Head Quarters 77^th Regt O.V.I.

Little Rock, Ark., Nov 27, 1863.

 

My very dear Wife

            Your letter of the 1^st and Emma's of the same date were received the night before I left for Pine Bluffs and I had only time to drop you a note from the Depot, on my way; and now that I have returned, I find two more here—dated the 5^th and 9^th. They are all excellent letters—such as you only ever wrote me—and were so gladly received. I love you more than ever, dearest, for the regularity with which you send me such sweet good letters.

 

            I am very glad to hear that you keep your health well, and that the children are all well. Frank has recovered so that he can go to school—and I hope is entirely cured of the ague. He is my good big boy, and I am very glad he is rid of the "shakes". Lee must be pretty tough that he never gets the ague. Emma and Lynn are growing finely, which shows that they are not feeling very unwell.

 

            Your enclosures of stamps come through all right now, but the first lot you sent—the largest of any—I never got. We have a few here now at the P.O. but they will not last long.

 

            The news from Wheeling indicates that Col. De Hass is not elected to Congress after all. I have seen nothing of the official vote published yet.

 

            Give my regards to Mrs. Hildebrand and family, and tell her that the Colonel told us he expected to be paid his salary during the time he was raising his Regiment, if not the expense of recruiting it. He was appointed Col. on the 5^th of October, 1861, and he only received pay from the 4^th of January 1862—so there is yet back three months pay, or $600 / if provision is made to pay the Ohio Colonels from date of appointment. She had better get Geo M Woodbridge, or some other business man to look into the matter. She is also entitled to his pay from the 31^st of December 1862, till the time of his death April 18, 1863, and $30 per month pension from his death for 5 years. I hope she will get it all, as no man ever served the country more faithfully than Col. Hildebrand, and no family made greater sacrifices or practiced more self denial to deal honestly with the world than his. The Officers of the Regiment made up a fund to pay for sending Col. Hildebrand's body home, and also to get a ticket for Mrs H.—and I do not know but to send his horse ("Henry") also. As I paid my fare home and back, when I went in charge of his remains, I was not asked to contribute anything to this fund—I having spent some $40 or $50 on the trip. The funds were put into Quartermaster Pearce's hands to purchase the tickets, &c., and I think he has never rendered an account, as to whether he spent all the money or more. The coffin, the hearse, &c., may have been paid in that way, or may not. I will ask him when I see him. Lt. Pearce is now Brigade Quartermaster and stays at Col. M^cLean's Brigade Head Quarters.

 

            I am glad your check reached you in good time so you have money enough for all necessary purposes. I was paid yesterday, and wanted to get another check, but the Paymaster said he was not giving any this time. I will find a chance to send some money home soon I guess.

 

            I think your taste very good in the selection of a cloak for daughter. The flashy colors look well the first few times you wear them, but the color you chose will look nice a long while. I suppose she looks quite "stylish" since it is made. I want you to keep yourself and the children well clothed, and supply yourself with plenty of provisions for the winter, and keep a supply of coal on hand. If necessary, get a coal house made that / you can lock up, so your coal will not be stolen. Then you can lay in a supply while it is cheap, and what is saved in price will pay the expense of building the coal house.

 

            I send Lee a copy of the Memphis Bulletin, with some articles marked. You will see a Mariettan has got into trouble. I hope Jennings is not guilty. He has too much "music in his soul" to be "fit for treason stratagem and "spoils".

 

            "How are your conscripts?" will be appreciated in Tennessee since the famous Order 157 has been issued by Gen. Hurlbut. You will find it in the Bulletin.

 

            When we got the Memphis papers last night, with the news of the burning of the Steamer Sunny Side, we almost gave Sergts Smithson and Berfield up for lost. But we have letters from them dated Cairo, Nov. 15, saying the 77^th men are all safe, though Joseph Dunn got his face burnt, and Smithson lost all his clothes but shirt and pants, his money with them. It was a terrible affair. Just think of the women and children in their helpless condition surrounded by flames, death staring them in the face! It was awful.

 

            I wrote you a letter while at Pine Bluffs—or rather a part of one—and added some lines to it since my return. I told you we were treated kindly by the officers and some of the citizens. We had invitations to tea and other attentions shown us by the Union people of that city which made us feel well pleased. Hon. A. A. C. Rogers (probably next governor of Arkansas) P. A. Fennerty, Wm. E. Snow, Dr. Ketchum, Mr Mills and others were most prominent among the Union men.

 

            We boarded at a Mrs. Scott's, five days, and were absent from her table nearly half the time, for which she charged Maj Stevens and myself $15.00. Guess her Unionism isn't very powerful, or her love of money is great. We won't stop there again if we visit the city of Pines. / Our trip to the Bluffs was replete with adventure. On our way down we were told by the "intelligent contrabands" that there were hundreds of Guerrillas on the route—that there was a camp a mile or two from Plum Bayou, (where we stayed on Monday night going down and coming up) and that some two hundred rebels were "there or thereabouts". We got the reports just after we had taken an excellent supper with Mr. J. H. Mosby the owner of the plantation on which we camped our train, and while we were sitting around his parlor fire listening to his daughters sing and play the piano. There was quite an excitement among the boys, and one of them came to the door and called the Major out. He ordered the pickets doubled, and the men sleep on their arms. This was all well enough, but not having much faith in negro stories, nor the fear of rebs before my eyes, I slept in one of our host's best beds with "my usual ability"—though the Major refused to doff his harness, and laid by the fire, ready to be attacked. It turned out to be a big scare, so we still live. Nary rebel was seen, but in the morning some half a dozen of Mr. Mosby's negros followed the train off, among them the cook, taking with them many cooking utensils, including the best coffee pot. So we took tea for breakfast—that is those of us who remained after the train left, and (being mounted) overtook it a mile or two below. The Major could not stay for breakfast—the fact that the planter's cook went off with a train under his command spoiled his appetite.

 

            When we got to Pine Bluffs, we waited a day for another train to come down, that we might escort both back to Little Rock; and by that time, Col. Clayton thought the place was threatened with an attack from the rebels under Gens. Fagan and Shelby, numbering some 3600 and the Cavalry force of Gen. Marmaduke, which attacked the little garrison there on the 25^th ult. So he ordered us to stay with our 110 men to help defend the place. We were thus kept till Monday morning, the men sleeping on arms, and standing in line of battle an hour before daylight each morning. But no enemy came, so we were relieved.

 

            Quite a number of citizens, Union families fleeing from the rebels, came in from the direction of Princeton to Pine Bluffs, and got passes from Col. Clayton to come up with our train. Among them were two ladies, the wife and daughter of Wm Cox, formerly a merchant in Brandenburg, Ky. He owned a plantation out near the rebel lines, and some negroes; but being a Union man, he was compelled to leave the country or join the rebel army. He chose to leave, and his wife and daughter were following him—the darkeys coming with them to Pine Bluffs, where they were persuaded by some of their "friends" that they could make a "big thing" by "setting up on their own hook" and they left, and went perhaps in the contraband camp. Old Mr. Blair a neighbor of the family, drove their team of oxen, and as he was fording the Arkansas river, 15 miles below Little Rock, the oxen took a notion not to go and turned around

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