61st Pennsylvania Infantry

Item LTR-8289

Description

Original Civil War soldier's letter. 4 pages, written in period ink.


Brigade Hospital
January 27th 1862

Friend John,

Yours of a recent date lies before. I will tell you in the first place that it is between 12 and 1 o’clock A.M. I got up at 12. Have to sit up until 3 and as the sick lay pretty still, thought I would try and write. No doubt you have heard ere this that I am here as a nurse. This is a very large brick house about half way between our camp and Washington. This has been a splendid place some day, but looks forsaken now. From the upper porch you can see that dirty city of Washington (all that I have heard say anything about it, calls it so at least across the Potomac into Alexandria). I have been here two weeks today. I have a good deal of work to do that I do not fancy much. When I first came here, there were four nurses besides myself. One has gone home and one went down stairs to help cook or wash, I guess he helps wash. There were 20 sick in this room or rather two rooms, but they open into each other when I came here. Two have went back to camp and five went home on furlough. Oh yes, there has been four went to camp; two went yesterday. New ones keep coming. There is 16 here now. About half of them we have to help in and out of bed and feed them with a spoon. So you can judge they are pretty low.
Last Sunday night there was one man died while I was up watching and Saturday night I was called up a half hour before my time to help carry another one up. They are both from our regiment. There is three doctors about 80 sick, 4 cooks, 5 or 6 washers and 16 or 20 nurses in this building. So you see we do not lack for company such as it is.

I miss the boys considerable. Otherwise, I like it here better than in camp. I can sit up to a table and eat a good meal and I do not have to stand guard out in the cold storms, nor sleep on the ground, nor drill through the mud. And besides, I get 7 or 8 dollars a month more pay that is quite an object these hard times.

John, I find this a hard place to write. I have to get up every few minutes to wait on the sick. I was over to camp this afternoon. The boys look well. Most of them, they seem to enjoy themselves pretty well.

John, there is two sick here that I think can not get well. They seem to be all rotten inside. They have sores all over them. There is nothing left of them but skin and bones. They can not move from one side of the bed to the other without help. We feed them beef juice [and] egg now and they can not eat anything that has to [be] chewed. Well, enough of this.

Doctor Prince called us down in his office the other day and vaccinated us. He said the small pox was not far from here and he wanted us to be in good trim if we happened to get it. I think I never had better health. I am as fat as pig (half starved).

John, I do not pretend to be smarter than anyone else, but I think if I had been to that Donation, I would have got up a play of some kind. I think John Henderson is getting to be quite a popular boy, go to Donations and not pay anything. The Committee ought to send a bill in to his pap for his suppers. John, I presume you will like to be committee better after you get use to it.
John, I have been trying to get to Washington to get my face on paper. They say they take them for three dollars a dozen and I think I shall get a dozen and send to my friends.

Well, I must bring this to a close, hoping to hear from you again soon. I remain as ever, your true friend.

D. W. Dale

P.S. Direct as usual.