Horace Wright at the age of 42 left his wife, Maryann, and their home in Auburn for a summer away. At least, that is what he thought in April, 1861, when he enlisted in the 1st Maine Infantry Regiment. Assigned with his regiment to provide part of the defense for the city of Washington, Wright is confident that U.S. General Winfield Scott will lead the Army and the Confederacy would soon fall. While the rest of the 1st Maine marches and drills in humid 90-degree heat, he takes the afternoon off. Barely six weeks away from home and yet to have fired a weapon in anger, Horace informs Maryann that he has had enough. "I have got sick and tired of the sound of war, but must stand it a while longer," he writes.

Five weeks later, the two armies clash at Manassas Junction, the First Battle of Bull Run. The outcome is not what Wright envisioned. The Union Army suffers nearly 2,900 losses; the Confederate Army suffers almost 400 dead, and more than 1,500 wounded. Wright is assigned to the 10th Maine Infantry Regiment and serves until May 1863. He re-enlists in January 1864 in the 1st Maine Cavalry Regiment and is discharged for illness in August. He does not recover and dies on August 18, 1864. Wright is one of the three officers and 341 enlisted men of the 1st Maine Cavalry who die of disease during the war.

“…God deliver me from ever seeing another such a sight as I have seen for the week past but such is the effects of war.”