Camp near Blanes Cross Roads

                                                                                                            Dec 25. 1863

 

My dear Mother,

                        I hasten to drop you a line to let you know that I am well. We have been lying here in the woods for a week. We have all sorts of rumors, one is that our Corps is going north, another that we are to have a forward movement, and that orders to this effect have been issued or are already issued. The enemy is about 10 or 13 miles from us. we are encamped on this side of one of the precipitous mountains, and at night enjoy the most splendid scene of camp fires ever witnessed. It is quite cold, and as yet we have no / prospect of winter quarters. It would be a great pleasure to spend this christmas at home. Our rations are improving a little, and will continue to improve as the road to Chattanooga is opened up. We now have flour issued to us, instead of cornmeal or bran, and we get nearly half rations of it. Our Sutler too has come up with 6 wagon loads of stuff, which will be a great help to us. A man who has anything eatable to sell in this country now has only to name his price and he will get it. The prices for provisions & clothing are enormous.

 

I dropped you a note from Knoxville, enclosing draft. My throat is much better, but I am not yet entirely rid of the cold. I have had no letter since Fathers /

 

I presume you will have turkey for dinner to day. There is nothing I have such a craving for as bread & applebutter—something tart. I manage to keep reasonably warm wear 2 flannel shirts & an overcoat. Our soldiers are suffering much. The most of them but a thin blouse worn to tatters, and many of them have left the blood from their bare feet on this frozen ground. We have not been able to draw any clothing since we came to this Dept. All are nevertheless cheerful & were never more sanguine. I think the great majority will reinlist. The Presidents mission, which we read yesterday, gives unbounded satisfaction. Evrybody is delighted with it. We now begin to walk in the open day, and the end draws near. Our army / will steadily increase, while that of the enemy will sink in spirit, under repeated disasters and the immense exhibition of We our Strength which all may see is to be brought into the field in course of time, if necessary. Grant has shown great good sense in abandoning everything else in his vast Dept and devoting his attention exclusively to the army of Tennessee.

 

            The accounts you see in the papers of operations here are very unreliable. In the assault which the enemy made on Fort Landers, our Regt is not named, & yet we lost more men proportionatly than any other force at or near the Fort. It was a bloody repulse. The dead lay in piles all around the Fort, contorted in every conceivable shape, & exhibiting such a spectacle as I never wish to see again. But I must close

write immediately. I will

write soon again

 

                                    Your Son

                                                John

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