Hd. Q'rs 5 Vt              

June 5 1864

 

My Own Dear Wife

                        I received your letter of the 20^th yesterday and although I am lying within 50 rods of the main Army of Gen. Lee yet I will just drop you a few lines. Our Regt had about as hard a fight day before yesterday as we have had. We had been up night and day for I dont know how long marching & counter marching and digging breast works & rifle pits. yet we started at 4 o'clock and met the enemy in less than 10 minutes. our Regt commenced fighting about 6 o'clock not being / in the first line when we started out. we fought them from 6 o'clock in the morning until some time after dark we lost 8 killed and 21 wounded, amongst the killed was Capt Samson, the same one that I wanted you to call on his wife in Salem he was killed instantly. Also Corporal Charles E. Stearns of my Company he was killed that same day. I send to you in this letter his photograph which he gave me a day or two before. One of my Company was killed yesterday by a sharpshooter and Lieut Bixby was wounded You will be astonished when I tell you that right in front of where I am writing this letter between our pit & the enemies there is as many as 300 hundred I should judge of our men who were killed 4 days ago in a charge, and are unburied yet. the Rebs keep up such a fire night and day / that it is impossible to bury them. they begin to stink so that it is almost impossible to stay here. we shall have to bury them some way to night or we shall have to abandon our position and what is worst of all is amongst them there is some alive for they can be seen to stir.There was a Mass. Colonel killed out there and they wanted his body so bad that his Regt. offered $1000 to any person that would get his body so last night a party crawled out there and tied a rope to his body and dragged it in to our lines but I cant stop to write any more now as I have / go to head Qtrs to see about moving my Regt. as I am still in command of the 5^th Vt.

 

I also send an order you can get the money on it at any bank

 

I hope that you do not fail to give all the glory to the good God for his great mercy in sparing the life of your affectionate

Husband

E. A. Hamilton

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