1862 June 23 Camp near New Bridge, Va.

Camp Near New Bridge Va, Monday June 23  1862
My Dear Brother haveing received no letter from you for sometime I thought
it best to drop you A few lines & inform you that you must write oftener
now what excuse have you for not writing I bet you cant find A good excuse
you will say there is nothing worth writing no news  & you thought I would
not care to have A letter untill there was some news, now Just write any
thing no matter as long as you write A letter I am sure you can make out as
well as I can, if you have nothing else to write about Just write about box
shooks molasses, sugar, hoops Fish herring and anything else connected
with your business, or Just give me you experience in Housekeeping
now there are A great many things you can write about which will make
A pretty good letter now just try it you have got A good desk & A chair to sit
on every thing comfortable & can write about which will make
A pretty good letter now Just try it you have got A good desk & A chair to sit
on & every thing comfortable & can write with ease, you of course have
heard A great deal about Chickahominy Richmond & Genls McClellan
Porter & Heintzelman well I have seen all these & have been acrost the
Chickahominy on Picket have seen white oak swamp when the water was
up to my waist you dont know how pleasant it is to stand on Picet in a swamp
on A rainy day with the water up to your waist & the musquitoes as thick as flies
in July and August, talking about flies how they do bite me while I am writing
this we are now taking A little rest after our hard work we have nothing
to do except about once A week when my turn comes to go on Picket we have
done some marching & no little work since we have been on the Peninsular
I suppose we shall have some more work to do soon on the siege guns have got
to be used again you at Home can have no Ida of the immense amount of
labour required in getting these siege guns in Position at the siege at Yorktown
the roads were so bad it was impossible at times for the Horses to move the guns
& the only way that the guns could begot in place was by three or four hundred
men to drag them you have been over to Fort Preble & thought you had seen large guns
well the guns at Fort Preble are toys compared with the one & two hundred pound
Parrott gun that we used at Battery No 1 you have course heard of this battery at
the moth of Womsleys Creek well that was the work of the New York 5th
although we have had no notice of it in the papers when speaking of the
Battery by the Baltimore American it always has said something good about
the New York fifth, we are still the Pet of Baltimore & even the famous New York
seventh cannot take our place we have A name in Baltimore in which we may
well be proud you cannot look for A movement on the part McClellan for
weeks he will not move untill everything is ready if we should have A battle
before July it will be the Rebels that commences it my Health is verry good as
good as ever it was give my respects to Mrs Leavitt remember me to all enquir
ing Friends your Brother George


[from a journal containing the letters of brothers George Leavitt of the 5th New York and Joseph Leavitt of the 5th Maine, as copied by the their father John in the autumn of 1865.  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