Background information and commentary by Andrew Carroll: While the overwhelming majority of combat deaths during the Civil War occurred during major battles, where great tides of men crashed violently into one another, smaller skirmishes and even guerilla fighting flared up throughout the country. Stationed on the gunboat U.S.S. Peosta, which traveled up and down the Tennessee River, James Orville Cherry from Monroe, Ohio wrote to his sister Alice on June 21, 1864, about an incident that accentuated how personal the fighting between Yanks and Rebs could be. (This letter was first published in its entirety in BEHIND THE LINES.)

Dear Sissy

… Capt Phillip's has been with us nearly ever since we have been running up this river he did good service at the fight at Paducah watching the rebels and reporting to us all he saw. He hates the Guerillas and wants to kill every one he can. The Guerillas murdered his family, and came near doing the same with him. A year ago this spring five Guerillas captured him and each one of them put a bullet in him and left him for dead but he recovered and swore he would follow those men till he had killed all of them.

I saw him shoot one of them this morning at Saltillo, but I will tell you about it. We arrived at Saltillo about three o clock this morning and Capt Phillips took twenty men and went Guerilla hunting. He heard that a rebel lieut and private was in a certain house. He had the house surrounded and sure enough the rebs were there. Papers were found on them proving one to be lieut Watson of the rebel Army he was sent aboard as prisoner. Phillip's recognized the other one as one of the five that tried to kill him. He brought the fellow down to the beach and then told him he had vowed to kill him and was going to do it now. He then raised his revolver, and the rebel started to run.

Capt Phillips fired at him and so did two or three others but that poor fellow ran till he got onto our boat when he fell and cried that Capt Phillip's had shot him. He begged to see Capt Robith but our men took him and dragged him out to Phillips who shot him again through the head. This did not quite kill him and he was shot again. A hole was then dug and he was throwed in and covered up. He had six balls fired into him three went through his body and three through his head. I felt sorry for the poor fellow but it served him right. This make's two of the five that Capt Phillips has killed, and he says he won't be satisfied till the other three are in the same fix.

He says he would rather kill each one himself than receive twenty thousand a piece, and forego the pleasure of shooting them.

NEXT WEEK: The end of the war.