Israel Lauffer

  General Notes:

Buried among the unknown on the battle field of Petersburg(Civil War) When killed he was 21 years of age. Following is a letter written home by him a short time before he was killed:

Camp of the 211th Reg't.,P.V. Near Hancock Station, Va. March the 26th,A.D. 1865 Dear Parents: Brothers and sisters, I this Sabbath morning once more take the pleasure of writing you a few lines to inform you that I am still spared and have good health. I will now inform you of a battle which was fought yesterday, from half past eight o'clock until half past ten o'clock in the forenoon. The rebels came on our pickets early in the morning and told them that they were coming into our lines. They soon had the pickets taken without firing a shot. They then rushed on two of our forts and took them and some prisoners We left our camp at daylight and had about five miles to march. We run about one-half of the way, as the rebels were fast making their way for the railroad. Our regiment was drawn in line and the 205th on our left and the 207th on our right. This made our brigade. When we were ordered on we went about half way to the forts which had been taken and then fixed our bayonets, and all gave a yell, and the "Jonnies" broke from the forts like sheep, and the stars and stripes were once more placed on the fort. The name of this fort is Fort Steadman. This is the fort that our regiment took. The name of the other I don't know. These forts and the rebel fort are only about 200 yards apart. Our batteries poured the grape into the forts while the rebels were in them, which soon made them scatter. The shells were flying fast and the minnie balls whizzed past our heads, but the loss in our regiment was very small. I got through without a scratch, and Andrew Wineman and Josiah Maxwell the same. The rebel loss in killed, wounded and prisoners is about 3,000-most prisoners. As soon as we got to the fort about 1,000 prisoners came in with their flag. They told us to go on that we were all right. They said they had been marched about 12 miles the night be- fore. I got a piece of their corn bread. It is corn meal mixed with water and only dried. It was a hard sight to see when we got in the fort. Some had their legs torn off by shells, some shot in the breast, others through the head and almost every place a person can think of. I only saw 5 or 6 of our men inside the fort that were killed. They didn't get any of our guns. We stayed in the fort until about half past four o'clock, when we went back to camp. This morning I feel all right except my legs are a little tired. I will close, hoping to fear from you soon. I will put a button in this letter, which I got off a dead rebel at the fort. Israel Lauffer.