Camp Morton N. C. Oct 15 1862

 

Dear Brother

                        I rec^d yours of the fourth a few days since. Hides are not sold about here as soon as they are taken off of the animal the are put to soak. we buy beef but cannot by the hides unless at a high price and I could not get any worth sending home and there is no way to send them if I had them. Beef is selling at 8^cts here. I believe this is about as cheap a place as there is in the Confederacy and we are doing very well and I expect we will stay here next winter. The Yankees keep pretty close Omark Lane Laxton and Oliver went down in a few miles (2 or 3) of Shepherdsville and saw no Pickets I with 11 of my men and about 100 of Nethercut’s and M^cNeals men went down towards Newbern last week and waylaid the road for two days but the Yankees did not come out. but I think the troops that were there have left and new ones have been sent. M^cNeals company left here this morning for Gariesburg to drill

 

Bob Miller wrote to me that Hamp and Pink Puett were coming to join us I am looking for them. If there is a call for the men between 35 and 45 if your being register will excuse you I think you ought to stay I think one of us ought to stay at home. If you see any body man that can furnish his that wants to join our company tell him to come on we have room for a few more Jo Tate does not belong to my company / We have only one man here much sick that is Mike Pearson he is quite sick but I hope he will get well. We have a clever asst Surgeon he sends our sick men home to recruit. that is the only way to get a man off now. he must get sick. We have had several rainy days but it has cleared off this evening and I dont think we will have much more warm weather.

 

We are here now by ourselves and do pretty near as we please I am commander in chief in this place but have nobody to command but my own men I have been wanting to get into a regiment ever since I was elected. now we have the name of being in one but I do not know who our field officers are and the companies are scatered from the Cape Fear to Virginia and I dont know when we will be called together.

 

            I think you had better sell Tom he is not worth his feed to us you can ride the colts dont feed them much corn. maybe you had better keep mine too fat or his other eye might go out.

 

I send you some pear and Scuppernong seed. I dont know what kind of fruit the seed vines will bring but the grapes these came out of were good

 

                                                                                    Your affectionate brother

                                                                                                                        Alex

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