Nashville Tenn 8^th Dec 1864

 

Dear Brother

                                    I will try & write you a few lines this morning as I do not know when I will have a better opportunity. We arrived at this place on the night of the 29^th ult. & moved out to camp near the city the next day. On the 30^th ult our forces at Franklin 20 miles south of this place in a hard battle repulsed the enemy but being greatly outnumber our forces fell back to this place, and on 2d inst. All our army was on line of battle around Nashville, the enemy being close on to us. Nashville is on south side of the Cumberland river and on the city south side of the city is a semicircular range of hills at the distance of 3 to 4 miles from the city. these hills extend from the river above the city around to the river below & on this range of hills is our army. Our Corps the 16^th is on the rtight of our line resting on the river below the city & it faces to the west. just to our left is the 4^th Corps which forms the centre of our army & it faces south. again to their left is the 23d Corps with its left on the river above the city. This Corps is the left of our line & faces south & south east. The whole line is / between 8 & ten miles in length. Just outside & extending along our lines is a valley from a quarter of a mile to two miles in width beyond which are hills again. on the slopes of these hills are the enemies camps. In the valley in front of our lines are our pickets, in some places but a few hundred yards from our lines and at other places nearly a mile. In our front the valley is about 2 miles wide and our pickets are 3/4 of a mile from our camp. Since the 2d inst there has been constant skirmishing between our pickets & the enemies, and we are shelling them nearly all the time trying to prevent them building breast works. They seem to care but little for our shelling & hardly ever use artillery against us. we think they have no ammunition to waste. There has been no one hurt in our Regt yet. The loss on our side has been very small since the siege commenced. Our total force here is about 35 or 40,000 Infty & 20,000 Cavy. We have twice as many cannon as they have. There are heavy reinforcements on the way here for our army which will reach here in three or 4 days. We are confident that with our present force inside our fortifications we can repel all attacks of the enemy. For 4 or / 5 days we have been expecting them to attack us but still they do not. There is heavier firing this morning than any time yet & it may be they are preparing to assault our position. I have not heard less than 100 shots from artillery in the last 15 minutes, but men get very indifferent to such things and read write, cook & play cards in the ditches, while the batterries are firing all around them. Our Regt is stationed on the side of a hill 3 or 400 feet high just to the left as we leave town of the Hardin turnpike. From the top of this hill we can see nearly all of our line in both directions, & in the daytime can see the rebels with the naked eye, while at night we can see their campfires all around us. If the enemy attempts to come in on the Hardin pike they will have a hard fight. we have 8 pieces of artillery on the road & 6 more about 2 or 300 yds farther to the right. Last night it turned cold & this morning the ground is frozen hard. We have used nearly all the wood inside our lines & will have to bring it from the north side of the river now. Those who have to buy wood pay $30 pr. cord. Everything else is high in proportion. Nashville is a pretty little city of 12 or 15,000 inhabitants. Most of the business streets are very narrow / which spoils the appearance of the buildings. The State house is as fine a building as I ever saw. The Capitol at Springfield wont begin to compare with it. I have not been to the city since the 1^st as no one is permitted to leave camp. The rebels have cut off communication between this place & Murfreesboro & we can hear nothing of our troops from Murfreesboro to Chattanooga & in northern Alabama. Harvey Henderson is telegraph operator at Stevenson Alabama.

 

I have not heard from Lewis for a long time and hardly expect to very soon.

 

Col Rinaker is still at St Louis on Court-Martial.

 

Excuse pencil as all our ink is frozen. I will write again when anything important transpires. Write soon & let me know when you hear from Lewis.

 

                                                                                    Your Brother

                                                                                                Hardin G. Kiplinger

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