[?] Jan 26—1863

Head Quarters 5^th Penn^a

Cavalry Camp near Williamsburg

Va Febuary 9^th 1863

^Mr Thomas Wood (Far)

 

                                                                                                                                    Sir

It was indeed a pleasure to me on last Evening to receive a letter from you from date to the 3 inst. of which it is truly gratifying to me to hear from a friend and neighbor. while being so far from home and in an Enemy Country, I was glad to hear you and your family was all well. I am still in perfect health and ever ready to do my duty I have had excelent health since I have been in service Only having a slight touch of Chills and fever for only a / few days last fall when it broke and since that time I have enjoyed good health. the Health of our Regiment is at presant tolerable good, there has been some few cases of small pox in Yorktown, although I believe there has no deaths occured from that disease. the weather here is very favorable for soldiering; it has been very pleasant so far this winter; occasionally a middling cold knight, getting warm again as soon as the sun gets up. of late we have had quite a considerable of rain and 2 small skifts of snow which during the day soon disappeared.

 

I am indeed truly thankfull for your Kindness in sending the news of my success in escaping from the hands of the Enemy / once more to my family of which I am truly thankfull to Him who is our protector & Kind benefactor through this our life, to watch over me and bring me off once more in the presence of my fellow men more than conquerer through a storm of bullets and of which we have since learned from two rebble prisoners that I had mortally wounded a man on my charge through; who they say died in about a half an hour afterward and they buried him at Barnesvill & the man that was taken from us is parolled and is at anapolis at camp paroll and I supose will join us again shortly. there is shure success in our arms with a courage and determination to make good use of them. as you say it does not require recklessness to make the soldier / but it is the part of a good soldier to obey orders and have the Boldness and determination to carry it out if it is possibly in your power. It will be remembered that Cap^t Brown offered me the first Lieutenancy of his company before leaving home, of which I was twice on the arsonal floor in Philadelphia to be mustered in as first Lieut of Comp K but not having men enough to fill the company, we were dismissed each time from the arsonal to try it another day; when finally Cap^t Farrel of Company I came to capt Brown, and asked him to let him have some of our men to assist him in being mustered; which capt Brown refused Brown then asked my opinion of the matter to which I replied; do as you think proper Cap^t, but said I, Cap^t Farrel has been here much longer / than we have, and Colonel says he must be swon in first therefore If we want the good will of the Officers of the regiment, and at the Colonels request; in all probability we had better do it, to which the capt replied I might do it. Farrel said he wanted but 10 men to fill up his company; and if we would let him have that number through the influence of colonel Feidman and himself; we should be mustered in the next day. I then gethered up the men and took them down to the arsonal, and had them sworn in with Cap^t Farrel; the next day came and we again marched our men to the arsonel to be mustered. Cap^t Farrel did not appear, and we still lacked men enough, when Capt Brown became very cross at me and accused me / with its being my fault, and that he was ruined, and that I could not be an Officer under him &c. the Boys then agreed that if I could not be sworn in as Lieut., that if I would go in some other company; they would go with me. in the meantime Cap^t Brown found out that if I left him, he would not in all probability be mustered in at all. He then came to me and told me that I could have any position I desired in his ranks, with the guarantee that I should have the first promotion out of his ranks that was made; and that he had expended a great deal of money in getting up the company; and that there was a young man in Philadelphia that would give him five hundred dollars for that position: to which I replied Cap^t Brown I came to / serve my country and not for office and I think I can serve it in the capacity of a soldier as well as an officer and to go ahead, I would be with him. the next day we again went to the arsonal. When the Colonel called me on the floor and asked if it was my desire to be mustered as an Officer, I told him not against the will of Cap^t Brown then we were mustered in the service of our country; and of which I have served as faithfully as possible and will continue to do the same, no providence intefering, untill the expiration of our term, and longer if needed or if necessity calls for it. I have never asked for a promotion, nor ever thought such a thing would be possible, although such a thing would be very ecceptible; promotions are being made and have been made / in the regiment by influencial friends and men have been promoted that has never done a days duty in all their lives towards the service of their country & men have also been sent to the regiment to fill the vacancies of Officers that knows nothing more about their duty and their responsibilities than a green recruit. I received a Copy of the Luminary last Evening and was indeed highly gratified to the Editorial for the sentimental Expressions thereof and for the truly Gratifying address. the boys were so much gratifyed with the news reaching Muncy and with the Edditorial that they amediatly carried the paper to Major M^cCandlass; I hope to hear from you soon again and still remain Your Sincere friend till Death,

                                                                        Josiah Anderson

to Thomas Wood (Far)

I write this in a hurry as they have reported 1000 rebble cavalry 2 pieces of artillery & 600 infantry approaching our lines we shall start in a moment to meet it.

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