Camp 13^th N. H. Vols near Portsmouth Va Tuesday July 21^st 1863

 

My Dear Wife I seat myself once more to try and write a few lines to you to let you know that I am still enjoying good health and hope this will find you as it leaves me. Well it has been either very rainy or very hot ever since we got back from that expedition up on the Peninsula or as the boys all call it our "Blackberry Raid" in Rebeldom. We have not had any marching to do since we got back and have not had any drilling either except one inspection and a few Dress Parades and a Review yesterday by Maj Gen John Foster a native of N.H. Gen Foster is a very pleasant looking man of I should think fifty years of age about six feet four inches in height light hair blue eyes and very muscular looking. I should have said his hair was originally light but is now mixed with white which gives him an old look as you know grey hair always does.

 

Thursday July 23^rd Dear Hannah I left off writing rather suddenly day before yesterday owing to my getting detailed to help police and ditch the street which took nearly all day and when it came night I was very tired and so I did not write any but turned in at dark. We had a very heavey shower just after dark and the rain drove through our tent like water through a sieve and wet everything all through. (My pen is not very good). By the way I thought I had heard hevey thunder before I came out here but I begin to think I was mistaken after having two or three showers out here. Well yesterday morning the whole Co was detailed to go out on picket and went down almost to Portsmouth for picket on a line of rifle pits that was built by the Rebels two years ago and runing from the river below Portsmouth to Deep Creek a distance of eleven / miles and there is a picket the whole length of the entrenchments. We had a pretty good time down there and had just as many tomatoes cucumbers new potatoes cabbage &c as we wanted to eat for only just the trouble of stealing them and we have got so now that we dont think it any hurt to get what we can eat out here in Secessia whether by hook or crook we are bound to have a living any way and if we dont draw enough to eat from our Uncle Sam we must get it some other way. Well I hear that the draft is postponed in N. H. for which I suppose the folks there are very thankful but it is no use according to present appearances for it is only starving off the draft for a few days at best and they have got the longer to dread it that is all. Well this war has got to be carried through now it has got so far and I was in hopes that the draft would not be resisted and see if the war could not be closed up for I for one am heartily tired of staying here and it would be the most glorious sight that I ever beheld to see the Granite Hills of N. H. once more and the most glorious news that I could hear would be to hear that peace once more reigned over our once peaceful Union and that we can once more return to those we love. Oh if I could just sit down by your side for a few moments and have a chance to speak to you once more oh how happy I would be. By the way there has three Lieutenants one seargent two Corporals and three privates gone home to N. H. out of this Reg to get volunteers or conscripts to fill up the Reg and I offered one of them fifty dollars for his chance but he said that he would not let me have it for five hundred and I did not blame him. Furloughs are / out of the question this summer for the campain is getting quite active since the capture of Vicksburg and Port Hudson on the Mississippi and the taking of the Morris Island batteries in front of Charlestown all of which makes us think that the "Backbone of Rebellion" is about breaking an event which we sincerely hope for. We expect to have to start again soon but we are willing to go if by going we can help bring this war to a close. Well I must leave off writing now for Dress Parade is "coming right along" and I must be ready when that comes so Give my love to all and here is love and a kiss for you and I remain your loving husband Joe

 

Friday July 24^th Half past eight oclock A.M. Dear Hannah After so long a time I have begun writing again. Well orders are getting as strict as they used to be up to Suffolk and every light must be put out at taps and every man that has a light burning after that time must be arrested and put in the guard house for disobeying orders and no one can leave camp even for an hour without permission from the Colonel under a penalty of one dollar and we have to keep our streets and camp as cleanly swept as an old maid would a floor, (old maids are proverbially neat you know). In fact we are hardly allowed to walk the streets without our boots are blacked but that dont affect me any because I have not any boots to black and I could not draw any shoes because there was not any that was large enough (so much for having such large feet). Well I suppose by this time your school is nearly or quite done but I have forgotten how long your school was or else you never told me. By the way in your last letter you spoke about something that one of the Caswell Girls said about you but I dont remember what it was nor who said it so I cant tell anything about it any way at all / Well we are to have Brigade Guard Mounting this A.M. for the first time since leaving the first camp at Suffolk. The boys are all at work brushing and blacking up for Guard Mounting and it begins to look quite natural. Well I should like to know why Jere Cate has not got those boots done for I have been expecting them for the last three weeks all of the time and as I cant draw any that are large enough for me I must go barefooted untill those are sent as I dont want to buy any for I cant get any boots for less than eight dollars for Balmoral and Congress boots and twelve dollars for common kind of boots whether thick or thin and they dont last at that those that I bought at Newport News ought to have been good boots now but there was no wear in them. Well it is overcast today which makes it quite pleasant but it is hot enough and the flies are so thick that there is no comfort to be taken any where. Sometimes I almost get discouraged and think this war never will close and I never shall get home and then the prospect brightens up with every victory of our army and makes us wish for more. By the way if they would send us home to enforce the draft with our present feelings we should not be very likely to fire high for you can hardly find a soldier that would not shoot his brother almost if he resisted the draft for all such things are encouraging the seceshionists (bad spelling) and discouraging us. I do not take any credit to myself for volunteering to come out here but my feelings have changed greatly since I came out here although I would get out of it now if I could but yet we are protecting the rights and homes of the damned secessionists north and they ought to be forced to assist us if they will not do it willingly. Well I must close for want of room so Give my love to all and write as soon as is convenient to you and a kiss for the one I love above all else on earth

 

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Oh how I would like to step in and see you this morning and see if I would not stay there if possible for if I get home once more I promise you I will never leave you again unless I am obliged to yours Joe

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