Camp Near Fredrecksburg
Nov 30 62
Dear Sister yours of the 16th came to
hand yesterday and right glad I was
to hear from home there seems to
be none write but you I supose
it is not so intresting to me to
have leters from home as it
is for them to get leters from
here, It is generly supposed
that a soldier knows more about
what he is doing than those
at home know about him
but such is not the case we
never know where we are unles
we see it in the papers and
then you get some great strategetic
move that you have made. when
we can only see that we have
ben traling about crooked roads
going 10 miles to get 4 for
2 days I have ben with a wagon
train down to acqui creek
[page 2]
to get provision this is a point
on the potomac wich was held by
the rebels at the comencement of
the war and had a batery planted
to blockade the potomac there
is a railroad runing from this
point to, Fredrecksburg the brige
acrost the creek was distroyed
but is now rebuilt and yesterday
the train went past our camp
and now we can get our bread
with out drawing through the
mud It was refreshing to get out
of the smoke of the camp fires
and breath the fresh air and see
people working like white men
For they are building a depo and
lay track at the landing and
if you could but see the huge
piles of bread coffee sugar pork
and beans pile landed
here it ywould wonder where
the country was that prodused it
[page 3]
There upon a space of 16 miles square
are two hundred and fifty thousand j
troops to be fed and here at
this landing the most of it is
landed. There is no vilage here
not even one house except
those that have ben constructed
by our troops but the county
is white with tents in all
directions and the air dimed
with the smoke of thousands
of camp fires. Our train was
nearly a mile long and yet
it is barely a drop in a bucket
compared with the whole
if our army here should all
move at once in one colum
it would reach 30 miles
and when one one sees what
he sees in travling through it
he feels that there is power
enough to crush this reblion
to ten thousand atoms
[page 4]
and such I believe to be the fact
could it be mad to do one half
of what it is caperble of doing
Talk of mudy roads the roads
are no worse here than they
would be in Maine where a
army like this to pas over it
in a wet time and if they wishd
we could build a timber road
from here to Richmond in three
weeks. some will say its wild
but tell then to figure 60 miles
of road and ask how much it is
to a man but enough of this
I find to much fault they will
all say what does a soldier know
abot the dificulties to surmount
and tis true he knows nothing
but he sertingly knows that
when he is marched out to work
and the time he is waiting
to get his orders there is not more
than an hour left to work
that he has not time to do
but litle, but never mind
large bodys move slow and
people had rather die in camp
than on the batle field M.P.L