Scope and Contents Decided to write to her, though he does not know her, when Colonel W. read parts of her letter to him; has let his imagination wander to think of his home in the South, and wishes "this cruel war was over"; has amused himself by coaxing a rat of his hole and then throwing Colonel W.'s toothbrush at him; joined the Confederate Army with the notion "that it was a mighty funny thing; that there was a good joke in it somewhere & that I was the Columbus to discover it"; finally "found the joke -- [through] curiosity morbid curiosity" when he stumbled upon a group of Union troops who pressed him to go with them, and so became a prisoner; asks her not to mention that he wishes to go back again; describes an "exchange" ceremony (a funeral); closes with poetry that makes clear his desire to receive a letter from somone back in Dixie.