This letter was written by Wilder Dwight to his mother, Elizabeth A. Dwight, on the field at the Battle of Antietam on 17 September 1862. Wilder Dwight was a lieutenant colonel in the 2nd Massachusetts Infantry Regiment, sent to support the forces of Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker at Antietam, Md. Dwight began the letter in the morning before he was engaged in fighting and finished it when he lay wounded on the field after troops had withdrawn. He describes his hopes for victory and his faith in God. He died two days later. The letter is stained with his blood.