Head Quarters C^av Depot

Saturday Morning August 20^th 1864

 

My Dear Wife

                        As i can get no letters from you i thought i would devote this morning in directing one to you i hope it will find you well it leaves me miserble i can scarcly write i feel so bad but i have felt so so long that it has got to be an old thing i have been sick for over a month and it seams as if i cannot get well but i hope that by the time you get this i will be better but i do not know time will show my breath is so short that i cannot walk a half a mile all the medicin i get does me no good i am trying Whight Oak Bark Tea but i do not know wether it will do me much good or not but i live in hopes i wont give up the ship no how i am so poor my clothing is to big and i am as ugly as any body you ever saw i got a letter from Henry Smith the other day i am going to answer it to day i write a letter to father the other day but i expect you know that by this time i did not tell him half that i wanted to but that will have to do until i can send another i expect their is plenty of letters for me at the rejiment or at the hospital but that is not hear i would like to hear from you i have had but one letter from you since i have been sick and that was the one writen in answer to the one abe sulphen sent and i feel troubled about you have you got money enuf to last until we are paid i am afraid you will be short i know nothing about wat happens at home and i have a great deal of trouble with the men their time is out most of them and they do not want to do anything and run away and hide in the woods and one cannot run after them becaus i am so weak i think i shall give it up / for i am to weak to attend to it but if i give it i will have to do somthing worse i tell you their is no rest for a soldier this side of his grave not one bit the doctor is no good and the reason is that so many go to him and play off to get clear that he does not know wether he is sick or not i am going up to get thougherly examined after a while i suppoes i ought to go befor i get this finished so that i can you may be i will i want to tell you how pleased i am with my shoes and stockings a real cristmas i had of it Govener brought it all to me but him and huskey got inquisitive and had to look in just to see wat made them so hevy coming they was so long the cake got moldy and the candy got wet or damp not wet it was very good you cannot get any hear for less than five cents a stick it is raining her very fast so it beats in on my paper i have been out to the doctor he examined me he said that i had better let it be for the feaver he thought would be along soon he said that he looked for it evry day he did not know wat way it would come but he thought thes rains would bring on yellow feaver and he i had not got climited yet and as long as long as i kept wat was the matter i would not get the feaver and he thought that if i get the feaver being as weak it would go light with me so i thought i would drag on until cold wether that will set me on my feet again i think i shall try to get a furlough in the winter if the war is not over now good bye my Dear and write me a letter and send some stamps and your love i wish you would tell me how you are getting along in monney matters so i can feel that you are not sufering tell father that Stout Higgins has got one of my game cocks and James Breese has got one and Alexexander Anderson has got one he lives just past Oliver Hunts old place and Breese lives were Old Gibson lived wen i and you went he has got the best one good Bye my Dear wife H H Covert

 

Direct to Mr Henry. H. Covert

Dismounted Cavelry Camp

Near City Point

In Care of Capt R M Boyd

 Commanding

 

wen i come home you will never                   

be able to get me out of your                                                  

sight a gain good bye excues this poor                       

letter for i cannot write a good one                                                    

 

Now do not forget your

hero husband i do want a

letter so bad but it seems that

i will never get one i feel

lonly without your m m Dear Bride

 

it rains hear evry day now it has got at it you must forgive me for not writing oftener for i am so weak after i am through my buisness that i want to lay down i hope that i will soon be able to give it up for i am not able to keep it but i will not do any duty i am not able you must write all you can afford and live as cheap as you can i will soon be home again just look at Huskey it seems only a little wile agoe wen he went and now his time is out or very nigh it mine will come out in good time i think that the giver of all things will let me join my little wife and boy again how i would like to see them you must not worrie for i will get along with the help of god and the savior will bless us both for bering up in this trying time i feel grateful in my heart that he has let me pass through so many bloody fields wear death was in evry step and i think that he keeps me for a purpos of his own wich non can ask i do not / wat it is but time will show i think may be i will get a shoulder strap if i do wont that be a fether in my cap i wrote a pass yesterday for a man to go to the 37^th Rejiment he saw Joseph Smith he is well he is about 4 miles from me by buttlers lookout you have read of that no doubt you can see the rebbles camps from our camp and the pickets talk together so close bye they are the impudent William it makes me feel angry sometimes to think that they keep me away from all that i love but i will be carefull and come back as soon as i can now good bye i could write to you for ever i could fill all my paper i have got plenty a fellow gave me about a dozen sheets this morning now good bye i hate to say it but it has to come but wen once we get together again they will have to drag me away i will make some excuse so they cannot draft me good bye your loving Husband Henry H Covert

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