Camp Leslie, Hall’s Hill, Fairfax County, Va., Oct. 27, 1861. Dear Sister L.:— It is a beautiful Sabbath morning and I am on guard. I suppose you are now at church, but have you thought of me this morning and wondered where I was and what I was doing, whether I was well or sick, [...]
Camp Leslie, Hall’s Hill, Fairfax County, Va., Oct. 26, 1861. Friend P——s.:— To-day has been a great day with us. General McClellan and staff reviewed General Porter’s Division, of which we form a part. Five brigades were reviewed. We are attached to General Butterfield’s Brigade. Our regiment was very highly complimented by the General, as [...]
Camp Leslie, near Falls Church, Fairfax County, Va., Oct. 8, 1861. Friend P——s.:— In accordance with your expressed desire and my own promise, I have commenced writing to you. I intended to have written before, but an aversion to writing at all, which I have acquired in camp, is my only excuse. The inconveniences, or [...]
Camp Leslie, near Falls Church, Fairfax County, Va., Oct. 4th, 1861. Dear Friends at Home:– I last wrote from Camp Corcoran and once before from Camp Casey, and you see by date we have moved again. The Colonel here presented us to McClellan as a well drilled regiment and asked the privilege of taking a [...]
Camp Corcoran, Arlington Heights, Va., Monday, Sept. 30, 1861. Dear Sister L. :– My soldiering now is not play, it is work. The last time I wrote you we were in Camp Casey, above Washington. Last Saturday afternoon we received orders to strike tents and be ready to march. We were ready in half an [...]
Camp Wright, Hulton, Penm., July 14, 1861. Dear Sister L.:– I spent the morning of the Fourth in writing letters. In the afternoon Colonel Grant read the Declaration of Independence, and Captain Porter delivered an oration to the soldiers and citizens in a neighboring grove, after which we had a review of the four regiments [...]
Camp Wright, Hulton, Penn., Sunday, June 30, 1861. Dear Sister L.:– Major General McCall was here on Friday and organized two new regiments for the war. There are now in this camp and Camp Wilkins about five thousand men. We had a review of all the troops in this camp Friday afternoon. The General expressed [...]
Camp Wright, Hulton, Penn., Thursday, June 27, 1861. Dear Father:– One of the items of interest in the editor’s visit to Colonel McLane yesterday, is found in the Gazette of this morning, viz.: that throughout the whole day (yesterday) no marching orders or countermands were received. For a week or ten days the camp has [...]
Camp Wright, Hulton, Penn., Thursday, June 27, 1861. Dear Brother E.:– We’ve had pretty spicy times in camp for a week or ten days. Marching orders are given and immediately countermanded. It’s pack up, then unpack and make fun of it. One of the boys stuck up a picture–a courier driving at the top of [...]
Camp Wright, Hulton, Penn., Saturday. June 22, 1861. Dear Mother:– None of the boys have had any letters for a week. At last they begin to come and all bring news, “we heard you were coming home.” Well, the origin of that story was this: Colonel McLane received orders to start for Harrisburg, where his [...]
Camp Wright, Hulton, Penm., Saturday, June 15, 1861. Dear Father:– Our camp this week has been the scene of a good deal of confusion and uneasiness. I clip an extract from this morning’s Dispatch that explains the cause. We have been told by some officers that “We were accepted; we were going to Chambersburg; we [...]
Camp Wright, Hulton, Penn., Sunday, June 9, 1861. Dear Sister L.:– I wish you could just step in and see us here, say on a dress parade. We are in just as beautiful a place as I ever saw. The lovely Alleghany rolls along at the foot of the hill, and the little country seats [...]
Camp Wright, Hulton, Penn., Saturday, June 8, 1861. Dear Sister H.:– You will see by the date of this that I have left Camp Wilkins and am now at the new camp called Camp Wright. We arrived here to-day. Oh, I tell you we have a splendid place, fifteen miles from Pittsburgh on the south [...]
Camp Wilkins, Pittsburgh, Penn., Friday, May 10, 1861. Dear Sister L.:— I hardly know where to begin or what to write. My mind is, perhaps, in the same condition as yours–a good deal confused. It is a damp, rainy morning, so rainy that no companies will be out for drill until the weather is more [...]