April 9^th

In the woods near Yorktown Va.

 

Dear Father and Mother.

                                    The next day after I wrote you the last letter, we left Hampton and marched a very easy march to Big Bethel. there was 2 divisions ahead of us, so we had a rest every 2 miles. We bivouacked there for the night and the next day we marched to a large open field about ½ mile from where we now are we stopped there over sunday and Monday we were ordered (that is this Regt) out to reconoitre the enemys Batteries and protect the engineers while getting a plan of the enemys batteries. When we got within ¼ of a mile of their fort the Tiger Zouaves / (Capt Wass) were sent out as skirmishers, and had rather a sharp engagement, but only had 2 men wounded, one in the knee and on one in the thigh. we next marched around to the other side of their fort and the Andrew Sharpshooters commenced to pick of their men. We were ordered to lie down. And well we did for the instant the sharpshooters began to fire they sent a volley of musket balls over where we were cutting the limbs off of the trees over our heads. And then they fired 2 or 3 at us. first you would hear the report when the shell left the gun and the next instant a flash and report over your head when the shell burst scattering the bullets and pieces of shell in every direction. When one of them burst a piece of shell / struck a man in Co D named Fountain in the fore shoulder and passed downward into his lung. He fell back and cried I am wounded and then some blood came out of his mouth, and he never spoke afterward, he died in about ½ an hour. We laid there about an hour and then marched towards camp. it began to rain during the afternoon, and when we arrived at camp the ground was all mud and water. But as wet as we were we had to turn in under our blankets on the wet ground without any supper dark and rainy and all that. Such are hardships of a soldiers life. When we (Jim and I always lay together) woke up the next morning one of my pants pockets was full of water and all my right wet and my / blankets weighed about 50 lbs. But the colonel gave us leave to go into the woods and we very soon had comfortable little huts up and fires before them and last night we slept very comfortable. It has rained all day, and it will take a week of good weather to get the roads in a condition to haul artillery over them. I have heard nothing from my box as yet and I begin to think that I never shall but will keep on hoping I have not much more news to write so I shall have to close this. I may get shot and this may be the last letter you will ever get but live and hope that is the way I do, and now good bye from your affect Son

                                                                                                           

George. H. Patch.

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