In camp near Wilmington N.C.

Feb 24^th 1865.

 

Dearest Ina,

                        I wrote you yesterday and in the evening the mail came in. I was much disappointed as I did not get a letter. One came for Walter date of mail Feb 7^th I think it is Eva's writing. I went near town last evening after rations. I think it is about 2 miles to town. I did not cross the river as I did not have time Wilmington is quite a large place and lays on the bank of Cape Fear River. the river is navigable for 70 miles above this place. Our large boats were laying against the docks at the edge of town. Many citizens ar / still in town learning Yankee enterprise. It must be very chafing to Sothern one horse institutions. I presume the rebels took most of the cotton and many other things away as I have not herd of any thing being captured. only one glorious thing occurred that is capturing (the reports ar very conflicting) some say 4000 and others say [paper hole] 000 of our own men that were prisonors and confined here. they were very destitute and I have no doubt they must have sufferd extremely. It is reported that General Terry's command followed the Johnies very cloce and ar now 15 miles north of Wilmington. The country through this section is very swampy which makes it very bad traveling. Ciprus swamps / ar quite extensive. Ciprus trees ar very singular. in the first place a root which is called here a knee shoots up in shape thus [picture] and the groth pushes out at the top which makes the knee higher every year until it gets about 3 or 4 feet high then a small shoot springs forth from the top which forms the tree. the large trees look like this [picture] some of the stumps ar as large as a large bbl and the swamps ar great places for aligators some of them ar as large around as the body of a man and attain the lenght of 10 feet. I have not seen any it is to cold for them to make their appearance on the shores. The trees in those swamps ar ladened with long waving moss The country is very sandy and / The products of this portion of N.C. ar mostly rice sweet potatoes and terpentine. First rice is sown through the months of March and April. is flooded most of the time. the yield is from 35 to 50 bushels pr acre. it is thrashed the same as wheat or oats then taken to a mill and hulled by placing a quantity in a hollow made in a block of timber which may be called a morter in shape it is like the inside of a bowl, and pestles ar raised then allowed to drop in the morters. some morters will hold 5 bushels. The Negroes hull theirs by putting a few qts in a morter that they make in the end of a stick of wood then stand the stick or block on end then go at it with a pestle that they make out of a sapling. They raise sweet potatoes the same as we do in the irish / potatoes in the north. I would much rather be tied to the irish potatoe than the sweet as the sweet ar not very good at this season of the year. they cannot raise irish potatoes here. Fruit is extremely scarce as it does not do well here. Most of the timber is pich pine which produces turpentine. in order to collect it the slave cuts a notch that will hold 3 pints in the tree near the ground. the notch is made thus [picture] then just above the notch the the tree is cut like this [picture] it is cut with an instriment a little like a half round gouge which leaves little furows running to the center as marked then runs down the center in the box. the boxes will be fitted every 3 weeks then it is collected and put in bbls. and taken / to the factory and distilled which gives the sperits of terpentine and the scraps is called rosin. It takes but 6 years to scarr a tree on one side as high up as a man can cut which is about 15 feet. that gives the life of a tree 12 years. I think the cut is freshened or cut a little higher up every 3 weeks The work should be commenced in the spring and lasts until fall. A good slave is supposed to box scarr and geather the terpentine from 1300 trees which will make about 75 bbls of sperits of terpentine in one season. This kind of buisines has been suspended ever since the rebels have been trying to crush American enterprise.

 

Sabbath the 26^th. This day I am 33 years old. How rapidly time passes and what little good

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