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Fang’s great-great grandfather was in a Yankee prison camp
right before the end of the war. He wrote the family a
letter & started it off, “I sure do hate to have to be
writing ya’ll a letter on this dam*ed Yankee writing paper!”

My great-great grandfather, the one who fought at Shiloh,
was asked by my grandmother when she was a small child,
“Grandaddy, what was it like at Shiloh; did YOU kill anybody?” He told her, “Izora, it was just awful; the biggest mess I’ve ever seen
in my life. In fact, I could not tell whether or not I
killed anyone! The smoke was THAT thick!” - I grew up not
30 miles from Shiloh. I’m almost 70 yrs. old; and The
Bloody Pond at that time was a much darker BLOOD color, an
“old blood” hue from the bloodstains on the rocks at the
bottom of the pond where both Yankee & Rebel wounded
crawled to wash off their wounds. Many died right there
at the edge of the pond. WAR IS HELL! My dad also was a
combat soldier during WWII in N. Africa, Italy & Germany.
An American combat soldier, in many ways hardened by a
Southern upbringing.