Camp at Humboldt Tenn

Oct 14^th 1862

 

My Dear Companion

In the enjoyment of perfect health and the same of cheerful spirits and greatly gratified with our present encampment I will employ a portion of time this sweet morning in addressing a few lines to the wife I left behind me & to the "loved ones at home"

 

            Our company is enjoying the sweets of healthfulness The captain Abel Deason & almost all the sick we left at Cairo have been restored to us. But we have to regret the absence of G. W. Kellogg who is too sick with the typhoid fever to leave the place of the soldier's abhorrence and enjoy with us the delightful scenery of surely one of the most / agreeable places in this verdant earth in the forests of Tennessee in the poetical month of "Brown October" We have a plenty to eat & the best of water to drink. We draw flour now & have a woman to cook it into buscuits We have a supply of fresh pork & beef &c &c which we never before drew since being in the service When we come in contact with property belonging to a disloyal person which we need we make use of it I haven't taken any yet nor dont wish to but some of the boys I fear do wrong in not being careful how they take things which do not belong to them The boys are not troubled so much by having to stand guard for we have no camp guard so we are free to roam in the wide forest in search of / nuts, muscadines, grapes, persimmons &c which are found in abundance The land here looks fertile is free from rocks & steep hills which has somewhat surprised me.

 

Velery I am cheerful here now but I long to be in your presence In my dreams last night I fancied I was in the presence of the one I love and holding a pleasant conversation with the same when suddenly I was aroused by the sharp reports of guns firing in the direction of the pickets the alarming sound of the "soul-stirring drum" and the loud and urgent commands of the officers to rally & form in line of battle which was about 2 O'clock The line was formed as soon as possible & we stood awaiting an assault for some time / when the order came to return to tents & sleep on our arms during the night I didn't fear an attack for I did not believe a strong force of the enemy was near and I blieve if the worst should come and I should fall & my body return to the dust from whence it came my soul—the living principle within—shall wing its flight to the "land of rest" This hope & this belief prevent fears from arising in my breast or at least serves to prevent it I suppose the protracted meeting is in progress at the Paradise meeting house and I wish I could be permitted to attend it with you but I will have to be absent in body I hope that much / and lasting good may be done I expect we will go to Jackson when we leave here but I have no idea how long that will be I understand that Logan is reserving a place for us in his brigade W^m Carner does our cooking at present and has a negro boy for a waiter I am afraid some of my folks think I dont write to them as often as I should I will generally write to you & some person in Holt's Prairie and aim for one letter to serve for all Robert's folks and some of our folks from Holt's I presume will be at meeting you will please show this to them I have written two letters to some & have received no response 

 

Hoping you are all in the enjoyment of good health and that I will soon get a letter from you informing me of the same

                                                           

I will close by giving my love to you all & signing myself your

devoted husband

G. Carroll Harriss

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