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Washington D.C. Aug 15 61 Henry If I had not got that letter today I had made up my mind to ask leaf of absence long enough to come home and find out the reason but it is all right now. I feel the best this afternoon that I have for more than a week. We have just had another mooving but only a short one about 1/4 of a mile the object is[crossed out] I suppose is to secure a better location. We are now on higher ground and in evry respect pleasanter. We have just pitched our tent and got things together again. I was on guard duy before yesterday. It was a cold wet disagreeable day but I got along with it very well. The wind was North East very heavy showers in the afternoon and towards night just such a North Easter as we have at home about the last of April or first of May. It cleard off about 12. o clock that night I do not like guard duty very well. Such weather as that and felt a little down about it but I had a streak of good luck before it was over. I was stationed near the cooks stand that was
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cooking the Colonels supper he gave me 3 good warm gridle cakes with Butter and Sugar and a cup of tea. My last watch was from 4 to 6 A M, and there was then patches of Frost in the low ground within 20 ft of my Beat. I wore my over coat and had to walk fast to keep myself warm. I am not on that provo guard now. the sargant got sick of it and
Aug 16
gave it up ^ We[er-crossed out] are gro[crossed out] diging entrenchments now about 1/4 of a mile from camp fixing for a batery. Work 6 hours a day get 25 cts pr day extra pay. I Recd a letter from Ruth yesterday at the same time I Recd yours. they are all well. she says Albert is going to write to me. I havnt time now to write much and cant think of what I do want to write. I am glad Mother is going to write to me but I dont want to task her too hard. Send my the Trumpets and see that I have one letter evry week from you [?][crossed out] or Father or mother no mater how short but the longer the better. I mean to write to James as soon as I can get time tell him I think of him as often
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as once evry day. I want to know about my chickins when you write again. Write [very?] particular. Since writing the above I hav been diging again for uncle sam. I told you we worked six hours a day so we do only we dont. The company is divided into 2 parts 1st and 2nd Relief. the 1st work 15 minutes and then
them
the second Relieve ^ whilst they Rest that length of time so it is not very hard work. Well it is almost supper time now and Luke and I are going to make a little apple sause for supper. I hapened to pass throug an orchard and picked up a few and as they are too hard to eat I thought I would save them to cook. I want you to tell me how the garden is getting along. I want to know if you have had[crossed out] had any green corn yet. I have had one[crossed out] 2 ears and some Beets and cucumbers. Well now Henry I will close my letter. I feel very than kfull for the good long one you wrote me it was just such an one as I wanted. Oh
you
how glad I should be to see ^. I would walk
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ten miles tonight for the sake of being with you ten minutes. I am not home sick. I am having a good time here. But home oh I tell you, now I know there is no place like it. Now Mother will shirly think I am home sick but I can tell her of many a man in this Regiment that would soo ner grab for a chance to go home than he would for a handfull of gold and yet none the less loyal to duty. It [?][crossed out] is not with sorrowfull and dishearten feelings that I contemplate home but with feelings of hope and pleasure.
