Pleasant Valley near Harpers Ferry

Tuesday Oct 7 1862

 

Dearest Mary

                        you are probably anxios to hear from your sojer boy about this time I have not received any letters from you since I left Washington but I shall get them all to day they are coming up from Washington, I wrote to you last from Fredrick. we staid in that place 1 Day & 2 nights Friday we left there about noon & came up to Sandy Hook a place on the Potomac about a mile below Harper’s Ferry we encamped there that night on a side hill steeper than the roof to a house we left there the next day Saturday & marched up to join Burnside at Shapsburg a place away up over the mountains at that place we quietly passed the Sabbath & yesterday we packed/up & came down to this place Pleasant Valley & it is Pleasant indeed—nature did much for this place to make it beautifull but the people are damned rebels The valley runs of at right angles with the Potomac from a point about 3 miles below Haprers Ferry There are high mountains on each side The valley is about a mile & half wide To day Burnside is going bring his whole army down here to encamp This place is on the Maryland side of the river The Rebel army is on the other side their pickets being about 8 miles from Harpers Ferry A big battle is expected to come off between in a few days If McClellan succeeds in getting in the rear of the rebel army he will drive them down through this valley & we are here to head the off & cut them to pieces but if he does not succeed in getting in their rear we are to/cooperate with him in driving them off toward western Virginia or whichever way they may shape their course In speaking of we about the impending battle I mean Burnsides army which numbers I guess from 50 to 100 thousand men When we went up to Sharbsburg we went by & also when we came back from there we went by the famous Harper’s Ferry It is the situation of the place that gives it its importance It is at the junction of the Shenandoah & Potomac rivers & it affords the only pass through the mountains for miles either way The Baltimore & Ohio R.R. runs through the mountains at this place When the rebels were at this place took possesion of the R R blew up the bridge a across the river but that is now/rebuilt they also blew up the arsenal & destroyed all the Gov. buildings & property there It is one of the worst looking places now that I ever saw if some abolitionist could see it they would say the curse of the Almighty was upon it on account of the John Brown affair It is a small place any way not larger than Milltown & if the mountains around it should tumble down they would burey the place so deep that man could never find it Along where we marched the road was cut & the sides were up for hundreds of feet above our heads I never saw such eights before The whole country around here is one mass of mountains I mentioned about the people here being rebels We are encamped within 10 rods of the house of one of the richest in the valley He is very anxios to have his property protected & before we leave here we will rid him of what little personal property he has got I was in his house last evening every thing is in style there/ but it is a long march before we get there & we may have to follow them to Richmond if we do there will not be another retreat as there was on the Penninsula Speaking about taking things from the Rebs, about here tell Deacon Cyrus I wish he could have cast his eyes over the Sheep skins in our camp the first day the wool about four inches long & the skins as big as a buffalo’s

 

Evening—I am finishing my letter by the light of a camp fire we have as much as a cord of wood all of ablaze There is a charm about this Soldier life but for me it is destroyed by being so far from those and particularly one that I love If I could be a “Sojer” in Connecticutt where I/could occasionaly see my darling Mary one dearer to me than my life I think I should prefer it to many other pursuits. but to be a “sojer” in this God forsaken country it takes a tough one to say they like it better than home Some of the boys on the opposite side of the fire are singing the “Old Home” & I can endorse every word of that song

 

“The heart has many passages through which the feeling roam But its middle aise is sacred to the old old home” However I manage to enjoy it as well as any of them by looking out for No. 1’s health and wants We have lost one of our messmates L H Parker has been detailed for the/Ambulance corps Alden Peabody is also in the same corps The corps consists of the Ambulances of the Brigade. 3 with 9 men and a Sergeant from each Reg. About Edwin I suppose you feel anxios about him but you need not feel alarmed about him for I think he will soon be well It may be some time before he gets with the Reg. again such is apt to be the case where they are left behind in the Hospital there is such a rigmarole to go through after they are well I wrote you before that we left him at Weverton Hospital Weverton Md. I  have not heard from him since we started Jesse Maine is there also/Clint I have not heard from lately

 

When I wrote you last I was in such a hurry I don’t know but I wrote so that it appeared that I blamed you for my not receiving any letters but I assure darling I do not for I believe you have written & I think when the mail comes in the morning I shall receive some letters There has been no letters received in the Reg. of any account for some time I have fared no worse than the rest But O God how glad I shall be when I get one from (my) Darling My love to mother that is if you will spare any

                                                                                                Court

SOURCES