April 23^rd 1865

                                                                        Camp 19 miles S. W. of Raleigh N.C.

 

Dear Parents I received two letters from Ma this Sabbath morning and 1 from Mollie Tousley, and the other day I got a diary from somebody I am not sure who it had no writing in it or any thing to tell where it was from I expect though that it was sent by you. I was very glad to get it only I ought to of had it when I left Chattanooga I would had it filled by this time and when I got home I could have told a great many things that I have forgotten by this time you speak of the perils and hardships we had to go through it is true we had a good many days of hard marching through swamps and wadeing creeks and making bridges of pine logs and small / poles over those that were to deep to ford. sometimes I have helped to make corduroy road all day and we could make about 10 miles and sometimes I have traveled all day over level country that was covered with water 3 or 4 inches deep in the lowest dryest places and in some it was waist high now from this you can judge about what times we have had. I am sorry that you did not get my letters that I wrote to you from Listers Ferry I wrote several and I sent two from Fayetteville I sent six or eight from Goldsboro to you alone and several to other persons, and I sent two from here. this will be the the third. The weather is very warm to day the sun shines so hot that I am afraid that I will have to move to some shady place for my back burns with the heat I was in swimming yesterday for the third time this summer the water is plenty warm. we are in a hilly country now the forest has more oak in it here than in other place we have been there is oak, hickory, ash, soft maple, paw paw, pine, dog wood, cedar, elm, poplar, sweet gum, and wild fruit all in blossom, and the trees are all in leaf which makes the forest look quite green and shady. we are camped right in the woods and we have trimed the trees so as to make anice shady street and we have a table under a thick oak tree so we can eat in the shade. we have a nice tent with a bedstead raised off the / ground about two feet which is quite an improvement for health we have it open at the sides and ends so as to let the air have a free passage through above and below the bed I suppose it would be rather cool up in Ohio to have such an open tent this early in the season we are camped on a hill in a very dry place. Well, I did not tell you whether I was well or not I ought to done so at the heading of the letter but never the less I am well and hope you are the same. I will tell you some thing now while I think of it. when you direct to me dont direct them to any particular place for we move so often that it delays their coming just direct to Benj. Wilson, Co A 38^th Reg I.V.V.I. 3^rd Brig. 3^rd Div 14^th A.C. Shermans Army.

 

I have left the mess that I was in and gone into another, the cause was that in the other mess the boys were to dirty to suit me they would hardly ever wash their faces let alone their clothes and if a person dont wash he will be eaten up by the ‘greybacks’ or body lice but if a person will boil his clothes once a week he can keep pretty clean of them. they are the soldiers pest and they can only be killed by boiling. I have got in to a clean mess now and am going to keep clean of the pesky rascals well I must close or I will not have time to get it in the mail write soon and tell me all the news that you think I will not hear, good bye Remember me as ever your son Elam

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