The cries of war scream in my head.  I can remember the day clearly.  The hot sun beating down upon my head as we charged the rocky slopes of the mountain.  More and more of my men fell, but we pressed onward.  It seemed for every foot gained we lost a soldier, fifty or so yards lay ahead of us.  Slashing my sword left and right, I carried our colors to the top.  My men on either side of me, firing their muskets as fast as they could load.  Nearing the top, my first officer was shot.  My sword avenged his death before his body hit the ground.  One man stood between our forces and the top.  I heard the report of his musket fire and felt the pain as its ammunition ripped its way through my leg.  Stumbling forward, I lunged with my sword and planted it squarely in his chest.  Leaning on the colors I kept my balance and never fell.  The hill was ours and I turned to celebrate with my men but found that I was the only one.  A solitary man standing on top of a hill alone to enjoy our victory.  I looked around expecting to see my men cheering with me, instead as far as my eyes could see there were bodies and pieces of bodies covering the once green grass.  Some were wearing blue, some were wearing grey, but all of them bled crimson.  Looking up to Old Glory, I raised her mast and planted it heavily into the earth taking a seat at her base.  Moments later a blurred figure came toward me, his rank flickering in the sunlight that stabbed through the smoke filled hill side.  Doing my best to stand I saluted and reported that the hill was his.  Slowly everything started getting darker and darker, but the red always shown bright as the freshly painted barn at home.  My own red blood on my hands, the blood of countless others on my sword, the blood caked to the uniforms of the others; it was all red.  Not blue, not grey, but red.  What price did we pay for this victory, what price this war, what price . . . for a lasting peace.

i am not sure as to when this was written but i do recall that i had done a lot of research on the civil war at the time and if you can do that kind of research and NOT be moved then there's honestly something wrong with you