5th Vermont Infantry - Wounded at Petersburg

Item LTR-312

Description

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

Camp Griffin
Jan 28th 1862

Well you, Mitch sends his best respects to you and says if you will receive them you may write to him for he wrote to you last and so did I. But I suppose that you have so much to do that you do not have time to write much. I will write to you oftener than I have for a long time back for the reason that I have not written more is because I had no money to pay the postage but I shall buy me twelve shillings worth of stamps and I think them will last me until next pay day. Oh my. How it rains if you have such weather in Nunda this winter as we have here. I don’t think that you will do much a lumbering and so on. Oh yes I like to of forgotten some one was so kind as to send me the Nunda News and I think you are the one if you are I thank you a thousand times and will send you the pay I get the paper every week. I read one last night. I must stop and eat my dinner. Dinner going and gone. Good bye until after.

After Dinner

I have just eaten my dinner which consisted of bread and beef and pea soup. Mitch did not eat any dinner for he said he wanted to sleep. So he has gone to sleep like a good little boy and forgot all his troubles and is snoring away at the rate of ten knots an hour it is very hard for us to go out on picket and stay 24 hour without any sleep. Especially when the going is as bad as it is now. The orderly has not sent me out now for over a week because I had such a cough but I did not know anything about that until Mitch told me today. Bully for the orderly and bully for me. My cough is getting a good deal better than it has been for a long time. But I fear that I shall never get rid of as long as I live. Mitch has got a bad cough and I would like to see any man come here and do as we have and not have a bad cough or cold or some other disease fastened upon him. The boys feel bully this afternoon. To think that they are going to get their pay so soon.

Good joke on the Rebs. All at battle that McCall’s men had with the Rebs at Gainesville. Well the Rebs had one of our Regiments almost surrounded. They are known as the Bucktail Boys. Some of the rebs hollered and asked how many men we had got there. Says our men in answer we have got 25 thousand god damn you. Where upon the rebs took by bail for security and left the whole field to our boys. Bully for them.

No more this time. Write as soon as you get this. My best respects to you and your wife and all those who may inquire.

Yours as ever
John Payne