My Dear Wife,
Since my last letter we have moved from Winchester and are encamped about two miles from Richmond near the Richmond and Lexington Turnpike and left camp at Winchester last Wednesday about 6. We marched as far as the Kentucky River and rested for the night. Started the next morning about 10a.m. crossed the Kentucky River on some flat boats, marched about 8 miles and rested for the night. Left the next morning about 8 o’clock arriving at our present place of encampment about noon last Saturday, tired enough and hungry enough to have eaten a raw dog but we had nothing to eat and a number of us started out in pursuit of something to eat. After traveling about an hour we made out to get something to eat and what do you think it was? Well we could get nothing but friend pork and shortcake and short enough it was but it served to keep us from starving. I have written two letters since I have arrived in Kentucky but as yet have had no answer but I hope to hear from you soon. We don’t get much to eat out here except we buy it and it is not everyday we can get a chance to buy anything. All we have had to eat since we came to Kentucky has been hard tack and pork with the exception of what we have bought. I suppose the reason why we have not had any more is because our supply teams have not arrived yet and besides we have been on the march nearly all of the time. How long we shall stay here it is not known to us but I don’t think we shall stay here long but one thing is certain we shall not move until our ammunition train comes up as we are on the outposts of our lines and in close proximity to the rebels. Some think our destination is Cumberland Gap¹ and I should not be surprised if we had to go there. Our encampment has been the scene of a bloody conflict. Perhaps you will not recollect anything about it. The battle took place last August between our forces commanded by General. Nelson² and the rebels commanded by General Kirby Smith.³ The rebels outnumbering our forces three to one. Our troops we nearly all raw troops mostly from Indiana. After fighting nearly all day our men were forced to retreat with having left the rebels then marched to almost Covington Ky. opposite Cincinnati. The trees in our camp are all full of bullets and many of the limbs are cut to pieces by shells and cannon balls. The dead were buried by the citizens, the rebels leaving them unburied and to show you how little respect is shown to the memory of the brave who fell on that day you will hardly believe it. The men who own the land have plowed over their graves. There are a great many here who are sympathizers⁴ with the rebels but they dare not express their views openly while the union army is on their front. But Kentucky will not be governed by such men as they are. Our army in Kentucky numbers 75 thousand men and let them invade this date if they dare but I have no doubt but what they will do it. Starvation will lead men to do almost anything and if we can rely on what we hear from them they are getting hard up. Men are coming in daily from Tennessee who were obliged to leave their state or be forced into the rebel army, even boys not much larger than George or Ira have been driven from their homes by these villains. I have seen them, more all, heard them tell their piteous story. I would not have believed it, but these men will have their revenge. It is stamped on their countenances. They already have organized themselves into a regiment and will return before long to rescue their homes and families from these ruffians. I have had a letter from Jennie since I have been out here and I suppose I must answer it today as I have got more time now than I have had before since I have been here. Tell William I have received his letter and was very much pleased with the poetry. I guess Horace drops that shoulder of his when he read them. I don’t know who composed them but whoever the author was he done it up in good style. Do you know anything about Charles Page? He was ordered to report to the regiment last December and he has not been here yet. I suppose the trees are not leafed out there yet. They are green here, peach and cherry trees are in blossom and apple trees are all budded and will be in blossom in two or three days. I begin to feel anxious to see home as our term of service is drawing to a close but the days will not pass any faster by counting them or trying to hurry then up but it is certain to come, if I do not see it, yet I hope I may live to see you again. I don’t know exactly when we shall leave for home. Some say we must be mustered out just nine months from the time we were mustered in, if that is the case we shall…
The rest of the letter was not saved.
Footnotes.
1- Cumberland Gap – https://www.civilwar.vt.edu/wordpress/cumberland-gap/ The Cumberland Gap, at the meeting point of Tennessee, Kentucky, and Virginia, was strategically important as a potential invasion route for both Union and Confederate forces and changed hands several times throughout the war
- Confederate troops under siege abandoned the Gap after a brief skirmish June 18, 1862, but regained the Gap after Federal troops withdrew in September 1862
- Confederate forces at the Gap surrendered to Union forces for a final time on September 10, 1863, without firing a shot
- The loss of the Cumberland Gap opened East Tennessee and Southwest Virginia to Federal invasion in the second half of the Civil War
2- General Nelson – Union General
https://www.nytimes.com/1862/10/11/archives/the-evacuation-of-cumberland-gap-reason-of-the-evacuation-of-the.html
3- General Kirby Smith – Confederate General
https://www.nytimes.com/1862/10/11/archives/the-evacuation-of-cumberland-gap-reason-of-the-evacuation-of-the.html
4- Sympathizers – were on both sides of the division, there were Southerners that didn’t want to separate from the Union as well as Northerners that opposed the split of the country
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opposition_to_the_American_Civil_War
