Charles Washington Spire And Susan Spire my
one true love tell me hou the draft
is Coming on by this time
So no more my dear wife
Susan Spire
Yorktown Va June the 9 A D 1863 C W Spire
172 Reg Company F P Mi
Dear Wife i have taking the pleasure to rite Another letter
in Yorktown fort for you And to let you know hou my
Situation is nou Dear Wife i have taking the pleasure to
drop you afew lines to let you know that i Am Well by
the exception of Abad Cole i have But it is giting Better
Again And today i did not drill Sos to get Clear of the
Cole Suner But other ways i feel good And i hope that
these few lines may find you Well And that you may keep your
health Further i Will also inform you that i Just Received your
letter Wich you rote on June the 4th And i was Verry
glad to hear that you Are Still Well yet Further you
stated in your letter that the [Story?] is that they Are
going to have Ahard fite in Richmond dear wife that is
not true that they are going to have A fite their for i dont
think that there is 5 hundred Solgers in Richmond nou But
i Will tell you where the fite is going to be And that is
Close to our fort it is 12 miles from here Govnor Wise is
Advancing towards us With 30 thousand men And 150
Canons he Came unexpected to us Yester day Whe did not
think of Govnor Wise with his force But About mid
nite the news Came that the rebbs is Coming fast for to take
Williamsburg that is only 12 miles from here And As Sune
As [those?] news Came to yorktown General keys [1] gave our
troops new marching orders for to pack up quick And So this
morning they left here on Afast march not only slow
march But fast Sos to git there before the rebbs do git
Williamsburg And So there Was ten thousand men
left here to day And 5 baterys of Canons 50 Canons
And So they left us nearly all alone here in the fort Whe
Will not git in the fite i think unless our men loses it there
then it may be that they will try us those poor Solgers did
not think last nite that to day they Will march
[Page 2]
And maby have A hard fite yet at that But
if our men git to Williamsburg before the rebles it may
be that there Will be no fite for maby the rebs has herd
that our force is on the redi And then maby they will
Retreat back But if they are near their to day they
Will hardily turn back with out A hard fite for the
Rebles do love to fite there Was Solgers went up there to
day that is free on the 20 th of this month And nou they
must maby fite A hard battle through But i hope that
the news will Come that the rebles retreated if the fite
Will Commence to morrow i Will hear the Canons rore
i Will let you know in my next letter if the rebles ataced
us or not i Can tell you if they had A battle or not
Further my dear i Wish you to Send me one dollar of money
For i Will git no pay nou until i am free then there is
sixty dollars Coming to me that is a nise little pile for
you and me if i live to git home But if you did Send me
one dollar of[f] Aredy [2] before you git this letter dont Send any more
Further i Will inform you that i am Verry glad to hear from
you that Bresslen is So onest And that he only ous you
4 dollars yet Further i Will let you know that i git your
letter Every week reglur And Further i Will let you know
that the Cherys Are ripe here but i did not eat any yet
But i Will before 2 days more But yesterday me and
Aaron Went up the river And Eat our fill of straw
berrys And Black Mulberys i tell you what the mul
berys Was good And the strawberys also Further i herd
herd that you look poor And So very paile And that
you do trouble your Self about me My dear hou do you
think i feel if or When i hear Something like that i am realy
Sorry to hear Such from other people i hope that it may be the
lords Will for me to git home Sos you Will have peace and
Comfort for this way it Just hurts my feelings to hear of my
Sweet love that she is troubling her Self about me you are my love
[added at top of page]
So nou i Will Come to A Close for this time for i dont feel
for riting much for my head is Stoipt up from the
Cole And it gives me the head ake Some times but it is
giting better nou So no more rite Sune i am your true
husband for our life time