1861 June 2 Harpers Ferry

Dear Pen,
I reckon you’ve given out getting
an answer to yr letter long before this. I’ve been intending to
write to you ever since I left home, but I kept put[t]ing it off
until now, indeed I have very little time for letter writing,
I have n’t written to any body at all but the home f^‘o’lks & Just
do find time to write – once in two or three days to them. I’ve been
expecting a letter from you every day for more than a week,
you must not count letters with me any more but write when
ever you can conveniently, & I will do the same. I wrote Bro. John
a long letter this morning. I hear from home very often,
every one of them from Mat up write to me. I’ve received a very
nice letter from Miss Lute Payne since I left home, but have
never answered it yet… When I first got here & heard that the
students from the University were here, I made sure that you were
with them & felt very much disappointed when I found out
that you were not here. I’ve ^‘become’ accustomed to the hardships of
a soldier’s life now & don’t mind it now at all, but ^‘it’ went right hard
to me at first. I disliked the fare more than anything else atall
but have become pretty well used to it. I’ll tell you what our fare
is & has been the whole time, well, for breakfast we have fried “Beef”,
coffee without milk & very little sugar, sometimes none, & bakers
bread, for dinner hot boiled “Beef” & bread, for supper bread &
cold boiled “Beef” & coffee. We have tin plates & cups, have neither
spoons, knives or forks, four have to eat out of one plate.

[page 2]
I make out very well sleeping, I have a bed that they sent me
from home, I’ve slept on the ground several times with only one
blanket to cover with & a log of wood under my head. I’ve been
caught in the rain a good many times standing guard.

A soldier’s life is certainly a very hard one, but you can
get accustomed to it very easily. I wish very much you
were here with me & I hope you will be before very long, if
you join any company atall it must be ours, I suppose you
will join some company when the session closes. Our Co. has impro^‘v’=
ed very much since we left, it is a right down sharp Co now,
we number sixty four now I believe. We have first rate quarters
in a large Lutheran Church, we expect to get rid of a rowdy Co. tomor=
row which are quartered on one side of the church, they’ve disbanded &
expect to leave, & if they do n’t put another Co. in their place we will
have the whole church to our s^‘e’lves…Everything is right quiet here
now, though some think an attack will be made upon us very
soon, but I do n’t think this place will be attacked directly
if atall. We are ready & well prepared to meet the enemy at any
time & should they attack us we will give them a very hard
fight, I believe we can whip three times our number now.
A.P. Hill, is Uncle Top’s Brother, is the Col. of our Regiment, he is
a splendid officer, I’ve not made his acquaintance, but intend doing
so…Bro. John expects to come here next week to Join our Co, if he
gets the situation of Chaplain as he expects to do he will be released,
Cap. Murray thinks he can get the situation for Bro. Jno in our Regiment.
Mr. Lane brought on six recruits last Friday, Jim Hackett amongst
the number, Jim was very tight when he got here but soon cooled
off as he could ^’get’ nothing to drink, it made him right sick sick
getting sober so sud[d]enly & he’s been co^‘m’plaining ever since, he has

[page 3]
not been received as a member of our Co. yet, I don’t know whether
he will be or not. I suppose you’ve heard of Jim’s arrest at Manassa[s],
he went on there with some South Carolina troops, was drunk of
course, & got to walking about & was soon arrested as a spy &
put in the Guard house. It is impossible for a private to get
a drop of whiskey here, as all in the place has been seized upon,
a great deal of it emptied in the river, & the rest put away for medi=
cal purposes, I am very glad that law has been enforced..

Today does n’t look atall like Sunday, except that we’ve all put
on clean shirts, washed up &c. A camp ^’life’ is certainly a very corrupt
& demoralizing life, I have a great many temptations before me I kno^‘o’,
but I will try to resist all of them. I am very particular about my
associates, I go about the different quarters very seldom, I see a
good deal of Will Jones & Will Ashby. I want to see all of you
very much, It has been a very long time since I saw much of
you, you know when you were at home Xmas I was sick
& cd not enjoy yr company much. I’ve become perfectly recon-
ciled to a soldiers ^‘life’ & expect to lead it a long time, we are enlist=
ed for twelve months but will serve as long as our as services are needed. I know it is a great deal better for me to be satisfied and
therefore I’m perfectly contented. Two of ^‘our’ men, Mr. Cullen & Hibbs have
gone home on furloughs, I reckon my time will come around about
next Xmas. We thought ^‘last’ week that we were going to leave here,
but do n’t see any prospects for leaving now. I had much
rather stay here than to go to Richmond or any low place.

It is very healthy here, I’ve been on the sick list only two
days since I’ve been here, we have some cases of measles and
mumps in our Company now.. I miss Joe Brooks very much
but am glad he got off as he cd not stand it. It is get[t]ing

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bed time so I must bring my letter to a close. You must
tring excuse mistakes, bad writing &c. I am very badly situated
for letter writing. My best love to all of my relatives & accept
a portion for your self. Write very soon to yr devoted & most
P. S. aff Bro. P. E. Jones
I am very well this morning. My best love to all
cousine Edloe Bacon & tell him I intend answering his letter soon.
P. E. Jones
“High Private in the Rear Rank”
Care Cap. Murray
Via Winchester} Harpers Ferry
Don’t show this to anyone [A curious note from his brother, Pendleton.]
F. P. Jones
Ambrose Powell Hill, 1825-1865, was Colonel of the 13th Virginia. He became one of Stonewall Jackson's ablest subordinates and later commanded a corps under Robert E. Lee in the Army of Northern Virginia. He was killed by a Federal soldier Corporal John W. Mauck of the 138th Pennsylvania on the Petersburg line April 2, 1865.
MSS 13407