Camp Near Kinston North Carolina

April the 25th 1864
Dear Rebecca I now take this oper
tunity of writing you a fiew lines which
will informe you that I am well truly hoping
thease fiew lines will reach your distant hand
& find you well. We left Weldon day before
yesterday & landed at old Kinston yesterday
which was Sunday we left here on Sunday
& Returned the Same. the place looks verey
natural they have improved the town Some
Since we left here or Repaired what the yan
kies tore up while they were here.
As for what we came here to do is not for
me to day their is a good maney troopse here
but for what purpose I do not no but I belive
the general opinion is we air gowing to try to
take newborn & Washington & clean the cost [1]
of North Carolina of the yankies but we
will have some harde fiting to do befour
we acomplish it for Newborn is one of the
best fortified places now out but we
took Plymoth the other day with 25 guns 1600
prisiners comisarey stores &c. our loss was
259 killed & wounded when our men charged
the fourt they could not climb over the wall
[page 2]
it beeing verey high & sharpe stakes all around
So when they reached it the yankies laft
& told them to lay down their gunns & come
in & they would not hurte them but they
fell back & the second charge the yankies
lay down their gunns we have an ironclad
in the nuse River which sunk towo of thier
gunboats with their crews.
O I had liked to for got to tell you
we have a Colonel now he took comand
of the hog jaw Regt. yesterday his name is
Dancler he was Leut. Col. of the 20th Regt. [2]
the oficers of this Regt. petishiond to the war depar
tement for him to be .col. so we will be
Known now as Dancelers Regt he is a brave
looking man I am glad a Col. for I
am tired of beeing drove by [evrey?] clodhead
he is in comand of the brigade now Evans is
not here he got hurte at Charlston but there
General Walker will take comand of us to day
untell Evans comes up. So I will close
for this time write for I have had no
letter since we left Charlston
W A Martin
Direct to Kinston N C