P.S. Every thing in the two boxes                              

were in perfect keeping & have been                         

duly digested. Will you please

send me a quantity of stamps—EEC

 

Camp near White Oak Church Va.

April 12.1863.

 

Dear Bob. I have two favors of yours in hand bearing respectively dates of April 6 & 7 & take the opportunity offered me by this day of rest (Sunday) to reply to both favors. I received by Lt Wiedersheim the cap & hat, knife &c & penknife for which accept my thanks. Please keep a memorandum of all you have paid out for me & I will satisfy all your claims, immediately upon the receipt of pay now due me & which should have been given me before to-day. The cap & hat are both a trifle small but they will answer. As far as the size went, you certainly knew, my directions to the contrary notwithstanding, that I took a hat or cap, a little larger than yourself; that might have guided you. The figures & the circle on the hat are rather large, I would have preferred them rather smaller, still I have no fault to find with either the hat or the cap. They both will be serviceable & more use to me than the old cap which I have worn for six months past. The passants are exactly the thing, Evans & H to the contrary, if they think so. I wrote you by John Richardson, in reference to a leather travelling bag & fatigue coat &c all to be delivered at his mother's residence 721 So. 10^th before the 16^th inst. Have you received the letter & will you attend to the commission as best you can. /

 

I am extremely sorry I have to put you all to so much trouble on my account, but you know how I am placed. I cannot help myself & I am in want of articles necessary to my outfit as an officer & I am therefore compelled to depend upon you to give me all the aid I need & I ask your best endeavors & judgement, while I ask your assistance.

 

I shall write to the Editor of the Record today to have my paper sent direct to me.

 

The speech of Gen Ben Butler I think one of the greatest & grandest speeches since the war began. He is a patriot every inch of him. How I wish we had a thousand more like him. "The course of our nation is onward & let him who opposes it beware. The mower moves on, though the adder may writhe, and the Copperhead curl around the blade of the scythe." I only wish every soldier in the Army could be furnished with a copy of his great address.

 

I have written Mary Jane, last night, in answer to a letter received from her several days ago. The segars answered very well, they were a little dry to be sure, but that did not hurt them in any degree. / One fact is certain, they are all gone now & I am smoking Capt Moss' collection, lately received by him from home.

 

I am much obliged to you for your kindness in mailing the papers containing notices of the presentation, to Poole & Hilton Head. I received both copies mailed to me, in good season. Did you ever send a photograph of mine, as desired some time ago, to Lt. Smeadley, then at Willistown R.O.? I never heard from you, to my knowledge, in reference to it. If you did not & have one to spare, I wish you would send one, instead, to Harry Kauffman, at an early moment. Remember me to Simon & Dave Stein, tell Dave I have received frequent packages of reading matter from him, for which I am greatly indebted to him. Was the bugle you bought for the hat any better quality than the one on the cap, if it is you might send it to me, enclosed in a letter, provided you still have it on your hands, I can make use of it. I wish you would also buy of Evans & Harsall (they have furnished them to officers of the Reg't) & enclose to me a circle such as you had put on the hat only about two thirds the size of the one now on the hat, the figures considerably smaller

Capt Landell will go home next week & if there is any small article you wish sent me by him you can find him & ask him to carry it to / me. He is under some small obligations to me & I would not hesitate, if I knew you had anything he could bring with him, to ask him to bring it along.

 

We have pretty busy the last week. We have had in succession, a Brigade review, a Division review, a Corps review by Hooker, then three days picketing along the Rappahanock, watching & talking to the 6^th North Carolina, on the opposite side, then finally, four Corps, our own (the Sixth) among the number, reviewed by Old Abe & Mrs Lincoln themselves. This last review was the grandest spectacle I ever witnessed or expect to witness again in my life. After we had been in review & were on our way back to Camp some four miles off I left the line & saw the other 3 Corps pass in review by Old Abe. The sight was more than magnificent, it was sublime. To all appearances the Army down here, was never in better condition or spirits. I hope the events of the next few months will justify this opinion, which I believe is universal. There is certainly much difference, since the fatal events of December & January & the exit of Burnside. Hooker may be the man yet. God grant that it may be so. Give my love to all at home, kisses for the children. Tell Paul I will answer soon his dear letter which I received yesterday & hoping your early favor           I am afftely Yr bro       Edward E Coxe

 

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Send me a neat & tasty neck-tie, by Capt L or by letter

 

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I never received the dark blue cord I wrote for—please send it immediately—several letters that I know have been written me have been miscarried yours may be amongst the lot & you had better send some more if you think the letter could have been miscarried.

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