Isaac B. Coleman was a farmer from Talladega County, Alabama who mustered into service as a drummer in Co. I, 30th Alabama Infantry on March 22, 1862. The non-standard spelling, lack of punctuation, and erratic capitalization is typical of individuals, North and South, whose access to schooling was limited. The variant past tense drawed was widespread in 19th-century American English, as was haint for have not or has not and was with a plural subject (I Dont no what they was firing at). The pattern of subject-verb agreement which allows a plural or compound noun subject with is (corn bread and very poore beefe is what we have to eat) was widespread in the Midlands and South. Features which are more specifically Southern include sorrow as an adjective (I am very Sorow) and the phonetic spelling cear for care (I have ben a little cearless about riting).