First, happy WDC anniversary, and hoping you have many more.

I love the voice I can “hear” in this letter. I can see the writer of the letter, his back pressed against the wall of some long abandoned cottage, writing this letter while a “mental” voice echos the words he puts on paper..

There are word choices I would ask you about. In the first sentence you write:

in the woods thereupon first we began courtship

Should that be ‘whereupon’ rather than ‘thereupon?’

The other questions I have are with how the writer came to be on this battlefield in the first place. And that has everything to do with the intriguing letter you wrote that drew me in. I particularly appreciated the attached note on historic fights at the bottom. Thank you for that!