I have been interupted many times since I commenced this letter and as I know I must be again soon I will stop now Yours Truly Rufus
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Washington D.C. August 20 Dear Father I have now a little leisure whith I will improve in writing to you but it will be short for it is now 1/2 past 8 and at 9 our company will be marched off to the Trenches again. We shall have to dig until 12 then 3 hours rest commencing again at 3 this afternoon. Since Breakfast I have been fixing a place to dry my clothes. We have had a greatdeal of wet weather during the last 2 weeks. It is cloudy this morning but looks as thoug it would break away. I have been into the woods and cut 2 sticks with notches at the ends these I have stuck up back of my tent about 8 ft apart and placed a straight stick acrost the top this makes a first rate place to dry my Blanket. I want you to understand that this is my invention and almost evry man in our mess has followed my example. We had
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for Breakfast this morning Rice and Sugar Bread and Tea about as much sugar as you could take up on a spoon such as you eat Bread and milk with [Once?] and about 4 times full of Rice. I can make 1/2 of the sugar do with the Rice and the rest of it I use with the Bread. I eat my Breakfast with a good relish and altogether there was enough of it. Now I must go to work. Well here I am am again it is now about 1 o clock. I have finished my work and eaten my dinner and have now 2 hours leisure. For dinner we had Bread and Beef and 3 pot atoes. I have not worked very hard this forenon. When we work our compa ny is divided into 2 relifs the first Relief work 15 minutes and then
th
rest whilst the 2d work that leng of time and so on to the end of the 3 hours. I have forgotten to tell you that we have had fare
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weather this fore noon though it has been some cloudy the sun has shone out a good part of the time and a good feeling air. I was very happy to recieve a letter from you last Sunday. I was at a place
ed
called Rock Creek. the way I hapn to be there our company was detailed as Picket guard. Rock Creek is a bout 2 miles from our camp on the road to Harpers Ferry and the head quarters of our picket. We left camp Sunday morning at 7 o clock. Men are left at posts along the Road 3 together and about 1/8 of a mile apart. My post H[crossed out] hapned to be near the creek Hobert (Samuls Brother in law) and M.L. Sprowe the Tailors son at South A. were left with me. We had a first rate time. Soon after we got there I went to a house not far from our post and asked the
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Woman if she would sell me a small piece of pork and lend me a pot to Boil it in. I bought 3 ears of corn of her but when I got back I found that H and L. had got Corn, Potatoes, Cucumbers, and Beets in great abundence. they said they went into the field and asked the man if they could have them he didnt say anything so they supposed he was willing. We fried most of the Pork [in...?] the tin plates which we brought with us. the rest of it we put into the pot with the corn and potatoes. I never eat fried port that tasted so good we had plenty of Bread and Beef whitch we Brought with us and I think it was the best dinner I have eaten since I left home. For supp er we had more corn and some corn cakes whitch we Bought at the house were we borrowed the pot. After dinner I set down on my knapsack in a shanty built [?] Brush and rails by the side of the Road and wrote a letter to Hiram. Next morning we were relieved at 7 o clock and returned to our camp. You ask about the Fruit crops. from what I can learn the Peach crop is rather small this year. I have not seen one large Peach orchard yet in any of my travels but I suppose there are many in our vicinity. Peaches are sold here on[?][crossed out] the ground from one to
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to two cts a piece. I have seen 3 or 4 good looking
not
Apple orchards but ^ very full of fruit. I didnot see so many fruit trees along the rail road as I expected to they told me the soil was very poor along the road through the whole line. I have seen a few Pear trees well loaded with fruit but I could not learn any name for them they are all sweet- pears or early pears. Sweet Potatoes I think are not grown very extensively in this part of the country only a few for home use. August 21st. This is another fine morning. The sun is shining out clear and we are having a good cool Breeze. It begins to seen like September. We com menced work this morning at 6 and were relieved at 9. They brought us 3 large guns last night. I should think they would carry as 36 lb Ball. I think we shall mount 12 guns there. the works whitch we are building are about 5 miles from the city of W on the Road
nd
to Maryland about 2 Miles from the line. The grou is somewhat divided and comprises about an acre in the centre of whitch is a small Brick Church.
