1862 September 16 Camp Lee

  Near Camp Lee Sept. 16th 1862
My Dear Mother
                           I received late saturday evening
your letter. Richard’s case seems a stubborn one.
I called for my box as early as possible mon-
day morning. Found it had been sent
to camp Lee Saturday evening, but as
it has merely my name & did not mention
the howitzers they did not know what
to do with it. The tomattoes  were nearly
all spoiled & the peaches ditto. Straw was
a bad thing to put them in, in such
hot weather. They would however
doubtless have been good had I gotten
them Saturday. I was quite sorry
to see so good a peach lost.
You must not attempt again
to send any thing of the kind.
     Ninety nine times in a hundred they will be spoil-
ed before I get them. You depart-
ed from my rule in requesting
M. & F. to send them out to me.
I carried yesterday to the Dulle Depot a

[page 2]
box which they told me would go up
this morning. I did not send it by express
The freight is pd. It contained a big
coat – the one I wore last winter. It was
mostly to save that that I sent the box, and 8
bottles – one you must fill with brandy
as father promised – 4 blankets – two
pr. old pants & two caps, one old jacket.
These things were better to pack
with than straw & I thought would
be of use to the little negroes. One
(the white) blanket if you will
have it washed is a very nice one.
I gave $6.00 for it in Leesburg – the
other three I got from the Yankeys.
The big coat turns rain splendidly.
Tell father I got another the
other day at the govt. store for 20 dol-
lars, which I am afraid will not
be as good a one. My Bill came to
44 ¾ dollars. Big coat 20, Blankets one for. $10
one for 7. Shoes 4 ½. Shirt 2 ¼. This will however
not be paid until the next  time

[page 3]
I draw my pay & as I expect them
also to draw my 50 dollars bounty
I will not want for money. I will
need these things this winter & will be
so far from Richd. when I want
them that it will be impossible to
get then with our poor means of
conveyance. The govt. seems to have
 risen in its prices considerably. We are
however drawing some knapsacks
gratis – I shall carry my old one (if I
get my new one.) & send up with me
Yankee knapsack & coat & vest
which you left with me. You can
put the old knapsack to any
use you see fit. Perhaps by
cutting it up the oil cloth might
be made useful.
      I did not see Miss Booker after you
left nor did I think you would accuse
me of being smitten with her.
Yr. comparison of course I can’t
assent to. If you should

[page 4]
see the one while in Nottoway
you will of course change yr.
opinion. We expect to start for
the army Thursday morning. I
reckon we will start then. We
have our horses & the cannon are
ready but have to be tested today
I believe.
     I chose the whig for you also
It gave me a good deal of
trouble to decide. The Examiner
is more ably edited & has more in it.
But I am disposed to think the
less we read of such papers the bet-
ter. And there were other reasons
why I preferred the Whig, or rather
why I did not prefer the exr. tho one
is I don’t see how it can continue un-
less it can get printers soon.
     Ask father to write me what he wd.
think of a transfer to the Lunen-
burg cavalry for me? I think in
some respects it would suit me
[continued on the top of page one][
better, tho’ I am very much pleased
with my company. Direct yr. letters to me
1st H. Co. 3rd Brigade, 2nd. Division        
Army North Va.
Dear mother farewell my best love
to all  Ever affly. yr. son W. H. Perry, Jr.
[continued on the top of page two]
The bullet button on my big coat is
one I cut from a tree on the Leesburg
battlefield where Baker was killed.
The button was off my coat so
I made one of that. At Malvern Hills
the coat was lying on the limber chest
by me & a shell ripped the button hole
entirely out I ripped the seam wh. runs
from it  some distance & tore it
slightly between the seam as you will see.

[continued on the top of page four]
   The box I send is the one you sent
to me time before the last

William H. Perry, Jr., Richmond Howitzers

[transcript by Mary Roy Dawson Edwards]

MSS 7786-d