July the 22 AD 1864 Batery Smead Washington C
Dear Mother and brothers and Sisters I avail my self
the present opportunity of droping you a fiew lines to let you
know that i am well and harty I reseived your kind
Letter which was wrote on the fifteenth of july and was
Glad to hear from you But sorow to hear of your trobles
But I feel the same painful hart that you do all
that i can say dont grieve after him for he is a great
deal better of[f] than any of us all that i can say is
for us to be prepaired for to meat him in that other
world where wars and rumors of wars dos never inter
rupt any one I know that It is hard to loos as
good a father as he was but if the will of the one that rules
[page 2]
Above it is all fore the better Well mother you
wanted me to give you all the perticlers a bout him
I wrote you al of them i[n] one letter before this but to
comfort you in your troubel i will realate the hole
circumstance to you and you believe this and
now [????] word well mother in the first place
he had bin complaning fore a bout two waek with
thee head ache and his back which you know
he has fore some years he was in the cook house for
about two week when he was a complaning but he
did not do any thing he was the head boss John [reynolds?]
and Robard stockdale hugh davis and gary Whiggins
was the ones that done the cookin and father mearly .
don the bossing [???] he was a complaning all the
while of the two weeks one day i was a lying under
the barax and when dinner was ready i was a sleep
and father came and waked me and he said that he
would lay down til i eat my dinner and i eat
[???] up to the barax and john Reynolds
came up to the barax after some linament to rub father
stomach and he said that he had the cramp colic and
runn down and then i runn over fore the doctor
and he cam over and give him Som morphen and
it eased him wright up and then all of the men was a
[page 4]
a standing around and he said now that was a good
job that you done fore me and they said that they
would do all fore him that laid in theire power
and i bathed his feet in warm water and kepp
flanel rags on his stommache all that night he got out
of his head in a bout one hour after he took on bad and
staid that way four about one or two ours and in the night
i stayed with him all the time and did not sleep a bit
and i would wet rags and lay on his forehead
ask him if he had much pain and he said yess but
did not say any thing a bout home all the while
he was sick all that i heard him say a bout home
was about one week be fore he took sick we was
a laying in hour bunk he said that he did not
think that he ever would live to see his hundred
dais out and i told him not to think
that way and that was the last thing that
I heard him say about home Mother you
wanted to know who waited on him
It was docter kilch and major Williams
and a doctor by the name of Barett
he came in to the hospital after we caried
him over to it and he asked me if that
was my father and i told him that it was
[page 4]
Well he said i hate to tel you but your father
will not live to see twelve a clock to night fore
he has got the inflamation in the Brain and that
the worst kind and in the stomach two and
he asked if he wasnt a man that complained with
a misery in his back and i told him that he was
and he told me that that man ought not to bin
fetched out in the serves fore he had the spinal affai[ver?]
very bad he was at his write mind in the morning
fore ther was a man by the name of edwin woff
asked him if he had much pain and he did not hear
him and he hollered pretty loud and father turned
over and looked up and said ser and then the
man asked him if he had much pain and father
said yes and that was the last words that he said
he did not say any thing all day he would
have hard pains every one and and a while and
he would breathe easy fore maby one hour
and he kepped on all that day that way until
he would open his eyes and look all around
and I asked him if he wanted some medisan
to ease his pain [and he?] shook his head as if to say
no it was a [bout?] one o clock then and
and evry now and then he would open his eyes
and the tears would runn down his pore old
cheack and he would look up and smile he
went on that way fore nearly one hour
but would not talk and then he turned over
just as me or john could and rubed his legs
and then his arms and then put his hands
upon his head and rubed the top of his head and
then opend his eyes and laid his hand down by
the side of him and smiled a little but as if he
was a laffing at something before him and
shut his [eyes?] and passed away very early that was his
last moments on earth i was by evry minit while
he was sick M[other?] this is as near as i can tell you
and this is the truth you may depend upon it
i will haft to [qui?]t for this time for my paper is all
gon i only have twenty nine deis yette to stay and
then i will be home all i would have to say take
good cair of yourself and dont fret so much
fore your will injer your health
from your affecnate son
Frealin Hood to other Brother and Sisters

[written along side]
tell little [Rey?] that i would like to see him and little Elly to
[above]
and Billy and [???]