[1] third Reg’t PV }

march 1862
Potomac river Sunday . 23
Dear wife i now take
the pleasure of wrighting a
few lines to you hoping
thay will finde you all well
as thay leave us all at pesent
we are once more on ethe
moove we got orders on
friday morning the 21 to get
ready to moove at fore oclock 4
to starte at eight 8 oclock
[page 2]
we ware readey long before
the time arived to starte
we ware kept wating fore
the boates to get readey
we left the corte house fore
the warfe at three 3 ore fore 4
oclock but it took a
good wile to get the horses
on the boate it was after
darke before we got the
horses all on we then had
three wagons to unloade
and carey to the boate suche
as foreage and grub and
camp utensels so that it
was pretey late when we
got thrue with that job
we had rather a hard
time to put all the horses
in the boate we could
not get them all on fore
[page 3]
boath companeys thare was
over a hundred and twentey
in boath thare was three
hundred infintrey put on
borde the boate that nighte
with us but we ware
cramed up to much that
night so nex day thay took
all the infintrey off agane
and put it in a nother
boate the worste is to be
tolde yet thare was a
grate maney boxes on the
warfe by some meanes the
boyes founde out what
was in some of them it
turned out to be shampane
the boys made it fly thay
empted severel boxes thay
ware nerley all drunk before
we got all on borde the
boate
[page 4]
pushed out in the streame
came to anker thare was a
garde put on but he was
not on long before he washed
over borde never to rise agane
in the night another wached
over borde we juste got
hime out when another wa
wached over borde never
to rise no more thay ware
to young single men i
do not think eather of
them has any frendes in
this cuntrey if it had not
bin fore that cursed licure
those two men might hav
bin hear know we left
alexandria on saturday
at noone in the ship
Salvor she is a steame
vesel midlen sise not
very fast five mile a hour