1861 October 17 Camp Lyon, Va

Dear Mother--I made a Mistake & call Camp Lyon i do not know the name yet I receved a Letter from Father dated the 121th with Four Papers and among them was a paper that had that Letter in it that Father spoke about It was written by a Sargent of My Company his name is Patterson he use to write for the Courier when he was at Portland I want you to tell William Banks to write to me Father wanted me to tell him why I got some one else to write the letter for me the reason was that I was doing something round the Camp Ground and And[sic] As i received a Letter from him that day I thought I would let write one for me as I Always Answer the Letter Just as soon as I receive any from Him so that I wont forget it, I do not want you nor him to put yourselves to any uneasiness about me Being sick Because I think I can stand it & I am bound to stay till this truble is settle 8if it is not for six years to come there id Eighteen tents allowed to a Company there is one thing & that is this I would not write to you & tell you that I could stand it if I thought I could not you must remember that it is coming on cold wether now I have see some nights out here as cold as some of them at Home in the Middle of february our Camp Ground is right under the Guns of Fort Blenker & Blenkers Regiment of Germans is in the Fort This is the noble one that covered our retreat at Bulls run & they are A hard set of Men the regiment is Just going out to be Reviewed by General Franklin & the hold Division is to be there amounting to Twenty five thousand Men as I am writing I receivd two Letters dated the 12th & 13th From Father there has been here three men from Portland there names are Mitchell of Portland he is conducter of Honebeck railroad & Clemons of the firm of Kimball & Clemens carriage makers & George Burnton there was A man Shott in the Saco Company tonight, I want you to understand that I am well enough to stand it out here No I did not get that thing from you I am able to stand it & if they is another Fight I am in it Father said in one of his Letters to me that there was no Bragging in my Letters as they was in some of the Letters that some of the Boys wrote to Home there was A Boy that got his discharge & as soon as he got to the City he bot an Officers suit to were Home & I Suppose he will say he was an officer His name was Jim Hillar he use to work for P G Carleton of Portland give my Love to all of the Folks & to John & Samuel Safford From your Son Joseph Leavitt.

Letters from Joseph Leavitt and his brother George were copied into a ledger by their father John Leavitt in October 1865 "because they are of value to me and I was fearful that they might get mislaid." Both boys were mortally wounded in the war, George at Second Bull Run, August 30, 1862, and Joseph at Spotsylvania, May 18, 1864

MSS 66