Remarkable Confederate Civil War soldier letter written by Joseph “Wyatt” Wilson of Co. F, 60th Alabama Infantry to his father. In it, he predicts he will be shot:  “I don’t expect a furlough this winter. But I do expect to get a discharge next spring when the campaign opens up here—by a Yankee bullet.”
The 60th Alabama, organized in 1863, was originally assigned to relatively light duty in east Tennessee before they accompanied Gen. Longstreet into Virginia in 1864. They subsequently lost heavily at the Battle of Drury’s Bluff and then manned the front lines at Petersburg. It was there on April 3, 1865 that Wilson prophecy came true, as he received a wound in his right shoulder.
In addition to his prediction, Wilson opines on various camp concerns, including a very interesting observation that since so many of his comrades deserted for the Yankee lines, the Colonel of their regiment should simply switch sides.
Wilson’s letter is written in pencil, and is plainly legible. Condition is good, with a few amateur tape repairs to the far edges of the original fold lines.
[Civil War, Union, Confederate]