139th Ohio Infantry - Point Lookout

Item LTR-347

Description

4 page original Civil War soldier's letter written in period ink and war dated.

Camp on Point Lookout, MD

July 29th 1864

Dear Family,

I received your letter of the twenty-fourth this morning and was sorry to hear of your having been sick. But, am glad to hear that you are getting along so well with your work. The boys here were surprised when I read it to them that you are doing so well. And, it encourages me very much if I did not get such news I could not be so well satisfied. But, don’t work to injure yourselves. Keep steady along. It will not be long now until I shall be home and then it will probably go better.

The Colonel told us yesterday that he was to make application on the eight of August for transportation to take us home. That will be one week from tomorrow. But, whether we will get off right away or not we can’t tell. I am sorry to hear that the corn crops look so bad but don’t make yourselves uneasy about it. I think it will all come around right yet. We have had but two rains here this summer. It is awful dry. My poor eyes had to take it. They have been very sore or the last week or two and I can hardly see out of my left eye now. But, it is not near as sore now as it was. This is an awful sandy country and the air is pretty all the time full of it, which makes it very hard on us. I am glad to hear that you have plenty of milk and butter. But that don’t do me any good although I fared pretty well in that respect for the last month. But, butter is scarce and what we buy is so strong that it will bear an iron wedge. You can get three small onions for twenty five cents, cheese twenty five cents per pound, butter fifty cents, chickens about the size of a partridge for forty five, seventy five for a full grown one, and other things in proportion. But, we don’t buy many of them things.

I am glad to hear that your horses are in such good order. You must have been pretty good boys which I am proud of. You wanted to know whether I got that money you sent me. I did get it. I think I got every letter you have written. There was one dollar and stamps in the one I got this morning.

Well, I will now give you the news of our camp. The boys of our company are generally pretty well now. There is none of them in the hospital now, although there are some of them not well. A. W. Brown had been pretty sick for a few days, but I think he will get better in a few days. We are sending a good many of the prisoners away from here to the State of New York. We sent of eight hundred and fifty night before last. And we are almost daily receiving new ones that are being captured. They are from ten to twenty every day. We got the news two or three days ago that Lee with eighty thousand of his men is up the river above us down this way, and he is trying to cross the river and get back into Virginia again. We sent a gunboat from here with seventy-six cannons.
It ran up the river. The Potomac River I full of gunboats from here to Washington, and about the time he undertakes to cross they will give him hell. The river and the bay here are laying full of gunboats. We are ready for them here but I think they won’t come in here. Well, I believe I have no more news to send you at present. I will answer Ma’s long letter.

Dear Ma,

In answer to that long letter I got from you this morning, I would say don’t make yourself uneasy about me for I think it wont be long if nothing happens until you will see me. I would like to know what some of those dreams are o that I could take a good laugh over them. For I feel pretty funny along about these times. My duty is so light here that I have plenty of time to laugh and talk and I would just like to be there long enough to hear you tell some of those dreams so hat I could take a good ha ha over them. I think of you every night too. But I am not uneasy about you as long as I hear of your getting along as well as you are. You say you are frightened. I will drop in there some of thee times before you know it and frighten you for certain. You say you want me to send you my photograph. It cost too much to get them taken here. You must wait a little longer and you will see me. Which will not cot you a cent. The time I was sick some time ago, I lost ten pounds in about a week but I have gained seven pounds of that again. So you see that I am fattening up some again. I feel first rate and have ever since I got over that spell. I can eat all the time.

Well, I have written a tolerably long letter and passed about enough for this time, so I will close by saying take care of yourselves until I come. Goodbye.

Enos E. Bankdall