How can one distinguish between the two distant realms of dreams and reality? To many, the answer to this question is simple; dreams occur in our sleep, and reality is events, occurrences, and happenings that go on in our daily lives. However, many people wonder, is it possible that at one point in time that our dreams actually did occur in reality, and even if they did not, how do our dreams affect us when we awake from our slumber? " Dreams surely difficult, confusing, and not everything in them is brought to pass for mankind. For fleeting dreams have two gates: one is fashioned of horn and one of ivory. Those who pass through the one of sawn ivory are deceptive, bringing tidings which come to nought, but those who issue from the one of polished horn bring true results when a mortal sees them."(Homer, The Odyssey, 700 BC) I will leave you to judge both questions for yourselves.

After two days of the most ferocious fighting yet to be witnessed in the entire war, I was tired, hungry, and weary of the omnipresent feeling that death lurked just around the corner. On the third day of the engagement, I was aroused from my precious slumber by an eruption of artillery fire directly in fron

The drummers continued to play their familiar tunes which had propelled us to victory so many times before. Victory was now just one mile away. I had to stay focused, when the bullets began flying, my men would look to me for leadership; I just couldn't let them down. Just as I turned to check on their formation, Yankee shells began ripping up the earth all around us. The high pitched hissing of the shells was a signal that for some poor soul, death was near. The evil hissing was constant; we had just begun our march through hell. The most unimaginable situation was now occurring. The Yankee shells were hitting their targets(us) with precision accuracy.

t of me. For a brief moment, I thought that we were under attack. However, after coming to my senses, I saw that it was actually Confederate artillerymen firing the cannons, our boys. So many cannons, as far as my vision would stretch up and down the line of our positions, the only action that could be seen were the gunners in grey working feverishly to load, fire, and reload their guns.

My men seemed to be entirely unphased by the hissing of the enemy shells. Both their minds and my own were focused only on one thing, defeating the enemy and finally winning this damned war once and for all. The constant booming from the barrage of artillery lasted for nearly an hour. When the abrupt cease of the cannonade finally came, it was followed by the synchronized familiar tapping of our drummers beating out their tunes. Their eyes told me more than their music did. They were afraid, afraid that our attack might fail and our cause be totally lost. This was the first time that the look of distant fear had been displayed by the brave drummers. Nonetheless, they just kept the beat strong, insuring order and organization for our men.

We were being slaughtered and I was dying in some random field. I just wanted to be home again. The scene around me began to fade along with the sounds of gunfire and screaming until only darkness remained. "Get up Justin, " was all I heard. "Who was calling me?" "I was shot" Opening my eyes I saw that the battlefield was gone. I was in my room and my father was waking me up for school. He noticed that I was drenched in sweat and asked if I was alright. Telling him that I was, I got up to take a shower but was halted by a sharp, burning pain in my chest. Lifting up my shirt I was shocked to see a large patch of freckles which I had never seen on myself before. I was thirteen years old then, and to this say the freckles remain. Also remaining is my curiosi

Some common words found in the essay are:
Yes Yankees, Dream Death, Rebel Yell, Yankees Confederate, Confederate Army, Civil War, Amazingly Yankees, pain chest, thousands yankee, stone wall, yankee shells, confederate artillerymen, artillery fire, yankee cannons, landed near,
Approximate Word count = 1717
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)