![Saved family letters tell of war horrors, peacetime hopes and dreams](https://magarticles.magzter.com/articles/9956/610743/60349ab13361c/Saved-family-letters-tell-of-war-horrors-peacetime-hopes-and-dreams.jpg)
This is what the doctor told him, he had a choice, amputate his leg or die.
He refused to let the old Sawbones cut off his leg and the doc told the nurse, take him into the dead tent.
As Smith Foreman lapsed back into unconsciousness he dreamed about what he could say to his family, what would his last words be? Would he be able to tell them that he loved them, that he did not want to die?
He was a young soldier from Pennsylvania fighting the Rebs in Virginia. It was 1862. Miraculously he lived and he wrote a letter to his sister that told an amazing tale.
A few weeks earlier he had been fighting Johnny Reb in a farmer’s field in northern Virginia. He was shot with some large bore rifle and it nearly took his right leg off.
He lay unconscious for hours and in the dusk, when the shooting had stopped and both sides were picking up their wounded, a big burly male nurse found him and loaded his bleeding body into a horse drawn wagon.
They bumped over rocky roads until they arrived at a hospital tent. There, the doctor, already exhausted from a day of cutting off shattered limbs and binding up wounds, told him it was amputate or die.
Smith was a young man of 20, he was a farmer and knew that without both legs he could never plow a field or shoe a horse, find a wife or support her. He would rather die.
Denne historien er fra March 2021-utgaven av The Good Life.
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Denne historien er fra March 2021-utgaven av The Good Life.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
![Nita Paine](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/9956/610743/6034990ec04f7/crp_Nita-Paine.jpg)
Nita Paine
‘I love that we provide an outlet to people to express themselves, to find out who they are’
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Looking at life from a different angle now
Bout with cancer, plus pandemic made couple wonder: Why wait to really live?
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Keeping family ties strong
Twelve months of COVID makes for a long year away from kids and grandkids
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It's a kick to be a zebra — or a canary
When making the call is your calling
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Saved family letters tell of war horrors, peacetime hopes and dreams
Loving letters from long ago
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Varied Thrush: Making a bold statement
Globally, the thrush family contains 169 viable species; three other thrush species are now extinct.
![Clean shots](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/9956/610743/603497ad79eff/crp_Clean-shots.jpg)
Clean shots
For real estate photographer, the art is in the uncluttered details
![Visiting the glory years of our parents](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/9956/610743/60348f2aaca2c/crp_Visiting-the-glory-years-of-our-parents.jpg)
Visiting the glory years of our parents
Obituaries – They’re really NOT for the dead
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Going deep with Dan Feil
Warm crystal clear water, incredible fish, spectacular scenery, why not jump off a boat in the tropics?
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Bringing a glow to the night
Who says outside lights are just for Christmas time? Drivers on Maple Street in Wenatchee will now see lights year-round.