#6

                                                                                    Port Hudson July 5^th 1863

 

                                                                                                Dear Sister

I recived your cind letter bearing date of April the 31^st and was glad to here from you I am very thankfull to you and Wm for those stamps you sent me I had ben out for some time but managed to borow some from the boys. we have not ben payd yet. we havent stoped long enough at a plase for the pay master to get to us. I suppose you will have herd by this time that our regt is t cut up prety bad we havent got more than 80 men for duty here now I dont know how maney we lost but exactly but its some whare around 200 we have fifty men that volanterd on a storming party which is to be made in a few days if they dont surender before then. I am sitting inunder a fig Tree not more than 300 yads from the rebel works our men are digin under them our men throw in / 6 lb shell. they light the fuse and tost them in the rebs rolled down a 10 inch shell down which busted and killed 3 and wounded another. we have got them now so that when one sticks up his head thare is 6 or a dozen shots fired at him. our boys keep a talking togather. one of our boys threw up a sheep and told them to pick the meet out of it. the rebel sang out well done yank. Co G have 14 on the storming party omong them are Weed and J Plummer. I have had the distentary and havent quite got over it yet. we have had some hard times here we always had to go ahead and do the dirty work because we are old troops and know our bis a great maney of these nine months men aint good for aney thing our Jenrals are afraid to put them ahead. if you get the papers you will see the report the fights we have had here. I wish you could see how close we and the rebels are togather sometimes they throw chunks of dirt at each other or pieces of shells I have ben up in the fig tree hunting for the ripe ones if a reb should had a spied me he would let fly at / me the other day I was up and a devil saw me for he sent a ball cuting the leaves develish clost I sleep under the tree. thare is nothing goaing on now only some sharpshooting and ocationaly a shell sent in from our batries. they dont reply much with their guns. they have all their guns masked. if our artery could see them they would soon knock them over. day before yesterday they opend with some of their large ones and our guns dismounted 3 of theirs. I think we will soon have port hudson desirters that come out say they got a pound of mule meat for two days that was all the meat they got. Corn and evry thing else was getting short. I dont know of aney thing more this time to write so I will close by sending my love to all. I live in hopes that I may return and see you all at home just as I left but thare will be a change in the plase and maney that left as I did will never return.

 

                                    From your loveing Brother

                                                John Bartell.

 

Write as soon as you get this direct Port Hudson

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