(This is from the perspective of Delevan S. Miller, a thirteen year old drummer boy and artillery assistant with the 2nd New York Heavy Artillery, and it is a historically fictional account based on my knowledge of this soldier in the war)

As the war drew to a close in April 1865, hardship and turmoil engulfed both armies. These obstacles, including incessant fighting and for many Confederates, declining morale, contributed to an overall decline of the Southern war effort. The Battle of Petersburg culminated the combination of a massive assault reaching its end and the battle weary troops struggling to beat the conditions.

Professor Sherriff began her lecture tonight with a quote attributed to Stalin: "One death is a tragedy, but many deaths are a statistic." I thought that this was true in the context of the Civil War in history books, and I thought that Pamplin Park did a great job of portraying the rough lives of soldiers in a way that every visitor feels connected to them. Pamplin Park emphasized the emotional aspects of a soldier's life, as well as the harsh living and working conditions. One of the most poignant ways that the museum connected the visitor to the soldier was through the audio tour, where each person could choose a soldier to follow.

The following journal entry is written from the perspective of a Union soldier; although the specific thoughts are partly fictitious, it is meant to convey what might have been this real soldier's view of the American Civil War.

The Civil War is described as a series of numbers and statistics that do not really explain the human side of the war. It is very rare that in a history class one will discuss the humanizing factors because they are deemed subordinate to the sheer numbers and facts that were so central to the conflict of the Civil War. What is even more interesting though is the human side of war and what each individual man was going through during the battles, camp life, and fearing death everyday. What the everyday facts of the Civil War fail to do is humanize the war and show its emotional effects of soldiers and civilians alike.

Dear Pa, July 12, 1862
I've been fighting with the 62nd Penn Infantry long enough to get myself a taste of this nasty business. We recently finished our retaliation of General Lee's rebels at Malvern Hill, even after losing two of our commanders in the previous battle at Gaines Mill. We've retreated, I believe our Virginia excursion has come to an end. The fighting was awful bloody Pa, the bullets and shrapnel poured down on our heads as if the heavens themselves were dumping the munitions upon us. The blasting, the smoke and the rumbling of the earth beneath our feet would nearly make a man think that Armageddon had descended upon us.