Tuseday Eve

                                                                                                            Fredrick Mary^d

                                                                                                                        Jan 28^th 1862

 

Dear Father

                        I presume you think that I am very negligent in not writing you oftener but I am buisily engaged most of the time at something and another thing I can get no news to write it is the same over and over again in camp life just like house work it is so stormy that we cannot drill.

 

I had commenced to write you last evening and you can see by what I have written how much time I have to myself without being interrupted by somebody to go on some tom fools erand. it is a dry pleasent day here overhead also very pleasent under foot after you get down about 18 inchs for mud is no name for it we have to go and excercise our horses evry morning at nine OClock we ride out on the pike about five miles bare back make our horses swim the Monocacy river / that’s fun and the only fun we have is to get about half the regiment in the river at once and have somebody get dismounted.

 

This morning C^o B. of this regiment started for Hancock to escort some prisnors to this city four days journey. Their is no use of talking Uncle Sam wont have a cent one year from now nor a soldier if they get a chance to desert the news papers blow so much about the rebels not having any thing to eat or wear how is it that when a brigade goes out forageing on the upper Potomac they come back with provinder enough to last the army a month at a time only when we get cleaned out which is twice to their once. here is Gen Banks for ins^t he is too good a statesman to ever think of going to war it is a pity he ever left home their is lots of such Generals they will never go into a battle in the world when their is any prospects of a fight they will resigne and are mourned / for by the country look at Comodore Burnsides expedition 20 vessels in the bottom of the atlantic ocean all owing to incompetancy their was when that expedition left 300 men at the navel School in Annopolis all graduates that sent in applications for commissions but No they were not lawy’rs or some other petty foggers but as it is the Burnside expedition is a failure 20 vessels short and not an ounce of powder lying at Ft’rs Monroe.

 

I want to know if you see the account of this regiment published occasionly in the Detroit papers if you recolect on the night of Jan 5^th this regiment was orderd to move to Hancock what was the reason we did not go I will tell you the reason it was because the Colonel got drunk and fell over his tent rope and sprained his knee the said Gentleman is at home now on furlough and I could mention more cases than this if time would permit we are laying in camp dyeing / as fast as the Lord will permit if this U. S. is not whipped out in less than one year then I will miss my guess and return Deacon his Od Hat You fellows in the woods dont know any thing about this war these newspapers have slippry tongues well enough for this time.

 

                                                                        Remember Frank and me to

                                                                        all the Boys we are getting

along finely only I have a felon[?] on my left thumb it’s just getting to be very painful

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