Roswell Farnham to [Mary Farnham]
Primary tabs
Your letter of the 5th. came to hand last night. I delayed answering it till
tonight as no mail has gone today. You need not be discouraged about coming out
here yet. Col. Blunt talks every day about sending for his wife, & when she
comes you will come also. We are getting ready to build huts, and by Sat. night
the whole Regt. will have them finished. Do you suppose you could live in a log
hut, with a good circulation of air? The sunny south so far has not afforded a
very pleasant contrast with the north. For nearly a week we have had a very cold
weather. Today has been as cold
as any November day in Vermont. We can
keep very comfortable in our tents by watching the fire, but they would hardly
be the place for a young lady with weak lungs or sore throat. For that matter I
dont think the climate of Virginia much superior to Vermont. Still if we get a
good house built I think you can be comfortable in it and I will send for you.
Today is Sunday, and we have been rather quiet. This forenoon I spent in
inspecting the Regt., Col. Blunt having gone out to see to the pickets. This
afternoon we had a short service in the open air. The boys are much more
comfortable than could be expected. They have built California fire places in
their tents, many of them & so keep warm as can be. There are not as many
sick as I should suppose there would be. I inspected the Hospital among my other
duties today. There were
only eleven sick
there, & two of those were men who had shot themselves with pistols - only
two or three were very sick. There are some sick in tents but upon the whole the
Regt. is in a very healthy condition.
My health is good. I now wear a boot all the time but have to limp a little. Yesterday afternoon I rode out to the picket line for the exercise. If you want to know how the country looks just read the first part of Seaboard Slave States. It describes the appearance of things exactly. I have never seen anybody doing anything here yet. The negroes are mostly loafing & the white people follow their example.
I am glad to hear that Zeke is well. I wrote to him last night.
I have rec'd Laura's letter & answered it. I have not rec'd my second collar.
I can't tell any more about our remainging here than you can. We have news
today
that Gen. McClellan is superseded by Gen. Burnside. If that
is so there will be a general advance & we may be called into more active
service. There is no particular danger where we now are. The pickets took a
couple of spies today. There is a story in the other camps that we are to do
patrol duty in the city this winter. Of course you would like that.
I gave Mr. Woodward's letter to him last night. We have very large mail & the boys get letters pretty often. I hope you will continue to write often & I will reply as often as I can. I have not time to write long letters, but will write short ones often. You must take good care of yourself. Make some kind of a warm, very warm, sack, with long close sleeves to wear down here. Get some good thick shoes & warm mittens & I think you better make a pair of long flannel night dresses. Wiat till you hear from me again before making them. Love to Laura & all who enquire.
Yours &c.Roswell Farnham