Henry A. Smith to Clarissa A. Smith
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I received your letter of the 8th on the 13th I should wrote before but have not
had much tim e We left our good quarters at Lewinsville the 3rd came out here
and stayed in a mans house till we could pitch our tents and get the m stockaded
we have moved into them now and are quite comfortable The weather is very bad
now cold snowy and rainy it thundered all the afternoon yesterday The rebels do
not trouble out pickets much lately some of our scouts had a skirmish with a
party of them at Aldie and the rebels beat them and took two of our Captains of
Co H and M and about 10 privates. Some time after that
they went
into Fairfax Court Hous e in the night and took General Stoughton all of his
staff and 50 privates they got our Countersign and went where they pleased
without any trouble Mame wants to know wh ich I had rather do wade in the snow
or chase the rebels up north it is wade in the snow and chop wood down south it
is wade in the mud and chase rebs and get chased I had rather take the northern
sty le which should you do I should like to have that picture that Frank and
Mame and the boys got taken the oth er day if it is a good one if you have a
mind to it to me I will send back Mames and the boys Where does Hen Manchester
and his wife live and how does Hen Dike and his wife get along That Finney is a
pretty good looking fellow blue eyes dark hair and moustac he I am well good bye
write soon Mame you may give my love Helen and the rest of
the girls if it acceptable
H A Smith