1861 July 5

Saturday morning
My dear Sister: -
You are all doubtless anxious
to hear from us and I send you a few ^‘lines’ to
tell you of our whereabouts &c – Shd. have
written several days ago but cd not procure
writing materials for love or money (we
left our baggage in Winchester) until Carter
Louthan (who belongs to the 2nd regiment) kindly
gave me a few sheets of paper. I wrote Page
a long letter yesterday evening and shd
have written to you also but was unexpected-
ly called off on duty. You have doubtless heard
of our removal from Winchester to this place and
we fear that you [word lined out] have all made yrselves
very uneasy about us. On last Tuesday evening
about 2 O’clock we recd. orders to be ready to
march at a minute’s warning. In an instant
our camp was all com^’m’otion and we were
soon on the tramp n[o]t knowing where or for
what object we were marching. We soon heard
that Col. Jackson was engaging the enemy near
Martinsburg and that we were wanted to sup-
-port him. We expected to have made a

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forced march to Martinsburg that night but were marched
into a field some six miles from Winchester where
we camped for the night and made a leisurely
march of ten miles to this place on the
next day, where we found Col. Jackson’s
command quietly awaiting us. On Monday
he had a pretty smart skirmish with
the enemy in wh, with greatly inferior
forces, he repulsed them three times, took
about 80 prisoners, killed upwards of a
hundred, and then fell back to this place
in good order losing only one man
killed, one missing, and five wounded.
We (I mean the forces brought to Winchester
10,000 strong) immediately joined Jackson
and our whole army was drawn up in
line of battle expecting every hour
an attack from the Yankees who were
at Martinsburg in strong force. And
thus we have been ever since – our
men are not allowed to go far from
their guns, we are ready and anxious
for them to come, we have a very
strong position – our artil[l]ery sweeps
the approaches for two miles and

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if the Yankees wd only come we wd give them
a thrashing to wh the fight at Bethel was
mere child’s play. but I don’t believe
that the cowardly thieves are coming –
they will content themselves with
fortifying Martinsburg. We will have
today a reinforcement of 3,000 or more
(among them the N. O. artillery) and then
we will be fully able to cope with them
either here or at Martinsburg. But I doubt
exceedingly whether we will have a fight –
as soon as we move towards them I
believe they will take to their heels
and recross the Potomac. Don’t be unea-
sy about us – we are in the hands
of a kind heavenly Father who can
preserve us in the camp and on the
field as well as at home – A num-
ber of our men are sick but none
of them seriously so. Helen Louthan
and her sister (Mary) came to camp to
see us the day before we left
Winchester and brought us a
nice basket of eatables. We failed
to get the box you sent us by
express last week as it only got
to Winchester the morning we left and

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we h[a]d not opportunity of getting it from the
express office. We have n[o]t yet gotten the
letters and bundles sent by Hyman but
hope to in a day or so. Robt. Helm (Page’s
bro.-in-law) lives only six miles from here
and was to see me day before yesterday –
Will come again & bring me some eat-
ables if we remain here longer. Pen, Ed
& I have all stood the tramp firstrate
and are in fine health and spirits.
Pen is a firstrate cook and made us
some beefstake last night that was
really hard to beat. At supper I brought
the water, made the fire – Ed went to
the mill, sifted the meal and made
up the dough, and Pen did the cooking –
after wh performance we all ^‘three’ joined in
the eating with as hearty enjoyment as if
we were in the “Ladies ordinary” of the “Exchange”.
I wanted to have written more but was
called off on special duty (making
a shelter for our guns) just now and
must now close in order to send this
to Winchester. Our best love to all. We will
write as often as we can but don’t be
uneasy if you fail to get our letters. You
must continue to write to Winchester – the
letters will be forwarded. God bless
and keep you all.
Yr most aff Bro.
J. Wm. Jones
I owe Moses $1.45 for washing & will send
the money first opportunity.

A reference to the battle of Falling Waters, July 2nd, a minor skirmish, but known as Stonewall Jackson's first battle.

MSS 13407