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July 9^th 1862
Camps 18 miles from Richmond
Dear Brother, I have not been
able to hear a word from you since I saw
you & I am exceedingly anxious to get a letter
from you. I have commenced this letter to
you but don’t know whether I will have
time to finish or not. but it seems we
are making every preparation for a permanent
camping ground. You know though how
that is we are clearing up our camps &
all seem busily engaged. We arrived at
this place yesterday about 2 P.M. It is a very
nice cool place. It reminds me of Sangsters
X Roads more than any place we have been
at since we left that place. We have plenty
of good water a nice little creek to wash
in. The people too are all of wealthy class
& very accommodating. For the money
I am afraid it like all the soldiers say
It is too good a place for us to camp at &
Consequently we will not stay long.

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Well Bro I guess you have heard of the
late hard fought battle near Richmond
which lasted 8 days in succession resulted
in a complete victory on our part. I thought
once that we had old Mc & his whole army
completely sacked & there is no doubt that if
the plans of our Generals had been carried out
the whole army of our mercenary foes would
have been completely routed an old Mc himself
been taken prisoner but some of them did
not play their part. But we should be
content since the victory was so signal &
we should rejoice that we succeed in driving
the enemy from before Richmond causing
him to take cover under his gun boats.
Brother that was a tough time. Our Regt
was in 2 of the fights. But in the first we
did not fire a gun. Billie Overstreet was
slightly wounded on his leg in this fight
But although we did not in this fight as I
said fire a single gun we were in position

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He said some supposed that they would
take Richmond & that would end the war
Others thought differently. He seemed to
be stubborn & unwilling to converse on any
subject. But there were others that would
laugh & talk & seemed to be glad that
they were prisoners. They even declare they
would rather be prisoners than soldiers.
These though are generally foreigners
such as Irish Deutch etc. Our people seemed
to treat them all very kindly especially
the wounded. A detail of Yanks were
made for the purpose of waiting on the
wounded & Yanky Surgeons were not
considered prisoners at all But were
allowed perfect freedom. I can’t think
this war will last much longer & to
judge from the tone of the European papers
taken from northern papers England &
France will intervene before long for
suffering humanities sake. I have seen

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But my Brother you must not think
that in all this our troops suffered now
We lost in killed & wounded near 10,000
& some of our bravest boys that were 3
weeks ago full of life & hope now lye
under the sod or perhaps groaning
& writhing under pain of wounds received
which they so valiantly & bravely defended
the Capital of the Old Dominion. They
deserve long to be remembered by the
people of the south. I must now change
my subject to something, Some of the
yankey prisoners seem to be very cheerful
& laughing at the idea of going to Richmond
as prisoners. They say they had no idea
but that they could easily march into
the City & say that ole Mc fooled them
by telling them so there a poor deluded
south. I talked with one in regard to the
opinion of the south about the continuance
of the war. He said there were various …

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