1862 November 29 near Fredericksburg, Va.

2 miles of Fredericksburg

Nov. 29^th 1862

My Dear Father

I have not received a letter from

you since we got to this place. And one of

the company, who has entered a substitute,

leaves tomorrow & I take the opportunity

to send a letter. Every thing is quiet. I never got

to Fredbg., not being allowed to go. But some

of our company muster up a sufficient

excuse to take them there occasionally – they

say the enemy’s pickets stand in full view

on the other side of the river, which is

here about two hundred yards & ours on

this side. The town looks almost as if

it was deserted. The citizens are returning

slowly to town. The shelling of the cars,

which I wrote to you of, scared one lady to

death. She was however sick before.

You inquired if the army was much

destitute. I can not give a satisfactory

answer. Longstreet’s whole corps is here – but

I have seen only a few save those who

are in our brigade. Of these a good

many are without shoes. They do not

appear to be much in need of other

clothes – unless they would like to wash


[page 2]

and change clothes; then I suppose they have

no change. Socks I fear are not used

much. Tents are not used – but flys –you

saw one fly around Richmond. Indeed

the infantry have none of these – I

suppose they could be procured, but

the infantry could not transport them

& would lose them on the first move. The

authorities seem to be more anxious than

heretofore to furnish them & are supply-

ing some – but not enough - hitherto she[?]

has[?] been very negligent in that de-

partment as well as in the commis-

sary – this latter does not improve – all

a soldier draws is meat, flower [flour] & a little

salt. A Colonel of a Mississippi regi-

ment said a few days since that

there were two hundred men in his reg-

iment without shoes – I did not believe

him. He also said they had subscribed

1500 dollars for purchasing them privately.

If mother has any homespun flannel

a very good over shirt could be made out

of it if she could dye it. Brown or a lead

culler [color] or any dark culler would do. Please

ask her to make such a shirt, for an

outer shirt, if it is convenient to dye


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it. But do not let her give herself any

trouble – I will not probably want them for

some time but when convenient if she will

make those articles. I will call for them

when I want them.

There were two crops of wheat about

in Culpeper where I went along-

The farmers not having the means

to get it out of the straw – conse-

quently, I suppose, we could not

bring it & had to leave it behind.

[letter of William H. Perry of the Richmond Howitzers will continue on the 30th]

[transcript by Mary Roy Dawson Edwards]

MSS 7786-d