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<html>[1] Camp near Chaf[f]ins Bluff July 31st 1862 My dear Wife: Again on yesterday I got another one of your old letters (June 30) – wish I could get such every day, but fear the old ones have all come, & I will now have to look for only two a week – the last two weeks have almost spoiled me about getting letters from you. I feel disappointed now if I dont get one or two every day. I read them without look- ing hardly at the date, & devour them as a half- famished man would a splendid meal, with [that? or out?] thinking if it has been just cooked, or is a few days old. Dear Precious, you [struck-through] I wish you could know how much I enjoy them. A pretty large bundle has accumulated in my [pocket?] since I sent [three?] by Mr. Booker. I dont put them in my knapsack for fear I may lose them, and I cant tear them up, -I cant destroy what has afforded me so much pleas- ure - & I like to look back over them occasionally, and re-read them when I fail to get others. It has been a close rainy day & we have been confined pretty closely to our tents. Our tent as usual is crowd- ed, & I am beginning to have such dislike to crowds [2] I wish I could get such things occasionally from my home. If you & Aunts Mary & Judy could put up a box or two of uncooked [underscored] vegetables; hams, eggs, pickles, butter or lard & oranges, & send them in my wagon to the Danville R[ail] R[oad] Scottsburg, directing them to Mr. Howison & let us & him know, exactly at what time it would reach Richmond, we could easily get them now. If we failed to send for them in time, Mr. H[owison] could appropriate what he wanted & give the rest to the Hospitals. A barrel of apples, or any kind of fruit, if it is abundant, would be acceptable, onions & inst[ant] potatoes are good vegetables for soldiers, as they keep. If you send such a box put some chewing tobacco in it, & send it by express. We are obliged to have such things occasionally, & they sell enormously high here. Onions at $1 to $1.50 a doz[en] – potatoes at .50 c[en]ts a quart – tomatoes $1 a doz[en] & a good many of our men have been touched with scurvy for the want of such things. As a pretty large army is now concentrated around though not being near us, it is almost impossible to get them. [3] I have collected from your letters all the infor- mation I could desire about my farm & thank you for being as particular about every thing. My idea about my flock of sheep is to keep them killed down to fifty ewes & five rams un- til I get my farm in a better condition to keep more. I am convinced that sheep yield more wool & better when the farm is not over- stocked. You may kill down & sell the [?] lambs & the inferior ewes (old & young) until the flock is reduced to forty-five or fifty. Lambs are selling in R[ich]mond for $10 or .25 c[en]ts a pound. Your Pa must do just what he thinks best with any- thing of mine. I am perfectly satisfied with anything he may do, & am glad my matters are in such good hands. What did he get for my oats? While I think of it, I will write again, in [?] my last letter should be lost. Ask your Pa to send a check of $75 to Mr. Howison to pay him for money he has been kind enough to lend me. -& to let the check show that it was paid by me. (Aug[ust] 1st Morning) I was interrupted yesterday & have continued a [good part of it this?] [4] that I have spent a good part of the day, wandering from tent to tent & siting, when it wasn’t raining too hard, out doors by myself. Morton [Earley?], who has just returned to his company came & spent a good part of the day with Sam. I felt very glad to see him as he has been so recently in our neighborhood, but when he said he had not seen you I was much disappointed – He seemed to think that Dan[iel] Booker will be unable to come in [‘come in’ struck-through] stand the service – has left him, three days since, & thinks he isn’t well enough to come in[struck-though] to this camp yet. I am afraid he will come too soon. We have been living very high to-day. Some of the friends of our mess from K[ing] & Q[een] [County, Va.] came up yesterday with two wagons loaded for us – some of the nicest bread & biscuits & pickles & pies I saw, -also corn meal, cucumbers, onions, potatoes, a lot of chickens, butter, lard, a box of apples, eggs, & other things – cooked hams [?] It is only thirty or forty miles off & some of the messes have had such things all the time – but this is the first supply we have received. They turn the chick- ens loose & fed them & have coops, as at home. I saw an old duck waddling about camp to-day. [5] Morning. last night, about midnight I think, I was awakened by rapid & heavy firing of field pieces down the river which continued some [struck-through] about two hours. We think it was at Malvern Hill – it was too far to hear musketry – dont know what it was, but it was certainly fighting of some kind. We have recently reinforced [General “Stonewall”] Jackson Gen[eral] with ^ A. P. Hill’s division & had a considerable accession to our army of southern troops, a good many from S[outh] Carolina. In what camp is Mr. Harris’ sons? and are they immediately at chaf[struck-through] Drewry’s Bluff?, [Chesterfield County, Va.] If they are, I will try to find them out, & visit them – but cant find anyone, except accidentally, without knowing his camp, & Reg[imen]t & Brigade. Please get your Pa to find out from [J...?] [Davis?] if I have had all my custom- ary contributions to Shiloh & the [?] – if not [6] to pay them for me – also to Mr. Hines’ [?]. Give much love to all – to your Ma & the children. Ask Sis[ter] Martha if there are any young, half-grown boys at Mr. Graves’ school flying around her? Old girls are generally fond of young boys. Old Miss Kate Rice (35) once took a great fancy to with this me, when about 16. I mail a [letter?] ^ to Millie from Doc & one to Aunt J[udy] from Sam. Sam is I think very carless & irregular in writing. Every body in camp seem surprised at my writing to you so often, but I cant help it – while writing is the happiest time I have in camp, I hav’n’t time as I hoped to write to Charley. I was in earnest about the dag[u]erreotypes but suppose the scarlet fever keeps you from C[larks]ville. I will get a letter from you this evening or to-morrow Hav’n’t heard from Abe lately. I love him like a brother. May God watch over you all, Darling, & protect you – Y[ou]r devoted husband – N[athaniel] V. W[atkins]</html>
