Writing Assignment

I would like you to put yourself in the shoes of a key player in the Civil War. You will need to put on your acting hat, at least in your mind.

I want you to handwrite a letter as though you are that person. You can be:

• An active duty soldier for either the North or South
• A parent to a soldier
• A sibling of a soldier
• An officer in charge of men on the battlefield
• A doctor/nurse caring for the wounded
• Someone else who is directly involved with the war

Remember that you, the soldier, may never see your parents or sweetheart again because you're about to go into battle. You, the parent, are counting the days until your son or sons come home from battle, and you're painfully aware of the dark reality that you may never see them again. You may be the high ranking officer writing to your wife, telling her of the harrowing experiences you're having in battle, the fact that you may never see her again and the anguish of sending these young men to their untimely death.

The art of letter writing seems to have vanished over the last generation with the advent of cell phones, texting, blackberry's, emails, 'Ming, etc. When did you last sit down and "write" a letter?

Seriously think about this and HANDWRITE a LEGIBLE, NEAT, substitive letter to your person. This should be a minimum of ONE FULL PAGE. Let your imagination run free on this, and put yourself in the shoes of somebody that lived approximately 150 years ago. This will be for credit so please take this seriously while it can be fun and a good learning experience for you.