Barrier writes from line of battle near Wilmington, expecting an attack at any moment. The regiment is on duty at "Confederate Point" (Fedral Point) five miles from Fort Fisher, and Barrier doesn't comprehend why: "I cannot understand what we are to accomplish by remaining at this point. General Bragg may intend to hold Wilmington at all hasards." Fort Fisher, he writes, was "surrendered most disgracefully" the previous Sunday. He suspects that those manning it at the time of the assault were "all drunk, some of them beastly so." This is, he reports, the darkest hour that he has beheld since the beginning of the war. He ends with an exhortation, that his fellows in the Confederacy might redouble their efforts in the fight to be free, even if that means they must fight forever.