Benjamin F. Boring Collection
Transcript:
Letter from Benjamin F. Boring
to William C. Jones
March 29, 1862
Page 1 of 4
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Fort
Donaldson Dover Tennessee
March 29th 1862
Friend Will.
I received your very welcome letter
in due seazon And am happy of the opportunity
of replying. Although there is but little here to
to write about Any more. I will endeavour to
entertain you a few moments Any how. My
health is good again And better then it has
been before since I've been in Tennessee.
The boys who have been home on
furlough have about All recovered from
their mys[e?]ries And are coming back to camp
John Murphy Arrived this morning. I fear
Nelson Carpenter never will be [fit?] for
Service Any more. the boys say he will
be apt to loose his hand. from [N?]else
he is a good boy And a good Soldier.
I miss him in camp A great deal. it
appears some times like our best soldiers get
the worst end of the bargin. I got through
this battle without even a scar. but let a
person visit the battle ground. And see the
trees And bushes cut to pieces with Cannon
balls And musket balls. they would think
it impossible for a man to escape without
being Shot some place~
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Page 2 of 4
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I am on Guard
to night, we are
Guarding the Court house. And Several other
buildings about town. My relief goes on
at 12 OClock tonight And stands four hours.
2 Companies out of our Regiment have been
sent to Clarksville. And I think the rest
of us will be sent there in a few days
I hope so Any how. for I would much
rather be there than here. it is a town
About the size of Tere haute And is full
of Secesh Citizens. I fear we will
never be on the battle field Anymore.
I expect we will be kept to guard such
places as fort Donaldson & Clarksville. We
left Cairo with 750 men in the 30th
Regt.. And we can hardly muster [out?] now.
we only lost 30 killed 71 wounded and
5 prisoners in the engagement here. but we
have been exposed to every thing that human
beings could, And Caused a great deal of
sickness. And a great many deaths, discharges
[?]from diseases. We had one killed 17
wounded And 2 prisoners out of Co. .D. And
since we left Cairo there has 9 discharged
and 2 died in the Hospital at Cairo.
And at one time we only had [11?] men
out of 81 reported for duty so you can
see we was pretty near plaid out |
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Page 3 of 4
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As it is geting near the hour for
guard [mounting?]. I will have to close
And send me a Coppy of the Bulletin
As often as you can. I received the one
you sent me. of the 25th I wrote a
letter for the Bulletin shortly after the battle
here but I guess it was not published. I
have such a [have?] chance here to write. I dont
expect persons can read my letters when they
get them. I am ashamed of my letters to
think they are so poorly written. I would of
written to you sooner And oftener then I have
been doing but I am out of postage Stamps
And they cant be obtained here for [love?] or
money. And as there is no post office establish
ed here, they wont take money in payment
for postage I had plenty of Stamps when
I left Cairo but I used a great many And
gave Some to the boys until the first thing
I knew I was out of Stamps And could
not get any. And you know there is one
kind of Corespondence a fellow has to dispense
with when he is not able to pay for his
letters. I dont get any more letters from
Helen becaus I dont write her any And I expect
she thinks I have forgotten her. but I have
not
And hope I never will |
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Page 4 of 4
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Will I wish
you could come down here and see us
And the old battle ground. I would take great
delight in walking about and showing you Sights that
you never saw. Dick Parker is here he has been here
near a week. He wants to be Drummer in our Company.
I have been learning to play the Piano since I've been
here there was Several left here in [vacated?] houses
And I have spent a good many of my Idle hours
learning to play on them. I can play Dixie pretty
well and several other tunes. The Secesh wer very
nicely fixed here. we could get any thing we wanted
plenty of large fine houses & no person living in
them. there was a nice grave yard here surrounded
by a beautiful fence & full of nice toomb stones
and ever greens. But the fence has been torn away
and used for fire wood and the grave yard is changed
into a Drill ground A great many of the monuments
and stones have been thrown down and we Drill
around Among the graves. The wharf at the river
is lined with coffins brought here by persons who
had sons or relatives killed in the battle And
they are bussy [new?] all the time in takeing up
dead Soldiers and sending them home to be buried
with their friends. Secesh and Union men all
working together takeing up boys what had probably
been raised together during their youth. but had fought
and killed each other in the battle field. O! this
wicked war who can pay the debt. many a poor soul
is buried with the presence of this Lord. and how
many of them are prepaired to meet him.
Give my respects to your Pa. & Ma. and pleas write
Good night Will
Your friend as Ever
Corporal
B.F. Boring .
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*Note to researcher: This letter has been
transcribed by Archives staff verbatim
as the words appear on the original written page. The spacing, punctuation, and
capitalization are identical. Words that are unclear have been
enclosed in brackets. |
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