In The Feild near

                                                                                    Spottsylvania Court house Va

                                                                                                May 20^th 1864

 

Ever Dear Brother & Sister

                                    I will improve a few moments now to write a few lines to you to let you know that I am yet alive and in hard battle and I hope this will find you all in as good health as it now leaves me. I received your letter [?] and was glad to hear you are all well I have seen some verry hard times since we left camp we have marched day & night. been under fire most every day now for 15 days and I think that Grant means to put this thing through and I hope he will for I think that the war has lasted / long enough now we have had some hard fighting and at some places where we made a atack we piled up 5000 of the rebels we lost about 300 men, we call that place the slaughter pen or it is called I think Laurel Hill. I presume you have seen an account of the charge it was the greatest [?] made in America I think but I suppose you got the full account of the fight and I have not time to write any thing about it some other rebels lay in front of us I think [?] they went in the woods. we can see them and most of their forces are in the woods but there is a clearing in front of us they do not stand fight now as they did before that slaughter and their prisoners[?] that they are whiped but hate to but there has been an / immense number of lives lost in this Company our Regt has been verry lucky. but I do not know exactly how many have been but lost but slight compared to most of the Regts but then there is a chance to set it right but I cant write but a little now the mail is a going out soon this afternoon. oh you wrote about Dean, after he came back from his furlough the Capt reduced him because he would not come back to the Company he then applied to go to Washington to be assigned to the Negro Regt [?] as 1^st Lt. he is now in the 43^d US Colored Regt. I should have gone but I do not think much of [?] in a Negro Regt and then if you are taken prisoner you are verry sure to be killed for the Rebels show no quarter to Negroes or especially to their command but you will have to take this / for a letter this time I will if I am spared through this write more and the particulars when it is through with love to all from your Dear & affectionate

Brother

                        Joseph. W. Fletcher.

 

here is a secesh envelope that I picked up from the side of a dead rebel Rebel

 

There is nothing to B[?]

SOURCES