White River Landing Ark. Sept 14th 1864 My Dear Elizabeth I am well & harty to day hoping that this may find you & all the family enjoying good helth I received yours of sept the 4th this morning & it was a good letter two I was sory to here of my litle girl being sick I hope she is well betime you sea this I received a letter from Eliza to day she writes well & talks lik she was going to get along if she kept her helth. I do not recon that the hot wether will hurt much up thare I mailed a letter to you last evening it is a political one & it is more than I have said on politics in 6 months & it is the last for me I tak the central advocate ( a religious paper & I have turnd my atention to religious pursuits & writing on such subjects & if you had this paper probly you woud sea some of my articles as a new beginer the central is a buly paper & it does me good to read the soldiers letters of diferent Regts & infact all the reading is so good that I can pass off my time beter reading it than any of the papers I was imused to read your political news & I laught out rite when you suspected that I would call you a copperhead Caling pepal hard names is not my practice our company is nearly all for McLeland thare is a few Republicans & both parties claims me & I do not claim any party I do not know that I wil be aloud to vote as not if so I do not know that I would vote atall and I beleave as you seam warme in the cause you may have my vote & do as you like & as I do not feal much interested I shal not say any more on the subject thare is big talk now in the 87" that we are going home to vote whether that would do any good or not I am not prepared to say but mabe as we are laboring for the rizing generation ( and have our work nearly don two ) it is time they was coming on to enjoy the blood bought tresure I was on picket last night & it came to my time to go out at 9 & stay til eleven at night I got on my horse at 9 P.M. & rode something like 200 yards down to the bank of White river whare I found a man seting on his horse I rode up to him & asked him if he had sean anything & he said nothing but a dog he then left me & I comenst thinking & thinking about bears & panthers & wildcats & coons & oposoms & you know that I was always afeard of varments My horse would look & snort & this aded to my teror I thought of this and that & tother & of the time that I would cover up my head when a henn would squall & if something had squalled close to me I would have shot the first thing that I could sea biger than a niger baby I then brot a long sigh & wonderd whare I was then I thought that I was in Arkansas then I thought of injins (indians) then I stratend up my bridel & wonderd if I was a soldier or what then I came to my self & found that my horse only wanted to be relieved he has not got as much pations as I have for as soon as he got out thare he wanted to be releived by now he come more calm & I thought that thare was not half so much danger of varments as I first anticipated I then got down & seated my self on a stick of cordwood that lay close by lokt down lokt up at the brit moon that seamed to take a delight in vanishing the darkness that would prevale in her absence I then lokt to my horse & he was standing still & then I lokt at my revolver & gun & sean that I was well armed should a coon come that way but all was silent & then I noticed to sea if I was all rite & I found that I was enjoying the seans around me well & realy I felt happy then I fel into a deep study about the past & the prospects of the futur & the beautiful thoughts of (when this civil war is over) was passing thru my mind when a man come to releave me & roused me from my slumbers then mounting my horse & as I rode to the post I thought that Arkansaw (Arkansas) was not such a bad plase after all then I lade down & slept well til morning I felt well when I roze with exception of a few pimples made by musquitoes during the night M A Hooker I can not tel you whether we are coming home or not I doubt considerble yet thare is strong talk of us going & I shal not say that we are not coming for fear we do = I was a litle diverted at you teling of your lamp & how prity it was & then you know it costs nothing that was the best of it steamboats Boats run regular now from St Louis to New Orleans also up Whit river this place is nothing but a lilte Negro town containing about 100 acres of open land planted in coton for the Goverment but the troops campt in the coton feald & spoiled all of it it had just begun to open with its white heads it was befour being cut & piled as hie as my head on a horse = some of it is standing yet but not much that is one time the goverment made a raid on its self. two of Co A 87 fel out the other day while talking on politics & resulting in one geting two cuts on the head & sholder the two was S L Loven & A. C. