Charles W Spire rite sune if you please i
will do Also
if i Can
June the 26 Yorktown Va A D 1863 do So for you
172 Regment Company F P M
Dear Wife i Again Sat my self down With my pen in hand
to rite to you with Pleasure to drop you A few lines to inform you
that i Am well At the present And i hope that these few lines
may Find you in the Same state of Good health Further Aaron
he is Well Also And i hope that these few lines may find you All in
Good Health Further you remember that i rote to you that you should
not rite Any more i stated in my last letter that you Should not
rite until i rite to you Again But nou you may rite to me Again
the Same As before i Wish you to rite to me As sune as you git
this letter And rite to me until i tell you not to rite further Whe
had thaut that whe would be taking home in this month But
nou Everything is rong And i will tell you Why it is rong the
reason is this ther is 80 thousand men here on the
paninsly [1] And they are Going up to Richmond for to take it
And So nou they Are marching off to it And they must have us
here or maby Whe must Go up there to for to fite but i hope not
But the intention Was for to Sent us up there yet And it
mite be so but i hope not for they must have us here or git some
other ones here one of the too but one of the drafted regments that
Was here As long as whe was left here for richmond And they
only marched 12 miles then there Was 28 got sick And 3
died you Se those drafted men Are not used to marching And it
kills them for to march for it is So hot And the Water so
Auful scarce And not good At that And so the half of the
troops must die before they git to Richmond But i hope
that our god may help us so Whe Can stand it if whe must
Go And i do not doupt it one bit but what whe must Go
but is whe must go you may still rite to me the mail Will
Follow us i think But rite untill i tell you not to rite
And if whe Are lucky to Come home Whe Cant or Will
not be home before the 24 the of next month purhaps not so
Sune As then But if Whe stay here until [our?] time is up
i think that i Can stand it so long yet with out trouble
[Page 2]
Further the harvest is nearly over here last sunday About
1 mile from here there was one field of Wheat Cut off And
stood on shook [2] And the Wheat was Verry nise Further
this Week i had my fill of Cherys And Souer Cherys at
that Further Whe had plenty of music here Whe had 8
or 9 bands here this Week And nou they Are all gone
off to richmond With their Regments So nou there is only 2
Regments here with us nou for to tend to the fort Further
if Whe git marching orders for to leave here i Will drop
you A few lines And if Whe do Go to richmond i hope
that you will not trouble your self About it for Whe
have the Same chance that the other solgers has for to git
out of it safe And if Whe dont git out of it Safe then
of Corse Whe must die in the battle field But there is
more solgers dieing of Sickness than there is in the battle
field nou because there is Always more Wounded than
ded in A battle field but so it is if Whe must go up
there Whe must be satisfied And look to our god for
our Aide and Assistance Further my dear i received
your letters and both of them had post stamps in for me
And i Was Verry Glad to hear from you And to hear that
you Are Well And All of the rest Further my dear
i must inform you that it has Cost me About 14 or 15
Dollars this Wile past For things And i Cant help it
For i Am So Auful tired of this Army provisions that
i Cant Eat it Any more or Else it makes me nearly
sick And if it goes on this Way it Will Cost me 20 $ dol
here yet But i dont Care for my part of it does Cost me
my Wages if you dont Care so i only git Some i Can
make A living With out this money i hope that you
Will not think it hard of me for spending So much for if
you had my bording [3] i think you Could not Eat it there
fore i hope that you Will not scold me for it And if Whe
should march nou With out our pay i Would be bad of[f] And
Aaron Also but i hope that we may not git in A march
So no more of this it has Cost me 13 dollars in these last 2 months
But keep it to your self my dear
[4] dont say any thing to Any body What it has Cost me i had to git shoes
And they Cost me 350 And i had to git A pair of suspenders they Cost
me 10 dollars And my Washin Cost me a good bit so you may think it
Costs money but i am satisfied for it Cant be helped So no more pleas rite
as sune as you git this letter Charles W Spire to Susan Spire