Headquarters Annapolis

                                                                                                            10^th Reg Co B

                                                                                                                        Dec 25^th 1867

 

Dear Mother

                        I received your letter the other night & was glad to hear from you. Now you ask me a great many questions about standing on guard & going on picket duty & how I keep clean & all of that I don’t know as I can answer all of them but do the best I / can Now about picket & guard duty to begin with I have not done any picket duty since I have been here for this Reg does not have to do any the 11^th Pen Reg have to do it all here but we shall have to do it when we leave here I hav not been on guard but once since I have been here All I have to do when I am on guard is to take my relief & put them on there posts & then come back to the guard tents & stay there or set down by the fire untill my two hours are up then I go arround & take my relief off while the Corpral of the other relief is putting his on then if it is in the night I go (after I have taken my relief off) to the officer of the guard tent which is a good one & where there is a good stove with a / fire in it & plenty of straw on the ground I lay down there & stay go to sleep & sleep until the 4 hours are up then the Sergent comes & wakes me up & I take my relief & go put them on guard again & so on untill the 24 hours are up

 

            I have washed all of my clothes once & I hired a little dark girl to wash them once last week & she washed them good to I do my shirt once a week & my draws one in two I have washed my self all over twice since I have been here it was rather colde but I felt better after it As to keeping our tents clean & our outer garments we are obliged to do that for there is an inspection evry Sunday by the officers who go around & examing evry tent & all of our equipments

 

            But I have ocupyde about / all of the room I have got time to write

 

            We shall probaly leave here the fore part of next week Now how is it about England the reports here are that she is coming over here to pitch in to our southern ports & break our blockade If this is so do not not let it trouble you for I think we are enough for England & the south together

 

            Tell Father that he must do all he can in his way to help the war along & sustain the Goverment along in it’s maintainance of the right

 

            Tell Alice that I often think of her & that I want her to be a nice girl & keep that pin untill I come back & then I will get her a pin that is worth having

 

            Now about the money If you were down here & had to live on salt meat & hard bread all of the time you would be glad to have a little money once in while to by some pies or some oysters & sweet potatoes to eat for we do not have any potatoes alowed us here of any kinde unless we furnish our selves so now you see how I want of money so I hope you will not say any more about that But I must close so good by

 

Direct as you did before & if we are gone the post master here will send it on to where eve the reg shal be       your son Willie

 

[verso margins]

PS Give my love to Father & tell we are ready to meat the British & give my love to Alice allso from Willie

 

PS I have wrote to Uncle Noah & John but forgot to give them the directions so pleas write & let them know what they are I am studying military tactics & go to school to Capt Otis & recite to him so you see I am not throwing my time wholey away       from W L S

SOURCES