Many of the officers and men of the 5th Regiment, including its colonel, Amasa Cobb, were from Grant County, and Carter's letters contain many comments and news items on his comrades. His position in the quartermaster's department placed him in close contact with difficulties in securing provisions, movements of troops, etc., much of which information he passed on in his letters.
Throughout the misfortunes and defeats of the Union Army in Virginia, Carter stoutly defended the conduct of the campaigns and General McClellan's military technique. Some of the unpleasant aspects of army life, such as arrearage in pay, inadequate medical care, and military red tape, are revealed in letters he wrote from a hospital at Hagarstown, Maryland, where he spent several months, and while trying to be reinstated in the army after his return. The letters in this collection, which were written almost every week in the first two years of the war and less regularly thereafter, are filled with observations on battles, troop movements, personalities, and incidents of army life.
