1862 February 4 Camp Franklin Near St. Johns Seminary Alaxandria Va

Dear Mother your kind & welcome letter of the 31st inst which which[sic] was
inclosed in Fathers of the 30th came safe at hand which I was verry glad to
receive & know that you all was well I am well & never was enjoying better
health, I do not know how much I do weigh but I have gained & am as fleshy
as I was at Home Father says that I must have received those stamps, I did
not receive them nor I would not write that I did not receive them if I did
What good would do me to write so if I received them, I received A letter
from George this morning & he said that his health was good & the Ladies
of Baltimore was gone to give his Regiment A Flag, the Storm has cleared
off & the mud is drying up quite fast & I suppose as soon as it dries up we
will have to go to drilling again Colonel Jackson has got well & is attending
to his duty again if he should be appointed General the Regiment would
lose A good Officer, I want you to tell Father that he need not be affraid of
writing anything I shant like he must remember that he is my Father & that
he knows what to write & that it is his place to write good advice to me so he need
not be affraid to write whatever he thinks is Right, not you either I intend to
answer yours & his letters as often as I receive them there is nothing else that I
can write so I will close by saying good Night. From you Son Joseph Leavitt
P.S. I do not know anything about George Browns resigning I was told so
by one of the members of his Company



Letters from Joseph Leavitt and his brother George Leavitt 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