5th Vermont Infantry - Killed at Savage Station

Item LTR-6465

Description

Original Civil War soldier's letter. 3 pages written in period ink.


Camp Griffin
November 14, 1861

Dear Brother and friends,

I received your letter last night and I will try to answer it. You say that Hulday is sick and I shall want to hear from her every opportunity and you must write often. I am well and in good spirits but have pretty hard times last Wednesday. We had our grand review, we marched about 8 miles from camp and there I saw more people than I ever saw before. At most there was about 80,000 soldiers and the next day we went out on a scouting party and was gone all day. We marched that day about 15 miles and we began to have a day’s rest but the next morning about 9 o’clock they hauled us out and we had to go on picket guard. Which we have to do once a week and there we have to stand all kinds of weather but enough of that. It is pretty sickly here and a good many dying. You have perhaps heard of our loss of men. Our company only five died out of our company, but none by the scurvy.

Well about my state pay, I shall get paid next week and then I shall send you twenty dollars and an order to draw my state pay. And I guess I shall tell mother that I want her to send me a cheese and some butter but I will write more about it before you do anything about it. That is all I can write. Thou one word more, I wrote to Sid but have not heard from him.

Good bye from Herman Hooker