January 29, 1864 pg 4

Gettysburg -- glad it wasn't his
big sister.

Mother writes me that
Walter Newhall, one of Janes sons,
was drowned in the Rappahannock.
Sad blow to that happy family, and
a bitter fate for the poor boy
who was just on his way to
join his parents.

Nellie, the birds are singing
from the trees near my tent
this morning and the sunny
air is as balmy and sweet
as May days in Maine.

This must have been a
delightful country in times
of peace and plenty -- but
to speak in the manner of the
Bard "Grim visaged war has
knocked it into a cocked hat."
"or words to that effect." Our
soldiers have suffered much
during the past cold weather
from insufficient and worn-out
clothing and from hunger &c.
I, even I, have felt the pangs
of unsatisfied appetite -- and have
thus been brought to a retrospective
glance at a neat Breakfast table

[in the margin] Capt. Harry