Camp Pendleton near            

Newbern, Nov. 27^th 1862.

 

Dear Ro^s

            I wonder how you are spending this day? have you heard that it was Thanksgiving day in Me. and are you celebrating? I have feasted a little. a short time since I received a plump box from home and to-day I shall finish the cake, the cheese still holds out and a good one it is, have just eaten the last pippin. I wish you too could get a box from home. I know you would enjoy it. In mine was cake, pie apples cheese sauce and many other good things. To-day we are excused from duty. The boys have been playing ball, a few have passes and are over in the city. You will see by the date of this that "what I once was I now am not", in other words the 23^d has been routed. For a long time every Regt. in the department has been trying to get our / place and at last the 17^th Mass. has succeeded. Their Col. has lately been given a brigade and it was through him that the change was brought about. we are in the same brigade. At first we were not at all pleased with the change but now that we have got settled a little we are better contented, think we shall enjoy ourselves full as well as we did in the city. Our camping ground is a pleasant one, on a large plain just at the edge of the woods. It is rather close work in these tents but that we shall soon get used to. We have one trouble that is a trouble, we have lost our Col. the Regt thought everything of him. Other Cols have been given brigades which did not please Col. Kurtz and he was recently used in an ungentlemanly manner by the commanding Gen. so he threw up his commission. Gen. Foster acknowledged that he was in the wrong and asked Col. Kurtz to withdraw his resignation but he would not do it. We are now left under the command / of our Maj. which does not please us at all. He is a good military man but cannot go into battle without his whiskey. I once saw him so drunk that he could hardly sit on his horse. we shall catch it now, should we ever get into battle and he is not too drunk we may get our names up as he is a real fighter.

 

Since writing to you I have been on a long march, have seen something of a soldiers life. An expedition left Newbern Oct. 30^th and in it was five Co^s. of the 23^d. D was one of them. We marched about 175 miles. I stood it like a brick. The boys said I could not stand it more than two days but I marched every rod of the way and carried all my equipage, about 40 lbs. You can judge something about how hard the march was when I tell you that out of 60 men which we started with we had not over thirty fit for duty at the end of the march. some were footsore and others all tired out. Every day after the 3^d they dropped out but / on I marched. I sored my feet the 3^d day, blistered both heels and chaffed the tops of all my toes. But that was nothing for a soldier. One day I came very near giving out marched from sunrise till after midnight and the last part of the way in a rain storm. A great many gave out that day. That night we encamped within 5 miles of the enemy expecting to give them battle next morning. But I will commence at the beginning and tell you where we went and what for. Gen Foster had good reasons for supposing that the Rebels were building two ironclad boats on the Roanoke river just above Hamilton. A strong battery at this place prevented our gunboats ascending the river farther. to destroy this battery was a part of our business. Arriving at Hamilton after a few skirmishes we found the battery deserted. Knowing that they had a force at Tarboro some 20 miles from Hamilton our Gen pushed on for that place It was within five miles of this place where we halted that rainy night. During that night the enemy were strongly reinforced. we heard the whistle of the engine and next morning our scouts reported that they had been strongly reinforced and numbered 3 to our 1. We were in an unpleasant situation. if the Rebels sallied out we should stand a hard chance of escaping / with whole skins. we now had no idea of attacting them, to save our long baggage train was enough for us. we didn't care so much about their numbers but our men were all tired out. After a hard march we reached Plymouth and with every waggon. At this place, which our forces hold, we took transports for home, or Newbern. we thought it was as good as getting home when we touched wharf. We were gone just two weeks. The day before we got back some two or three thousand Rebels came down on Newbern thinking they could catch us asleep but they soon found out their mistake and retired after driving out in our pickets.

