Camp Chicamaguma GA

May 20th 98

My Dear Sister Hannah
We arrived at Chattonoga night before last and stopped in the cars all night (1 started to write this this morning now it is night was detailed with 3 more of our Company to dig an observity 30 feet long 10 feet deep it was as good as a Turkish bath digging in the hot sun We are all sun burnt and we went over to the river about 2 miles away and had a good swim and 1 am feeling fine tonight it drove all the cold out of me) in the morning they took us up the camping grounds we only had 4 miles to walk through a hot dusty road 3 of the boys sank on the road we fared better than a lot of them who walked from Chattonoga about 13 miles. just heard that they marched a penselvania Reg from there to day and 6 of them died on the road it is as hot here now as it is in Dul on the 4th of July Appels are green on the trees in this park and they are selling beautiful strawberries at 5~ a quart that is the only thing cheap down here. We are camped in the greates battlefield the world ever saw there were 80.000 men killed here on the 19th of Sept/63. The park is 10 miles square and a dence oak forest with all the underbrush cleared away and the ground is covered with wild flowers and peppermint 1 tell you the morning air is invigorating we have to get up at 5 oclock to drill it is easy to do that for we are sleeping on natures bed 1 am going to sleep under one of the trees tonight it is so warm. There is 65000 troops camped on the grounds tonight and more coming one of the boys got shot night before last for running the guard they caught 4 Spanish spies putting poison in the wells on the park there are about 20 wells on the park and we are about 1 mile from the nearest one we are digging one of our own. 1 was detailed to help with the baggage the day we arrived here and took off everything but my undershirt and put it with the rest of my baggage and someone swiped the whole cheese it is a good thing it is warm here as I am nearly nude now and we have not got our things from the government yet. I got a letter from Pa today I forget wether I told you about Curley and Underhill sending a document to take a man in St Pauls and sign it and I would get $5.00 as far as I could understand it was a partial release of a judgement that I gave on some man in Brooklyn NY it did not say for how much and Pas name was on it too I think it was regarding that West Dul property. I showed it to a lawyer we had in our Co. and he said it might be worth $100.00 so I tookit to the man and signed it in his presence and sent it to Pa and he said that he got the $5.00 but did not know anything about it. The boys are disgusted with army life now. When we arrived here we got nothing to eat until three that afternoon and all it was we got was a little rice and black coffee and not enough of that there is going to be a grand roar made by some of the boys we do not get half the allowence provided by the Government there is some skuldulgery done somewhere. The park is covered with monuments and slabs with the names of different Co.s and Reg and officers that fought here and cannon and balls are placed around the park. Corning through about fifty miles of country in Tennesee we went through 27 tunnels the longest 1~ miles long. did you get the letter I mailed you at Lafeyette Ind we had a good time there we stopped there for 20 minutes. I think that one of your letters has gone astray as I have not got one yet I could write a whole book about the country if I had time it gets dark here about sun down that is a little after 7, have to go to bed now good night

Will

P.S Give Mr and Mrs Burns and Mrs Krimon my kindest wishes would write but my supply of stamps are limited and cant get any here the people around here are (more) Ignorant than the Peterson family. it is I dunno with everything you ask them they think the civil war is not over yet the boys here unearthed a lot of relics such as musket balls grape shot and some swords 1 fellow found a horses tooth with a ball in it and got $10.00 for it if I find anything will send it to Mrs Burnes

21st I run a nail in my foot today and got a few pills Dr says I will be all right in a few days.