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Camp near Falmouth Va
Sunday Jan. 25th 1862 [1863]

Dear Mother

I have just received
your letter of the 18th I will
answer it this afternoon. I am
now back in Camp with the Regt.
The Regt left here last Tuesday afternoon
the whole Army being on the move
they had got only some two miles
when it began to rain quite hard
and they were ordered back to their
old Camp so they came back and
stopped over night and started again
in the morning although it was raining
quite hard. they only went some 8 miles
for the rain had made the ground so
soft that the cannons could not move

and the wagons could not get up
with provisions so they had to go
to work and build roads by laying down
trees to get the artillery back on
Burnside concluding that it was not
the right time to move when the
roads were so muddy. The Regt got
back into the old Camp night before
last, yesterday I left the Hospital and
came back to the Co, for I should
have starved to death if I had
stayed there much longer I am about
as well now as I was before I was
taken sick and if I have had the
measles they are different things from
what I thought they were. I do not think
that we shall stop here long probably move
as soon as the roads get hard again
although one of our Co who is a medium
says that we shall stop here five weeks
and when we move go 75 miles he saysthat the war will last until
1866 Joe Hooker will soon have command
of the Army and in 1866 McClellan will
be reinstated and he will end the war.
We got paid off yesterday, for two months
although they owed us for most 5 but
government is probably affraid that if
they paid us for 4 months some of them might
take a notion to go home without asking
leave, some of them have gone as it
is two whole Companies from one of
Sickle’ses Regiments deserted as soon as they
got their pay, this Army is getting pretty
well demoralized I am not a going to
send any money home just yet although
I will in a few days if I can not use
it for some particular purpose out here
Our Sutler is here with quite an assortment
of goods and he has to sell just as the
Colonel says and the Colonel favors the
men he sells cheese 25 cents other sutlers 50
condensed milk 50 others 75 raisins 35 others 60 tobacco 1.25 a lb other sutlers ask 2.00
butter 45 others 60 cents, so you can see that
the Colonel saves a great many cents for the
men, although the sutler is mad enough
about it. It has cleared off this afternoon
and the sun has come out the Regt is
now out on a Brigade inspection I believe
I got the Reporter with the letter
Horace is well got a letter from home
to day Ward Jewell is getting better about
as well as usual I think of nothing
else to write except that I have got
a good house with a fire place in
it which is a good thing in this part
of the Country.