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around this hill we are diging trenches at the width of about 6 feet and about the same in debth. the earth is thrown up on the inside and sods lain so as to make a perpendicular wall. I cannot give you a very good description of it yet for I dont know how or where the guns are to be mounted. It will be quite a work when it is finished but it is not 1/2 done yet. I like to work there it is something new and gives me a good apetite. Now the mail has arrived and I will go and see if there is a letter for me. Yes I have recieved Mothers letter as I expected and I feel very happy but I am not going to Ans it on this sheet but will very soon. Well now about that statement of Franks. I think it was nearly 2 weeks ago Luke Recd a letter from [Hos...s?] stating that Frank wrote to John stateing that he[crossed out] (Luke and I) were 2 the soberest men he ever saw. It was very anoying to us to think that Frank should write any sutch thing about us when there was no provocation as the inference was that we were scared. We went to Frank immediately and asked him if it was correct he denied writing any
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such thing and told us he would inform John of the statement and we should be satisfied. I am well
that there was no malice intended
satisfied now ^ on the part of Frank or any one else even if there had been it would not amount to anything. I feel very confident[underlined] that when the time comes I shall have strength to [do my duty][double underlined] and I have no more doubts of Lukes courage and ability to do his duty than I have of my own. I thought I should write no more about it but I will give you Franks Statement whitch he made when we asked him about it. he says ‘others as well as myself couldnot help noticing the difference between you and Luke and others about you once in your mess. they were cheering and swinging their Hats but
d
you and Luke were about your buisness and seeme as unconserned as though nothing had hapned’ This was all true Luke was very busy dealing out Rations to the men in his mess as he took them from the cooks and it seemed to burden his mind more than any thing else. I wrote you some time ago the Capt Harlow had been promoted to Majors. I will [nous?] say in place of Maj Holman Resigned. I havnot heard of his being Promoted [?]
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Well what shall I write now. I guess i shall have to print this half of the sheet rather coarse. How would you like Father to have a farm out here. I wish you could see some of the corn fields here and then I think you would have a ready Ans. I have not seen a Farm here yet that I would swap mine for though it were 40 times as large if I had got to spend my life upon it . In a corn field of 10 or 15 Acrs perhaps 1/2 of it will be pretty good. the land is very uneven out here and the corn whitch grows upon the hills well never be worth harvesting except for fodder but between the Hills it looks quite well. I suppose this is a very good market here it being near the city but I dont think that farming is more profitable here than at home. I have seen one corn field where the corn grew to the hight of 16 ft but I dont think the amount of corn will be much greater from it than we have harvested at home. in one word I dont like the styll of the country out here. the Houses are too far apart and I dont like the colour of the ground it looks as though they had been casting Brick dust upon it all the days of their lives. it is a hard Red Clay and after a rain it will stick to your feet like wax and the more steps you take the more you have to lug. We are expecting to recieve our pay from the State soon Yours Affectionately Rufus
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Washington Sunday Aug 25 Dear Mother It is a beautifull Sunday morning. We have just got throug with inspection of arms which comes between the hour of 8 and 9 and Luke and I have gone out into the woods a little way from the camp and spread our Rubber Blan kets under the shade of a large tree where we can sit and read and write with comfort. My health is very good and I can say with truth that most of the time I am in a very happy frame of mind. I know that you are very anxious about me and I often think how blest I am that I have a home and friends to sympathize with me but you say that you hope most that is as it should be. I am glad that you can for there is no need of any painfull anxiety. Let us continue to trust in the one that will always take good care of us. I sometimes almost think that I am blest
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above every other man in the Regiment and with the exception of Luke and a few others so far as our company is concerned. I think it is true I suppose there have been many letters sent home describing our situation as very bad but with a very few exceptions I do not find it so. So far as the food is concerned I get along very well when I have a good appetite. When I do not as is not often the case I buy a little Milk or some Butter and toast my Bread. I can buy cakes and Pies or any kind of fruity. So far as sleeping is conserned I get along quite as well. I sleep at the end of the row on one side of the tent and at the back part of it next to Luke. I always raise the bottom of the tent a little so that I can have a good breathing hole and have a way of making my bed which is very comforta ble and am more regular about my sleep than I ever was before. My Rub ber Blanket I prize above any thing else
