Student+16

16

Dear Family, I am a colonial soilder and I am 15 now because my birthday has past. I have to sleep in my own clothes in the strong winter and its very cold out tonight. Our tents are very thin and let alot of cold winter winds. All I have to eat is corn and rice and our shoe leather and its very little food we get to eat every now and then. My uniform is very thin and does not even cover my whole body and even though I am a very poor farmer with only clothes and no shoes. I have to walk in the cold snow with out any shoes. I have only a little ammo for my rifle that I took from my dad. I was told that I had to serve atleast one year in the army for George Washinton. I don't really know how to shoot a rifle but I've had a little experience with one when I go hunting with my dad for food. In the army they don't train us that much because they don't have time to train us because of the Continental army. The last battle I rememeber I fought in was Valley Forge. It was very cold were we had to camp at. I neerly froze to death but then they told us that we were going to battle in the huge snow storm to use it as a advantage point. When we started to fight they easly finished us very fast and we had to retreat before we lost everyone. I have a very small chace of surviving in this condition because I was half naked and covered in snow but I made it through but about 2,000 men died from these harsh winter conditions.

Your son, Josh