Camps Near port Royal Va Dec the 26 1862 [1]
Dear and affectionet wife I this Day seat
my self to rite you aShort letter to inform
you of my helth I am well at present hoping
those few lins may Come to hand in Due time
and find you all well and Doing well I
hav Nothing of much intrest to rite to you at
present the wether is Cold and times hard
we ar our on picket on the
Raperdan river and we Can See
plenty of yankes across the river & we
have gone out to stay 7 Days tha
Say on picket we have thrown up
Some Brest works on the raper
Dan river tha Say that thar will
Bee abattle fought Some where in
this Section of Country our Pickets
and the yanke pickets talks to one
another aCross the river and Some
times tha Cross the river and
Swap our Boys Coffee and Shugar
[page 2]
for tobacco tha Seam to Bee as frindly
to us as tha ar to one another But
I Dont like to viset them
much for ther is Dainger of
them takeing us prisners if ther
head officers was to hapen to
Bee ther tha Say that tha ar tierd
of the war and I think that it is
time for them to Bee tierd of it for
we have whipt them all the time
and Drove them away and I think
that we Can whip them again
tell F. N. Mcknight and Dr
John that I Send my Best respect [2]
to them and I wount them to rite
to me and rite all the News and
what tha ar Doing with the
Conscript law tell all the
children howda for me and
rite to me Soon and rite to me
if you git this letter I Send you
Some Stamps in this yours in
love til Death E B Coggin Seargt