Charles F. Bancroft to Parents
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This AM (11 Oclock) I will try my new pen in writing to you I have just been to the
Col. & got excused from attendance on religious services so that might write to
you & Nancie & I hope I shall now be able to get off 2 letters in the
morning. I love to go to mee- ting here for in no place have the services ever been
so solemn & impressive to me & still I cannot say that it is always a
pleasant duty to me for on such occasions I always think of being to meeting at home
& when the services are ended & I look away & see that I am yet in
Virginia hundreds of miles from that dear home away up in Vt the feelings that then
move me are by no means the most agreeable. There is now the band just playing the
concluding hymn and its solemn not are resounding through our camp bringing to my
mind visions of home scenes never to be forgotten by me & which I hope may be
renewed some time
I suppose that you are anxious to know about my
business matters & how I got my box &c. I came Wednesday 29th inst AM all
safe & sound & everything in it in nice order. you sent a number of things
that I did not expect but none the less acceptable on that account I have now tea pea
coffee & ginger to last me 6 months if I am careful of it & I have many other
articles to add to my com fort that lots of the boys here do not think of The kettle
is a perfect thing & I used it yester- day I used it & a shot
ironmesh dish & heat water on our stove & washed 3 shirts a pair of draw ers
& 7 pairs of stockings & this morning I boiled some potatoes in it &
fried a piece of sausage & made me a cup of Pea Coffee & had sugar & milk
in it I had a slice of Rye & Indian Bread so you see I had a tip top breakfast.
The butter you sent is excellent & so of all the rest The Linseed Oil is just the
thing as it will aid me in keep ing my gun in good condition I did not open my box
until towards night to take all the things out but I soon found a nice vest & got
it on pretty quick & it made me feel warm too Nothing
you have sent
me has done me more good than the boots shirts & vest & other
[woolens] The Brandy is all right & safe now & I had last
week for one or 2 days a diarrhea & went to the Doctor & got some medicine
for it & there was so much opium in it that Friday AM (It was Thursday that I
took it) I vomited & was so dizzy & weak in the morning that I could not
stand up but I have taken some of the Brandy & it has made me all right. You were
afraid that the vest would not suit me on account of the kind of cloth you could not
have sent me a better one & as to the cloth it is just right & the pockets
are just the thing espically the watch pocket & in fact there is nothing that you
have sent me but what is acceptable in the highest sense of the term I did not expect
any butter but am real glad that you sent some & think it is better than the
first you sent for it is salted. I bought about 2 lbs of butter of Charlie Cade the
other day & now have enough to last me 2 or 3 months. The preserves that came
from Marsh-
field in the Canister were crab Apple & I wish you had
tried them they were nice You may like to know where I got my Rye & Indian bread
there is a bakerey near the 2nd Regt & I got a loaf at 17 cts & it was nice
as natural a thing as I have eat here at all. The fact is a man out here must pay
some attention to what he eats & if he calculates to get along on all the
[] that he gets from the Co. cook tent he will have a hard time as well as an
unhealthy one. I am glad you sent some Pea Coffee for I think a good deal of it I
would not take $3.00 for my kettle Charlie Cade said when I took my things out of the
box that Bancrofts folks thought a good deal of him. & I should not think strange
if it was so you have sent me stuff since I have been here that is worth at least
$30.00 at least & if I ever get back to Vt you may depend on it I
shall consider that I ought to stay with you for your care of me while out here if
for nothing else. O! there is nothing like parental care & nothing like a mothers
love, & no one can look after any one like a mother & I think it to be
[] duty if I ever return to do all I can to make you happy & comfortable
as a small recompense for what you have done for me What a fool I was to leave home
when I had a good one but as times are I could not earn much in Vt this
[winter] & here I can lay up 17 or 18 dollars per month. I
know mother that you have worked hard to make these things for me & that you have
had a good deal of anxiety for me but do not worry for me for my health is good &
I think that it is Gods will that I shall get home sometime to take care of you, so
keep up good courage & hope for the best but I must stop writing on this
sheet.
Monday Eve
To night I will try & write you a little more. I should have sent a letter off
this morning but had not written but 4 pages & there were many things that I
wanted to mention & now I shall here to put by some of them for I have not time
& I mean to get this off so that you wont fail to get my weekly letter. You may
always expect a letter from me Saturday nights certainly & I always calculate to
send you one every Thursday night & I suppose if we send one each way Monday
mornings that they get to us Thursdays is it so with the letters you get from me
Those you mail to me get here every Thursday night when mailed on monday. To day we
have been cutting some of the trees in our camp to let the tents & ground dry
sooner after a storm & so no writing to day & this evening Josephus was in
here. He says tell Clara that he will write to her in a few days & that he will
bear the loss of Lucinda with as much resignation as possible.
Father. I
have got a Loyds map of the Southern States & it is a very correct & nice
thing too & I am going to send it to you & you will enjoy yourself in
studying it you will see by looking along the railroad from Philadelphia to
Washington our exact route & at Perryville we crossed to Havre de Grace on a
Ferryboat on which the whole trains of cars ran 2 abreast & landed us on the
opposite side just where the RR track began & the cars ran from the boat right
onto the track As we crossed the Ferry to our left lay the broad expanse of Chesapeak
bay & it looked quite oceanlike too We have had some fine cool weather lately
& most splendid evenings now that there is a good moon Write Father in your next
whether you have drawn my money or not both State & all other pay & also how
you are going to get along with Nat Coburn. Next pay day I shall send you 20 dollars
which will be about the last of march write soon & a long letter too let know
what you are up to this cold winter but I must stop & write the other things in
my next.
So good night C.F. Bancroft