“Killed at Chickamauga”

After the Battle of Chickamauga, one Union soldier, Sergeant William Miller of the 75th Indiana, wrote this in his diary:

This has been a terible day to the American Nation and many bitter tears will be Shed north and south for the dead of Chickamauga. There are thousands of men in the prime of life who this morning felt they were destined to live a ripe old age who to night are lying on the Battle field Stark and Stiff and who will be coverd where they fell with a few shovel fill of dirt and left to rot with nothing to mark the place where a hero perished for his country and that the government might live. They will not answer to Roll Call in their respective companies any more and the report will be “Killed at Chickamauga Sept 19th 1863.”