Headquarters of the

6^th Michigan Regiment,

 

Camp McKim,

C^o B

Baltimore, Jan 1^st 1862

 

My dear friend

Porter Brant I will now answer your letter that I received yesterday I was glad to here from you to here that you well and so forth. I am enjoying good helth at presant and I hope that your helth still remanes good Lafayette Received yesterday

 

Christmas has now passed and New years has come with sweetness and beauty before us at last as both of these celabrated dayes have come and allmoste paste I must tell you how I celebrated them last On Christmas day morning I found myself alive and well and the boys a wishing me a merry christmas on every side I ate my breakfast in camp and had a regular governmental / breakfast such as uncle Sam gives his boys every morning

 

It was not my turn to get a pass to day therefore I had to spend the christmas inside of camp and eate a governmental breakfast diner and supper and that is the way that I spent my christmas New years eve I was on guard so you see that I had the privalige of guarding the old year out and the new one year in

 

I have wrote enough about Christmas and new years and it is time for me to begin to write about something elce

 

Our baruks are done and we are into them They are quite warm and comfortable We have had warm and plesant wether all of the winter so far and in fact we have had no verry unplesant wether this past fall or presant winter

 

We expect to be pade off now before long or at lieste we have signed the pay rool and we are generaly pade off in 5 or six dayes after we sign the rool We will soon have our new uniform and there is some talk of our having the / Elsworth zuave sieut and iff we do get them it will help the looks of this regament a great deel I tell you I have herde that Daniel was maried and I want you to be shure and write to me and tell me whether he realey is or not

 

I do not think of aney more to write so good by at presant

Please write soon        Anson Matthews

 

I must say one thing more and that is that our mager Genral Dix offeres to bet 100 dolares against one that the war will be ended before Aprill /

 

There we some of us stole a turkey and Genral Lokwood called us the whole Brigade out on inspection to find out who stole the turkey He saide that iff he could finde the man that stole the turkey he would shurley be sent to Fort McHenry and shot but he could not finde the man that stole the turkey and went away about his buisness and the boys gobled and grouned him out of camp

 

It is a fare and plesant day here today it has bin verry plesant for 2 weeks back we have not had aney snow here to amount to aney thing We are now building baruks Company Bs quarters are about redy to moove into / I believe that I have wrote all the nues at presant so goodby

 

I send my best respects to all the boys and girls and to all my friends

 

Please write soon and direct as follows

Anson Matthews Baltimore

Co B 6^th Michigan Inft

 

This from your friend

Anson Matthews

 

Remember me and write as soon as you get this

SOURCES