Camp of the 62^nd Regt N.Y.S.Vols.

Near Culpeper Va Nov 18^th/63

 

My dear Aunt Melissa

                                    I have been waiting a long time (seemingly) for a letter from you and as I am at leisure this beautiful afternoon I have concluded to write again hoping that I may have better success in getting a reply. Since I wrote you we have again met the foe in an almost hand to hand strugle and have caused him to ingloriously fly from a line of as strong fortifications as I ever saw. God has been truly very merciful to me as I am still spared and blessed with good health and am as happy as the circumstances under which I am situated will permit. The weather here is beautiful the sky is so clear / and the air so cool and bracing that one cannot help feeling well. Aunt Melissa I am strongly tempted to reenlist. I have been offered a position as Orderly Sergeant with a good chance to obtain a Lieutenants Commission in a battery of Light Artillery which the Captain of our Company is raising. He (the Captain) is a noble man so good and brave. I should have reenlisted before this were it not for those letters which have been sent from England Now I would like very much to see my relatives there but I think I ought to remain here. Our beloved Country needs every man that is situated as I am to defend her rights and maintain her laws. I do not expect much (in the line of property) from England. If I reenlist I can obtain a Furlough of thirty days at least if not longer and shall be in the state nearby all the winter with the battery to be reorganized. I shall / also receive a bounty of nearly six hundred dollars and my pay as Orderly Sergeant will amount to twenty dollars a month. Now I wish you would write me what you think about this. Is it not my duty to again volunteer in our Countrys service? I am young strong and healthy with no one depending upon me for support at Home I know my duty as a soldier and am perfectly accustomed to the privations and hardships that I will have to undergo. Taking all this into consideration I think it my duty to do so.

 

I will now draw this to a close hoping to hear from you soon

 

Give my love to Uncle Reuben and all friends. Accept with this the unceasing esteem of

 

                                                                                    Your Affectionate Nephew

                                                                                                            Covell. /

 

P.S.

            I will say that the term that I now have to serve (7 months) will be counted in in the new enlistment for three more years. Excuse hasty writing Good bye

 

Address

                        Alfred C. Woods

            Co. E. 62^nd Regt N.Y.S.Vols.

                        via Washington

                                    D.C.

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