Letters of Rev. John W. Alvord

Good to see them & I have a posting [illegible] of news such as braces my heart and nerves to renewed effort.

Gen Marcy this morning gave me fresh passes through the Army & a recommendation to all Qr Masters for subsistance for myself & horse so that I shall now go without any special danger of starvation. The Gen spoke very kindly of my work and atended to the interest his daughter (Mrs McClellan) had taken in the distribution of our books. He took me personally to the tent of Gen Van Vliet chief of the Qr Masters of this Army when I was assured that all my wants would be attended to. Gen Marcy The General told me of a skirmish at day break break this morning in which some of our Mass troops scaled an entrenchment driving the rebels at the point of the bayonet & taking 14 prisoners showing as the Gen he remarked that our men are ready for the fight. & even for that most terrible of all war work entrenchment storming with the