City Point Va.

July 24^th 1864

 

                                                My Dear Agnes

                                               

                                                this beautiful sabbath morning nothing can give me more pleasure than to be seated to write you my regular sabbath morning letter which I hope may find you as it leaves me in perfect health and also those with whom you are dayly surrounded we are yet lying in our camp which we have fixed up very nicely we have covered all our tents with brush and it makes them very pleasant since I last wrote you we have been blest with a fine rain and it has cooled the air very much though as extreme as the heat has been thus far I have not felt it but very little most of our old soldiers do not complain of the heat but the new ones I know suffer and a good many of them sick mostly fever though not many deaths our army is now getting a good many vegetables/which we relish and it has been the cause of improving the health of our soldiers to a very great extent we draw beets cabbage new potatoes. we do not have them evry day but once or twice in five days. I suppose our northern friends wishes our army would move but they must not be in a hurry our leader does not rush madly into a trap he is cool and wise this army is not to be defeated as in former campaigns. when we again move it will be to some purpose great preparations have been made for an attack which I think will be be made about the first of August and perhaps sooner. our army is being reinforced from the south by about twenty thousand men and almost dayly there is from five to six hundred men comes in from the north and we are growing stronger evry day while the enemy are most certainly growing weaker. the news from the south is very encourageing Shermans army are successful and I hope in short to hear that johnsons army are no more. the raiders who went into maryland are not getting off so well our forces/followed them up to winchester Va and there made an attack on them killing and wounding three hundred, capturing two hundred men and officers and some eighty wagons loaded with stolen property, and causing them to destroy a large amount of their plunder.

 

well dear Agnes I have given you all the army news of any importance. to day seems like sabbath there is very little stir and where we are lying in camp there is generally a gooddeal of noise it is now 9 oclock and the day is going to be a cool one the sun is hiden by clouds. if I live Dear Agnes I expect to write you six more letters from the army and then the next letter I hope to write by the word of mouth or eather relate by person. I think I will enjoy that kind of letter writing what say you well we will hope and trust Dear Agnes for our future. I will now close hoping to hear from you soon. I have dayly looked for a letter for near three weeks but none has yet come to relieve my ever anxious mind. from your true lover Francis C. Miller. to one he loves Dearly.

my love to all Friends.

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