[loss to the upper left margin of page 1 and upper right margin of page 2]

At Home December 16th 1864

Brothers H. H. Bowen, & G. W. Bowen
I again Seat myself
you
to write you hoping that I shall Get It that
you may hear from old Long acre as often
as you can tho you are a Long ways from
hear But never theless It may be some Grattification
to hear from home as often as possible, Tho I
Sall not be able to interest you for I have
but very Little news to write at this time
I and family are well at present and hope
that you are injoying the Same Great Blessing
Your familys are all very well and the rest
of the familys We have considerable Excite
ment and anxiety through our country at this time as we
are engage a portion of our time Listening at
the distant roaring of the cannon up the
Roanoke for the Last Eight or nine days,
Still I am happy to state that we have not
been molested on the acre in any way at
all as yet and Sincerely hope that we may not
i want you to write me when Ever you can
I have writen to you one Letter since I returned
home from Raleigh but have not recieved any
[page 2]
answer from you as yet but I hope to hea[damage]
you as soon as often as I can
I hope that you will Get furloughs to come h[damage]
this shristmas for I would be very Glad[damage]
See you at home once more you may dep[damage]
on It, for I feel So Loney here by myself[damage]
[?] ware, Tha I have a plenty of work to[damage]
my time but yet I think of you often we [damage]
not heard from Brother Langley in two or [damage]
weeks he was in Virginia near Richmond [damage]
we heard from him Last, I want to know whether
he writes to you often or not
I must now come to a close by saying
that you both must write me as soon and often as
you can and sincerely hope from my very
heart that these troubles may soon yes very soon
come to a close So that you may all Get home
where I know you all so Earnestly wish to be
to Enjoy your plesent and happy fire sides
as you have done in Gone by days, I want you to
be certain and write me what the prospect
of peace is. for I sincerely hope that these
roaring of cannon may soon seace to be heard
[??] Land, so Good Knight Yours as Ever W.L. Bowen
[in left margin]
Send us stamps when Ever you can for we can hardly Get any WLB