1861 September 1

Dear Father I thought I would write to you to day as the Company Has gone on Picket on the Mount Vernon Road which is about Four Miles from Camp & as I suppose that you would like To hear that Mr Fearson has been appointed Second Lieutenant in this Company & that he [is] liked by All of the Men in the Company Genl. McLellan was here the other day to see the Brigade & when he came to the Fifth Maine Regiment he said they were a hardy set of men that he ever saw There has been sent out every day A squad of all the Regiments in the Brigade to cut down the woods about her & they have cut them down around for three Miles so that they came Build a fort Since we have been here the Pickets have Brought in Five or six Nigars that has been sent out as spies day before yesterday the New York 16 Regiment Brought in a team that had three women in it & they had them Sirched and found Letters directed to Jefferson Davis & Beauregard & others in the Souhtern Army we have been under marching this two days & whe expect to be attack so that we have To be under Arms every day & night, there is a Lawsuit going on in Washington about this Regiment Concerning wether we are in three years of Three months they say we are not reorganized by the Government & that they Cannot hold us & the men of this Regiment are Bound to Fight it Out whether they are or not if they would take the Regiment home to be reorganized they would find that about every man would Come Back you need not look for me till the Regiment Comes home because I think they will Be home in three months, I will put some of the dead & wounded down, uninjured is Richardson H.G. Buzzle, Alonzo Stinson (dead) Albert Holland, N. B. I wish you would send some Portland Papers to me so that i can see what is going on in Portland the reason that I dont write is that i Cant Get Postage Stamps to send them they dont Frank the Envelopes now And i cannot get in town to By them this is the last Frank Envelope that i have got But i have plenty of the others And Send some Papers will you & cake you can Send them By express Because the Boys have Cake sent to them By their Folks By express So be Shure to send them remember by express From you Son Joseph Leavitt

Letters from Joseph Leavitt of the 5th Maine and his brother George of the 5th New York were copied into a ledger by their father John Leavitt in 1865. Both boys were mortally wounded int he war, George at Second Bull Run, August 30, 1862 and Joseph at Spotsylvania, May 18, 1864.

MSS 66