New Orleans, La Jan 4th , 1864
Dear Wife
I will write you a
few lines and let you know
that I am alive & well and hope
these few lines will find you the
same at home Well I should like
to be thare with you very much We
are here yet in the mud up to our
knees We are expecting to leave
here as soon as the going gets so
we can move We expect to go
back to Franklin about thirty
miles from here and go into
camp thare for a while I hope
we shall get out of this mud
before a grate while You never
see it so mudy in Vermont as it
is here It is the mudiest time that