Rhetorical Analysis of War Letters

Rhetorical Analysis of War Letters
Name
Institutional Analysis
Rhetorical Analysis of War Letters
The chronological account of events as they occurred provides historical backgrounds upon which both the existing and subsequent generations of societies learn, reflect, and understand the underlying details defining such occurrences. War letters make for some of the sources documenting diverse accounts of experiences and contexts of the different wars witnessed and recorded in the history of humanity. For instance, Andrew Carroll's collection of war letters provide a wealth of literature on American wartime history through the lens of the experiences and observations documented in various correspondences of the country's men and women who participated in the warring events. War letters written by soldiers and other individuals caught up in the warring events create a framework for understanding different elements about the wars. Such details include a profile of the writer or sender of the letter, their family affiliations or relationship to recipients, and descriptions of the warring experiences. The outlined details create a vivid picture of the recipients of war letters while also providing valuable information about the past historical events for society's enlightenment over the particular warring event documented in the correspondences. Among the letters in Andrew Carroll's collection, War Letters: Extraordinary Correspondence from American Wars, is a letter by Lieutenant Ai Thompson to his father, recounting the Union Army's disgraceful loss to the Confederate army in the battle at Manassas (Bull Run) during the Civil War. Provided herein is a detailed analysis of the letter for evaluating key elements characterizing its content, including the writer's profile, relationship to the recipient and other mentioned parties, historical placement of the correspondence and event, and a reflection to modern American wars.
Lt. Ai Thompson Writes to His Father After the U.S. Army's "Disgraceful" Loss at Manassas (Bull Run)
Lieutenant Ai Thompson wrote a letter to his father dated 24th July 1861, expressing his disappointments following the defeat of the Union army by the Confederates at Manassas in what came to be known as the First Battle of Bull Run (Carroll, 2001). Thompson is a soldier in the federal or union army, taking part in the Civil War. The war broke out after calls for abolishing slavery by the federal government under President Lincoln, resulting in threats of sedition by the pro-slavery Southern states seeking to break away from the Union (History.com Editors, 2020). Thompson is a 28-year-old male enlisted in the Union army and appears to have a strong belief in the federal army's ability to crush the rebellion from the South. The soldiers' strong belief in the Union army's supremacy over the Confederates reflects in the evident disappointment over the "disgraceful" defeat he reiterates to his father in the first paragraph of the letter. Though the letter is meant for his father's eyes, Thompson's suggestion that his statement about the New Hampshire 2nd Regiment being nowhere and doing nothing during their predicament needs to be qualified meant that it could be read by other parties (Carroll, 2001). ...