Letters of Rev. John W. Alvord

A rare group I assure you, & I rode away on a swift gallop to overtake my friends, thanking the Lord too! for his grace to these least of his disciples & even now the passage rings in my ears _"I have been young and now am old yet have I once seen the righteous forsaken nor his seed begging bread." During the day I went quite into the abandoned fortifications of the enemy on our left & could see distinctly where our cannon that had riddled their dwellings & warehouses across the river. About three miles of their work along Warwick river seem to be abandoned & I see no reason why we could not pass around their flank. They are evidently concentrating near Yorktown & in defense of York river the possession of which they very well know we exceedingly covet .

Am putting all the Regiments in connection with either with my depot at Washington or Fortress Monroe & to miscellaneous corps who do not get mails regularly & distribute personally