1861 June 9 Harper's Ferry

My Dearest Ma,
I am now seated in
the pulpit right by Cit to begin a letter to you, though I’ve
nothing much to write about. Bro. John & the others arrived
safely yesterday. I was very glad to see Bro. John & Cit
and will also be delighted to meet Pen next Tuesday. All of us
got very wet coming from the depot yesterday. Bro. John has
his Bunk in the gal[l]ery & Cit is in the pulpit with a[?] place
reserved for Pen, it is a very nice place for Pen & Cit. They
seem to like very well & to be perfectly at home. I sat off wher^’e’
I could see Bro. John, thinking I would have some fun lookin^’g’
at him taking his first meal, but was disappointed for he
dined on bread and beef without even frowning, Cit made out
equal[l]y as well. The recruits took their first lesson at drilling
this morning. Bro. John made out tolerable well, but found [word lined out]
some dif[f]iculty in keeping the stepes. All of our recruits will
make very good soldiers & we were very glad to have them:
Cap. said he thought ^’Bro. John’ could get Bro. John the situation of Chaplain in our Regiment and if he did not get it he would
appoint him chaplain to our company, so he will be exempt from
guard duty &C. The two Wills were ^’down’ to see Bro Jno. yesterday
evening, Will Rupel told Bro. John that he pitied the man’s heels
that he walked behind. The baggage did not get here until to
day, it was left at Winchester with one of the men, we’ve not
brought it from the depot yet

[page 2]
I have not heard anything a sermon to day or anything of the sort,
have been in ^’at’ my quarters most all day, I reckon Bro. John would
have preached for us today but he has been too busy, he had prayer
last night. I reckon it looks right strange to Bro. John to see so
much drilling &C. on Sunday, it looked very strange to me at first,
but I’ve become used to it now. If ^’I’ did not hear the drum
every day & drill some myself or see it going on, I would not feel
at home at all. I am get[t]ing very tired of hearing “Drill”. I hear it
played about a dozen times a day more or less…A Regimement of
Georgians came in to day, numbering between eight hundred and a
thousand. Two or three Mississippi regiments moved their Camp
yesterday ^’about a mile’ in the direction of Shepherd’s town. It would not
sur-
prise us to receive marching orders at any time. If we are ordered away
we will not know to what point until we get there. We do n’t know
what is going on here, whether an attack is expected or not, as
everything is kept in secret. I do n’t believe myself that we are
going to have a fight here directly, but if we do I will try to do
my duty & ^’to’ kill at lea one of the rascals at least if no more.
We are very well prepared now for a march, only if all of our
men were only, we have camp kettles & the most of the things necessa-
ry for a march. All of the recruits got minnie muskets yesterday
and are now thoroughly equipped for the war. It is now most
time for dress parade so I must close for the present. We are very well.
Cit writes with me in love to all of you & says tell Mrs. Gooch
he is perfectly satisfied & is better than he was before he left
home, I will take good care of him. I must now bid you adieu.
Your devoted & most aff. son
P. E. Jones

[page 3]
P. S.
I will now finish my letter as it is not bed time
yet. I have just finished supper, Bro. John made out very well.
Cousine Will Ashby was here a little while ago to see us, he says
Sister must write to him, he belongs to the Culpepper Minute Men.
Cap. Crittenden, he sends love to all of you.
My dear Ma, you must not make yourself uneasy about
us, you know it is our duty as Virginians to be here to
defend our rights, you ought to ^’be’ and I know you are will=
ing for us to be here. We are engaged in a noble and Just cause
and God will grant us aid us on to the victory which we
will gain as sure as we fight… I am as well satisfied now
as if I was at home, I have so many of my very best friends
here. I reckon I will go home if I get a leave of absence,
in about three weeks ^ ‘or a month’, provided nothing happens to prevent
it. What do you & Pa think of my coming? Of course I would
like very much to see you all, but I could do very well with
out going, however my turn for going home is too long off
to talk about…I’ve taken Pen’s place to night in the pulpit
with Cit, it is a first rate place. It is now bed time, I believe
every body had gone to bed but Cit & myself, so I must
bid you good night. Our s^‘i’ck ones are all better.
You must write again very soon
Monday morning to your devoted son
We are very well this morning. P. Edloe Jones
Everything is very quiet. & calm. I will write aga[i]n soon.
Ed
my love to Nancy & co.

John William Jones,1836-1909, a Baptists minister, later wrote the book Christ in the camp, or, Religion in Lee's army

[“Minie bullet… designed by Fr. Army Captain Minie used with a muzzle-loading rifle. When the piece was fired, expanding gas entered the bullet’s hollow base and forced its outer side into the rifling of the barrel. The bullet appeared in 1849…greatly improving accuracy, range, and rate of small arms fire.” Boatner, Mark. Civil War Dictionary. N.Y.. McKay, 1959.]

MSS 13407