[upside down]

 

PS please excuse all errors. I have not the time to correct them and I know they are numerous

 

Camp near Petersburg

June 27 1864

 

Laura, your most welcome letter came to me this morning. I am well, the pain in my face has taken its departure but my face looks thick and fat. I think in a few days it will be well.

 

your letter that I have just rec^d is dated from June 21^st I did not think you would not answer my letters cheerfully simply I wished to tell you how welcome they came and how anxiously I looked for them.

 

the weather has for the last ten days been excessively hot and water scarce, our poor horses are dying for want of that indispensable article / we had no water to drink and the boys dug a well which has given us a poor supply, but we can use it for coffee and cooking. I never knew so much suffering for water, and such a drought. the moving of troops causes clouds of dust to raise enough to smother both man and beast. fighting continues with great obstinacy on both sides. last knight booming of cannon rustle of musketry rolled from right to left all knight, lighting up the rude hills and sky, as though heaven was all ablaze, indeed it looked in the distance together grand and picturesque, but now there is a lull. I hear the poor wounded crying for help and mercy. God help them. this is a sad time for thinking man. 

 

The 2^d Corps has been relieved for a short time to rest which we so much need. I will devote as much time to write to you as I possibly can. you mentioned about my putting on wet shirts I tell you we put on our blouses and carried our shirts until we could dry them, and this is the way if I must tell the truth that I caught cold and had so severe a time with my face. I will not say much about the prospect more than I am sure that little can be done until the Army is largely reinforced which seems to most near impossible to do at this critical period. what then will be the result. Grant has without a doubt failed to do what the nation so anxiously looked for. this can plainly be seen in the gold market / since Grants victories, which the press has endeavored to impress upon the people. Gold has advanced to over two dollars, and it may be in a short time that our national currency will depreciate in value [faded] as great a nuisance as the rebel scrip, but I will not speculate on the idle doings of our leaders. you may not wish to hear this as you hear and see enough at home. enough to say, I fear the prosperity of the nation will not in future years be as great. this country will not be the home of the oppressed nor the asylum of the world. I predict this to be the downfall of all our glorious and good institutions.

SOURCES