p.

Head Qrs 75th Ills Vol
Whiteside Tenn Dec 3d 1863
Ever Dear Lydia
I am proud and happy
to chronicle the events of the last campaign
It is a matter of pride to me thatI have taken
my part in it and performed my duties
and it is very gratifying to have our efforts
crowned with such signal success
As a Regt we have been more than fortunate
for we have been in position to witness the whol
and not be under heavy fire
We have had beautiful weather easy marching brilliant
victories with small loss as as Capt Parker expresses
it "a very large quantity of extremely good luck"
Monday morning Nov 23d we moved out of camp
here towards Chattanooga = We then surmised that
we were going into a fight but did not know for
certain About 4 that afternoon we passed by Gen
Hookers head qrs and had a sight of the celebrated "fighting
Joe" and was favorably impressed with him he has a
nice pink face and appearances would indicate that
he is an excellent judge of good Brandy - we camped
on his left for the night about two miles from Chattanooga
There has been heavy fighting during the afternoon