lands you can see machines doing the work for people, and at a much faster rate, with people gaining money and having an easier life, with economy growing faster at the same time. While in the South you see hundreds, if not thousands, of slaves working their fingers to the bones by picking the cotton for their masters. And if one slave does something wrong, that slave would be beaten until a pool of blood would form on the ground, or in other words that slave would be beaten until unconsciousness. With what strength the slaves have, they all work until they die. What kind of people do these Southerners think they are, enslaving innocent people and making them work for the rest of their lives, whipping fathers and mothers in front of their children, with the children knowing they couldn't do anything.
             And now you can probably see why I have joined the Union, to free millions, and to reunite a nation. I also respect the great Abraham Lincoln, for he is a very wise and powerful man, seeing the country's problems and trying to solve them, and that is why I am a Republican, just like Abraham Lincoln. I am sure that this war will truly be an awakening for me to the reality of life.
             Before I forget, if anyone finds this journal, then please return it to my parents Harvey and Janet Campbell, in Muncle, Indiana.
             Here I sit, writing once again, but this time not as a free man but as a prisoner. I have been captured during the Battle of Antietam. I can barely remember how I was brought into this dark and dirty prison, but I can still remember the way my men had fought. Since I have nothing else to do, I can only tell you of my experience during the battle.
             After months of vigorous training, my men had wanted to fight in a major battle. And their prayers were finally answered. Their first real battle was the Battle of Antietam, truly the bloodiest battle that I have ever seen, which is probably the bloodiest in all of this coun...