Washington D.C. Dec 17/62

           

Dear Father

                        I now take this oppur- to write, and let you know how I get along. I am in a hospital just now, from a slight wound in the heel. I wrote last sunday, or rather a week ago sunday, I also received one from Mother, as we were in Fredericksburg, last sunday. We have seen some stirring times for the past week. Our sutler brought the mail, it was over a month old. it contained that cayenne and Martha's picture. Thursday we struck tents, and were marched about a mile and held ourselves in readiness as a reserve as our Batteries had opened on the City we / staid at our post still and the as our services we were not needed we marched back to camp. (Friday morning) we we struck tents again and (marched at about nine o'clock and this time we went to the river and across on the pontoon bridge. and stopped stopping for the rest of the day on the bank and at night we slept (the most of us) in the houses. We kept fires agoing in the fireplaces and I went up stairs and got a rocking chair and hauled up before the fire and slept sleeping what I could. We did not dare to keep a very bright fire as the rebels would shell the hill once in a while on the opposite side from us and our building was pierced with holes where our Batteries shelled it when they shelled the city. In fact there is scarcely a house in the city that has

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