Anthony W. Ross wrote this letter to his wife Sarah while he was serving in the Union Army during the Civil War. Stationed two miles north of Atlanta, Georgia, he writes about the "cowardly dogs" who did not volunteer for the war but were being drafted. He also longs for the "lasting peace" he believes will come when the war is over. The four-page letter measures 8" x 10" (20.32 x 25.4 cm). Anthony W. Ross of Good Hope, Ohio enlisted in Company G. of the 73rd OVI (Ohio Volunteer Infantry) on March 23, 1862. He was discharged when his term of service expired on March 24, 1865. His letters to his wife were written from Virginia, Georgia, and Tennessee. The 73rd OVI saw action at the second battle of Bull Run, where it lost 150 men, in August 1862. After a few months near Washington, D.C., the regiment fought in the battles of Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, and Gettysburg, where another 143 men were killed. In the fall of 1863 they moved south to fight at Lookout Mountain and Mission Ridge before joining General William Tecumseh Sherman at the Battle of Atlanta and on the infamous March to the Sea