A week before the Battle of Bull Run, Sullivan Ballou, a Major in the 2nd Rhode Island Volunteers, wrote home to his wife for a final time. "Sarah, my love for you is deathless. It seems to bind me with mighty cables, that nothing but Omnipotence can break; and yet, my love of country comes over me like a strong wind, and bears me irresistibly on with all those chains, to the battlefield." At the battle, Major Sullivan received a mortal wound.

The GPO will read his heartfelt letter over Jay Ungar's "Ashokan Farewell" at Salute to Service.