January 23, 1863
Dearest parents, sisters and brother
I received your letter and was very happy to read that you are all well.
That is always the best news in the world to me.
You asked if I could get a furlough.
They are not giving any since the war is still on and it may last for a
long time yet.
Oh, dear parents, I have wished a hundred times to be home again, but wishing
will not get me there. The weather
is fine here, but I want you to know that we have no fun times here.
It is very hard to carry the field bags and three days rations on your
back while marching. If all those
Republicans from Washington were here we’d put them all together and burn down
the town.
We left at 4:00 in the morning from Stafvort courthouse and marched 18 miles
and arrived here at 2:00. You can
imaging how hard that was. We are
at the Potomac River and do not know where else we will go.
I do not want to write too much, or I will write too much about the war.
But that is the way things are now.
I would love to be back home now, but that cannot be and I must accept
that. Oh my dear parents and family, I have suffered very much but
I am healthy for now, but how long my health will last I cannot know.
It may be that I will be able to come home in time, but we don’t know
any more than you do.
Karl wrote a short letter also, it looked as if he wanted to get everything
in one word. But I have much time
to read letters here. If only I
could receive a letter every day. I
was grateful to receive 25 cents in a letter.
I got some of my pay, but not all of it. I wanted to send you some but I borrowed money to buy food
and I had to pay it back. I will
send you whatever I can.
Please, write to me about everything at home and all that you are doing. I wish I was back home so that I could help you.
Jakob