 

I had a chance to see something of N.C. and a more God forsaken country I never passed through. 'tis a level plain without a rock or stone. The houses are small and out of repair, plenty of weeds in the gardens and about / twenty pigs running at large. Occasionally we passed a good plantation with good buildings. The only human beings we saw were Negroes and a few poor whites. All fled at our approach. I saw no grain, a fair quantity of corn and plenty of sweet potatoes, a small million of pigs but no cattle, plenty of honey Whenever we halted for any length of time we had plenty of pig and potatoes and quite often honey. We cut a rough road, pillaged Williamston and partly burned Hamilton. The 23^d had no hand in either. Had our Gen ordered a certain part of town destroyed I should have said, good! but to allow lawless soldiers to pillage and burn at will I do not believe in.

 

Several new Regts. have lately arrived here and others are to come, evidently something is to be done by and by. I am ready and think I can stand fire. On that march two or three times we expected to go into bat / tle any moment and it did not trouble me any, think I took it as coolly as I should had I been going on a dress parade. the nearest that I got to flying bullets was about 40 rods. our advance skirmishers were attacted, the 23^d being the support were ordered forward on the double-quick but a charge of grape sent the enemy flying so we did not get a chance to pepper them. One night we all (the 23^d) slept with a heavy cannonade going on not two miles ahead. I slept just as well as I should at home.

 

            I hear from Fred very often, he writes interesting letters. The Tip Co. have just played a mean trick on him. Dewing got an appointment in the Q.M.D. at New Orleans and Fred took the books. Had kept them about three weeks when Dewing examined them and pronounced them all right and said Fred was capable of keeping them in good shape. The first thing Fred knew Goodyear had one of his nephews there to keep the books / never said a word to Fred about it. It is the way they do business. C. McK. & Co. have no voice in the management of the business. the Goodyears own about 2/3 of the stock and do as they please. C. McK. & Co. offer to pay 40 cts on the dollar, rather rough on their creditors.

 

            I receive lots of nice letters from Boston and vicinity and several photographs, some of them are quite fair ones too. I think Boston is a pretty good town and contains some quite interesting people, wish I was there this evening, know about where I should be. Should play euchre a little. Hattie Thompson sent me some fried cakes in my box and nice ones too. she says she is going to write to me soon and I hope she will. I love to receive the mail that I do but its an awful site of work to answer them all with the facilities I have for writing. some of them I take pains to write decent but where I don't care for them I rush them right through, have done that to this. I am finishing it this evening, commenced in the morning. In the tent they are having an Irish wake each one trying to make the most noise and shake the floor the worst. I have got so used to it that I don't mind it much.

 

Several of the boys have been to the city / to-day and they report that the people are not at all pleased with the change of Regts. the 23^d were all gentlemen while the 17^th are a pack of Irishmen and the scaly ones at that. I don't believe they will remain there long. The only way they ever distinguished themselves was by deserting the 2^d Maryland when they were in great danger had not the cavalry come to the rescue the 2^d would have been captured. Mass. never sent out a dirtier, meaner Regt than the 17^th.

 

            How are you prospering? I hope ere this you are in the shoot-room with a salary of $75 or $100 per month. I am expecting a letter from you every day. The war moves along [faded, paper fold] I begin to think that it never will end. Burnside has taken McClellans place, how he will succeed time alone can tell, he certainly cannot accomplish less than McC. has. I stood up for Little Mac as long as I could but I think he had the command / of the army full long enough for the countries good. I have made up my mind that I shall have to spend my two years in the army unless I die before the end of that time. If it only come out right in the end I shall not care but now all looks dark, things cannot continue in this way much longer, foreign powers will interfere unless we accomplish something soon. And another reason why the work should be done at once is that nine months will soon pass away, many of the new Regts have now been sworn in more than two months.

 

As my letter is getting quite lengthy I will now close. I hope I shall soon receive a good long letter from you. I hear from home often, all well at last accounts. Write as often as you can. If I can find 10 cts worth of stamps I shall prepay this letter. if not I shall have to mark it soldiers letter. I have just ordered a dollars worth from Boston.

                                                                                                           

Your brother

Charles

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