1861 October 4 Camp Vernon

Dear Mother I thought I would sit down & write to you a few Lines it is all quiet along our Lines & i think they will not attact us a Present whe are gone to place some Guns on the Fort the Part that they have got done Genl Howard came over here the other day with This brigade And General Slocum told him that this Brigade had ben over a Month and a halfe working hard And he thought he should keep them to defend it Howard had ben Ordered to go to Falls Church But he thought he was going to Rayitonhom[?] but he did not Come it He moved us when whe was in his Brigade enough, the other day the New York Pickets brought in on Lieutenant & three Privates with three Horses, we have got A Guard House with stocks in it And it is filled about every day & there is another Way they Punish the men by Making them Stand on Barrells there was About Eighty seven men discharged from the Regiment yesterday and they were some of the healthiest Looking Men i ever saw some of them would weight about two hundred and some over next monday they are going to examine about the same number whe are doing well under our new Colonel And the Quarter Master is a great deal better than the old one whe get more than we can eat i will write and let you know what we are allowed Coffee sugar Beans rice Bread Homony and what we cant eat we save till whe get enough saved and then sell it for Molasses and whe get salt Beef and Pork whe have got some New hats they are the regulators ones & we have got some new square Tents each Company is allowed sixteen Five sleep in A tent I would like to know why you do not write more to me i have not received a Letter from you for two weeks on More i want to tell you how A Boy got his discharge he went without eating for a bout a week And that made Look kind of Slim[?] Bit if i cant get a Honorable one i wont take any, From your Son Joseph Leavitt

Joseph Leavitt, private in the 5th Maine; after his death in 1864, his father copied out all his letters in a ledger book.

MSS 66