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spread it where ever I may. I can always keep dry with that. I wish it were possible that that dream might be realized that you might see us just as we are but you would not find my Trousers so ragged as you dreamed with the exception of a little hole just below my right knee which I tore (It is only large enough to croude my pencil through) and a little rip at the Pocket on the right side. they are as whole as they were the day I left home. they are not so clean as I wish but I have no trouble in keeping my drawers and shirt clean. I have been expecting a new suit set long. I think it must come soon. There is but little of the time when I am of duty that I am not washing or Reading or writing. 2 prs of my stockings (my best ones) are nearly as good as when I left home. I will now explain to you how we do guard duty. We are detailed now by company. it used to be so many
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men from each company. tomorrow I think will
day
be the ^ for our company to do guard duty and we shall relieve the company that is on today. Tomorrow morning at 9 we shall have what is called guard mounting. We shall from a line out in the filed the Band will play while the officers are inspecting our arms after the ceremony is over we shall be marched off to the guard tents there whilst we are standing in line the company will be divided into 3 equal parts call 1st 2d and 3d relief it will then be 10 o clock and the first relief will take the posts as they are numbered. When they had stood 2 hours the 2d will go to their relief and then the 3d and so on through the 24 hours. If I am on the first relief
AM pm
I shall be at the Post from 10 to 12 4 to 6 p m a m 10 to 12 4 to 6. that is what is called 2 on and 4 off. 2 hours duty and four hours rest through the day and night. When we have pleasant weather it is quite a pleasant duty but the last time I was on it was rather a hard time but I did not take any cold. I think we shall remain where we now are for a long time as we are posted at a place where we can do much for the defence of of the city. I Recd the Trumpets yesterday and was glad to see them tell Henry no to work too hard (I mean it) and that I shall expect another letter next Thussday. Now good bye for a little while Affectionately yours Rufus
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Washington D.C. August 28 /61 Henry I feel very greatfull for the letter which I have just Recd from you . It cheers me more than you can imagine. I am glad that you are having enough to eat. Oh [how?] I should like to take a seat at the old Table with you some of these lazy days which we are spending in camp. I frequently have spells of thinking of you at home and as often as it will I suffer my imagination to take a turn home- ward and take a view of you as you are seated at the Breakfast Dinner or Supper table. It was just before dinner that I Recd your letter and how natural it looked to see you seated at the table spread with the luxuries from the garden as it usualy is at this time of the year. Well eat away it wont hurt you if you have
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a good appetite it is joy to me to know that you can. I too have eaten a good dinner today. You know I am very fond of stued Beans. I had plenty of them for dinner and they were well cooked. I love when I am making my home visits to take my pipe after Breakfast and walk out to the Barn with you and take a look at my chicks and old Nell and the Pig but I cant seem to see him so distinctly as the rest of them so please tell me in your next if he grows well this summer. Then I love to take a walk over to the farm but I know pretty well how it looks there now for you have given me a good description of it. You are taking more pains with the strauberry patch than I thought but I think it will pay. How are the water and Musk Mellons geting along. I can buy a Musk Mellon here nearly as large as my head for
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6 cts and they are very good ones.
Well now whilst I have room I must write you a few words of things which have occured here. Twice since I last wrote you we have had our ideas pricked up with the prospect of a fight. One night last week the Picket gave us a falce alarm. It was about 11 o clock and most of us were asleep but we were not long in geting into line. we stood about 15 minutes prepared to march were the dismissed to our tents and the excitement was soon over. It was a little different last night. I didnot notice anything of it until dress parade and I think it was about that time the Colonel Recd the news that our services might be wanted for he huried through with it as fast as possible. We were then given as much amun ition as our cartridge Boxes would
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hold which is about 40 rounds and I think the Box will weigh when thus filled from 12 to 15 lbs. We were obliged to keep them on all night so that we might be in readiness to march at a mom ents warning but with us it only ended with a good nights rest. I managed to slip my box around behind me so that it did’nt plague me one mite. all I had to do was to lie still on my right side and I was some what surprised to find my
ing.
self so much refreshed in the morn I cannot learn anything satisfactory concerning this alarm but no doubt there has been a sight affare at chain Bridge. Well it is now near the close of another day and I want to mail this tomorrow morning so I will not try to fill another sheet. My health is good. I have gained about 2 1/2 lbs since we left [Kaforama?] I weigh now 127 1/2 without my jacket. So good night. Let me hear from you again soon. how is Janes health) soon Rufus we are expecting to get paid again.
