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Regiment: 5th Michigan Infantry
Battles Mentioned:
Historical Figures:
Pony Mountain
Virginia April 30th 1864
Well Julia
I have at best received
that long looked for and ever
welcome letter that I have looked
for so long I received it last
evening but did not mistrust any
thing until I came to the few
lines that Hie wrote and you
can judge of my supprise when
I read along to where he sayed
that we had another little Sylvia
and that you and the little
fellow were quite smart how glad
I am that you are so smart but
you must be careful and not try
to do your work before you get your
strength I dreamed last night that
I saw you and the little one
how I wish that it was so that I
could I would of sent you a letter
right back but this morning I went
out to pony mountain again to
doe pickett duty and will not
be back to camp until Tuesday
which will be four days but I
thought that I would write a little
every day while I am out here,
I am sitting on a by rock now
bigger than our house a conciderable
but it is getting dark and I shall
have to stop writing
May 1st 1864
Well Julia
I am sitting on that same
rock this afternoon and it is very
pleasant, two of the boys that came
out with me from our company
with
are a laying a few feet from me a
sleep the rocks are piled up in all
kind of shapes there is places where
eight or ten men can go in and
be out of the storm there is a great
many different kinds of shrubery and
the most of them are in blossom
but the most of the timber is red
cedar and pine and sitting where
I do it is very beautiful,
At the foot of this mountain is a
clearing of about 40 acres but has not
been cultivated since the war broke
out I should judge by the looks of
it there is two dwelling houses on
it and in one lives a woman and
five small children her husband
is in the rebel army in Longsteets
Division he is comisary Sargeant and
the wife is true blue for she is a
rank sesesh but she sells us hoe
cakes when she has meal to spare
and once in a while we get a
canteen, Henry Hall a young man
from Marion is on post with me he
bought a canteen full last night and has
the promice of one to night we use it
in in our coffee which makes it
taste like coffee that we have when
at home, There is one other curiosity
that attracted my attention yesterday and
that was an old bar family burying
ground which is in a nice grove of red
cedar and a nice brick wall around
it about four feet high the top of this
wall is capped with nice cut stone
in the corner of this yard is a valt
with a large merble slab the rest
of the graves have nice tomb stones
the graves are all covered over with
flowers and I think that it is the
nicest that I ever saw it belongs to
a generation of Halls, well Julia whiles
I am sitting here a writing some of the
boys are up on high rocks and some
of them in trees for it is not much
trouble to get into a tree for you can
step from some of the rocks onto the
limbs and then it is no trouble to climb
it they can see the rebel fortifycation
acrost the Rapidan but my eyes is
not quite good enough but I calculate
that I shall see them as soon as I wanto
well Julia tomorrow I will try and write
a little more
[On Envelope:]
Mrs Julia Merrill
Fowlerville Livingston
Mich
