In Camp Near Forsythe Mo Feb 3 1863

 

                        Dear Beloved Wife once again I will convers with you a little while as it is one of my greatest pleasures to do as often as I can & I may a little easy day by this means though not so pleasant as if your bright & friendly face & form was with me but as that cannot be under the circumstances will not permit it I will do the next best thing & I will crowd it in perhaps a little thicker than will be plain but I will try to make it readable for you by taking time to write plain as I can Samuel & Irvin are both writing long letters to their loved ones why can not I do as much as I had two long ones from you & have only returned one to you for both though I will now try to add another yet I cannot add any verry thrilling incidents of my own or others as we are passively in camp doing almost nothing & time passes verry dull yet when I write to you it goes fast enough but days seem long until I hear from you but this is selfish you know as I need not think of hearing from you every day or more than once a week though I have written more than one a week since I left home I have wrote 7 to you 1 to Frances & 2 or 3 to Amos so this numbers 8 to you I will continue to no. to you & if you can do so to me & then we will know if any are missing & what one it is

 

It is now drawing towards night all hands are getting wood It would do you good to see all hands at work of evenings getting their wood for the next day we burn an immens amount of wood though we (Officers) have a stove or in other words a large funnel of sheet iron 2 feet across the bottom & door in the side they are made on purpose for tents & are verry nice for the purpose the pipe runs out through the tent through a piece of tin all the Officers has such an one The Capt Pret Howell & myself lay in the tent and are verry comfortable as a general thing I have 3 blankets besides my rubber blanket plenty to keep us warm of a cold night if we had no tents last night was quite cold & clear but dry to day it thawed some but was cold & will be to night but not enough so to freeze over streams but causes them to fall fast 

 

I have had one turn of sick head ache that lasted for near a day & for a few hours I was verry sick & for the last 2 or 3 days I have had a kind of dull head ache but I know it is for lack of full exercise & sitting around but yesterday 11 of us took a long tramp over the mountains in search of a cave we heard of but did not find it as we had no guide to take us to it we took a lantern & candles and such things as was necessary to explore any hole we might find in the rocks but we found none to explore but ran or walked over the mountains until I was tired & sore we rolled some huge stone down the mountain side that cleared a road as they went I wrote a description of our meetings on last Sunday so you can see that & I will not reiterate it here The Harboard that his wife lived at Irvins met with a severe accident he shot a hole through his left hand he had hold of the muzzle of the gun and it sliped & fell the dog or hammer struck a rock & set it of it is a painful wound I saw it this morning before it was dressed the ball entered near the center of the palm & went out near the bone of the little finger but did not injure it the others are badly mangled in the bones & must make his fingers stiff Wednesday 4^th another night has passed verry pleasantly within our tent but out of doors has up to this time been verry disagreeable the snow has fell to the depth of 3 inches & is still snowing which makes it verry disagreeable for the boys as it is hard to keep tents dry it tracks in so badly here being soft & wet though it is not cold now or verry muddy nor has it been as yet only in bottom land it is so rocky it cannot get muddy at any time only wet I often think of things I want to write you & when I get to writing I forget what I want to say The boys have had a great spree for the last day or so they have been drawing pants & other clothing & when one would not put on his old new pants they pull on him & tear his old pants off of him They run James Gurley a ½ mile & he run into Colonel Gizers tent seized a sword & kept the boys at bay when the Col saw what was up he went out & told the boys to take him out & they did & striped him of his pants & he walked back to camp all in good humor & a no of others was served the same way only done at camp but one or two got mad but all to no purpose they had to come Irvin & Samuel has drawn but one pair each while others have the 3^d / they patch theirs & do not burn them out by the fire as some do & all their tent mates do the same I am most happy to learn that they do not play cards or chew or smoke in their tents all seem to go smoothly with them Did I ever tell you how verry pious we are in our tent The Capt reads a chapter & prays almost every night then will go to reading some silly novel or talk some vulgar talk which he is verry fond of nothing suits him better than some light vulgar stuff with Pret Howell there fore I do not make so good a chum for him they were gone all day yesterday on the hills rolling stones down them when they come back they were in great glee about their feats of fun I am determined to try to do some thing to elevate Irvin & Samuel if I can they will do all they can to keep them down as low as they can that is all the religion he has in fact I look at all any Campbellite has as being verry light stuff capable of being stretched to any distance that fancy may dictate & at the same time they would be verry mad to doubt their religious motives which they will turn to any purpose to sait the fancy of the man that possess the article Though I get along quite well with them & shall still try to for I have an end to accomplish by so doing & hope to do so before this war is over yet it could not be stoped to soon to sait me if it was this afternoon Oh what joy would be in the land if such could be the case but such we cannot hope for & when that happy day may come many of us may not be alive to see it as no telling what may be our destiny from here we have come to hunt out the Rebels & drive them from the land we must follow as they recede and hold the ground we occupy or gain that is why we have to kill so many men in the field

 

I think when we leave here our mail will have to come on some other way perhaps down the Mississippi & up the arcansas river though I cannot say how but will try before we leave here to find out We had a verry interesting election among the Officers for a new Major & as the Captains of A & K expected to fill the post they were much disappointed at the result as the Capt of the Heyworth Co was chosen after 6 or 7 ballotings his name is McFarlan a good easy sort of man truly not verry warlike but he was my choice 

 

I do not think of any more to write so I will await a letter as I think some of you will write so I will get it to day How soon winter will be gone now as we have started on the down hill Since you speak of some fear of taking the small pox from handling or reading a letter I think there is no danger from that as I was about the house & in buildings within 30 feet of where they were dying with it evry day at Springfield & I have not got it yet nor do I feel any fear of it from that But there seems to be much sickness in the country at home Thursday 5 I do not know that I have described the town of Forsythe here It is the county seat of Lena or Taney Co you can see by looking on the map of Mo on White river There is about 30 wooden buildings mostly log some good frame and the court house which is a good brick building worthy of a better country as good as ever our court house was & of better material There was not an inhabitant in the town when our forces entered & nearly all the small towns is the same way not even women or negroes were left there But it is now fully occupied & verry lively besides much enlarged numbering perhaps 5000 persons in the vicinity of the place This morning every thing seems lively this morning The snow is 10 inches deep & the sun comes out clear & bright all hands are cutting & hauling wood or large logs for their fires Sometimes I fear we may have a tight time here if the waters raise very high here there will be but little chance to get provision or forage here but I hope there will be arrangements made to meet the wants

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