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Regiment: 3rd Michigan Cavalry
Battles Mentioned:
Historical Figures: Daniel E. Sickles
Duvills Bluff Ark
June 11th 1864
My Dear Em
I now seat myself to
write a fiew lines to you in answer
to yours of the 27
th which i recieved
yesterday it found me in good
health and i hope when this reaches
you it will find you enjoying the same
blessing them pictures and that blanket
that i sent were sent to doyen and
father will get them and if he does
not they will be safe there until you
can get a chance to get them, we have
moved from little rock to duvall’s bluff
but i dont think we will stay here
but a short time i think we will come
up the river as far as memphis if not
farther and i dont care how soon
we leave here for the mosquitoes
are so bad that is enough to kill
a person
Enos Bachelder is quite sick now i do
not know what is the matter with
him but i do not wonder that he
is sick for his folks writes such letters
to him that it is enough to make any
on homesick, the word came here that
sam shaw was
dead and buried but that
is not so for i ate breakfast with
him this morning and he told me to
tell you it was a
d – d lie for he
was
able to eat his rations lem has
bien sick for a fiew days but he is
getting well now but i guess he was
not dangerous, there is quite a number
sick in our regiment now we have such
poor water that there is no wonder that
the men get sick, but it is a wonder that
they do not all die, some of our
regiment was detailed to go up the river
to guard a boat and it has got fast
on a sand bar and will have to
stay there until the river rises and by
that time the rebels may capture them
but there is not any of the boys
from our place that went but there
was five from our company. Abe he
is just fixing to go down to the river
a fishing this is a great place for catching
fish the boys catch some here that will
weigh over one hundred pounds, i expect
you will think that is a big fish story
but there was one caught that weighed
one hundred and ninety pounds, it was a
cat fish, i did not see it but was
told so by some that did see it,
there is a story around that our regiment
has been put in infantry and that is
not so but we have not got any horses
but we have drawn cavalry, arms and the
boys will not go into infantry if they
wanted them to we had a review the
day that we left little Rock by general
sickles and then he came here on
the same train that we did and the
troops were out all along the railroad
for review, there was a hard shower here
last night but it does not rain
this morning we have had some as
hot weather here as i ever saw i
think but i can stand the hot weather
first rate we are farther south than
we have ever been before and farther then
i ever want to be again but we do
not know one day where we will be the
next, while i am writing the band
is playing and it sounds very good
if you could hear them play that
tune that hillaker plays that you think
is so someness you would think it
was a great deal more solemn now
i will close for this time write soon
direct to memphis for i do not know
where we shall be by the time you
get this no more at present but
remain your affectionate husband
William Eaegle
Emma A. Eaegle
Duvalls Bluff Ark
June 11th 1864
Dear Em
I could not think what
you had sent this piece of blank
paper for with out you wanted
to write on it so i thought i would
write a fiew words on it, when we
came home
home i want you to
come, to detroit if it is so you can
i will let you know when the regiment
will be there if we ever come back and i
think we will sometime, i expect the
reason you go barefoot now is because
you think your market is made and
it makes no difference but you must
be careful and not catch cold, Johny is
considerable down in the mouth about some
thing i do not know wether he is homesick
or not, in this letter you will find some
[ ? ] flowers which i picked in the
woods not far from white river now i will
stop writing good bye for the present
E A EWm Eaegle
[On Envelope:]
Mrs. Emma A. Eaegle
Greenbush Clinton
County Mich
Received June the 29
th 1864
