March 12^th 1864

Camp near Lookout Mountain, or  Wauhatchie,

 

Dear Brother,                                                                                                 

                        I take my seat this morning in a different country as well as in a different position. I am in the woods on a large hill faceing Lookout Mt. on the west about a quarter of a mile from its foot. My writing desk is a hewed oak log about a foot square and about 40 ft long. My seat is composed of [?] blocks. the differant kinds of timber or principal kinds are oak, hickory, chestnut, and pine. We are about as near the front as we can get. the Rebel lines are about 15 miles from here. I will give a kind of a description of our march. We left Nashville on the 24^th of Feb. We marched from 10 to 15 miles each day. the beginning / of our march was rather dusty and warm, but the latter part was muddy most of the time. On the 28^th we passed through shelbyville and I dont think that I shall ever forget that town. It is union almost to the backbone it looked more like a northern town than any place I have seen since I left the ohio river. It was not only beautiful on account of the unionism and nice country but there was something there that attracted the soldiers attention especialy the single. there was beautiful young ladies there, young ladies that had a plesant smile on their cheeks as they stood out on the portico or in the yard waveing the red white and blue. We used to see handsome women in Nashville but they had a sour look towards a soldier. The people at shelbyville looked as if they did not depend on the negro / to do evrything for them but they done enough to give them a hearty collor. After we left shelbyville we had mud roads. we passed through tullahoma, or rather camped there the night of the 29^th it had been raining all that day and at night we had to camp in the mud and rain with but little wood to warm ourselves with.

 

30^th it rained untill noon when it cleared off and turned cold we laid in camp all that day. there was 17 of the boys taken sick from in the regiment 3 from our company 9 died. 1^st we started on our march again. March 3^rd we camped at Cowan by the foot of the Cumberlain mts. 4^th            Mar 13^th just as writen this much Jefferson smith now acting orderly called me to go and clear the underbrush away in another woods close by for a camping ground and in the afternoon we moved our camp to the place. /

 

this is sunday and a beautifull day it is indeed. there is a cool march wind stirring and the sun shines warm, the grass is beginning to look green, and peach blossoms are opening out. the tall pine and the wild cedar make the look mountain look beautiful, and evry thing is calculated to make a soldier happy even though away from home. And now to day I take a chunk of wood for a seat and a stump for my desk to finish my letter. on the 4^th of march we started at sun rise to climb the Cumberlain mts. we went up on a kind of a point, and when almost up the road forked and we took the wrong one, and after traveling about [torn paper fold] instead of marching back we concluded to cut across the valley which was about two miles from the road we wanted to get on so we started across rocks and hills and after about an hour found the road that we wanted and when we got down the mountain we went in camp at a little place called tantallon and stayed there until noon the next day before all of our supply trains caught up. then we started on following duch creek and the rail road as far as stephenson where they separated and we followed the railroad. the 7^th we arrived at Bridgeport and stayed in camp there untill the 9^th to draw rations. the night of the 7^th it rained again and made the roads very bad. on the 9^th we started for this place it has three names Lookout station Lookout valley but the principal one is Wauhatchie. our last days march was the hardest of all for it rained the night before and it was very muddy and the country was very mountainous. It now appears to me (or it always has but now more so than ever) that God is on our side, for I dont see how an army the size of ours could ever take this country when it is so well fortified by nature as it is even if there wasent one fourth of the number on the enemys side. here is huge hills almost impossible for an army to climb but still the rebs gave them up. I think their cause is about gone (I was gong to say gone up but I will say gone down for I dont think it will go up. well my sheet is about full and I will close by wishing you all well. I am well and hearty.

 

Good by, W^m H Bone

A L Bone.

 

[overwritten]

 

Give my love to all.

 

            That box has not come yet but Collonel Kennett has it in his charge and will send it immediately.

 

I received that letter of yours that told about the money I had saved more than I thought I had.

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