On December 2, 1864 Elizabeth (Lizzie) wrote a letter to her brother Angus while he was in the Confederate Army, at that time located in Virginia. The letter relates how the Perkerson family stayed in their house during the war and interacted with both Union and Confederate soldiers in order to save their family and home. The letter tells of the sentiments of the family towards the soldiers, helping the wounded in the area, and the scene in Atlanta after Sherman’s troops passed: “Atlanta is a perfect mass of ruins. I haven’t been there as yet, but from what they tell me it is awful. All the public buildings are gone except the City Hall. Whitehall Street swept completely.”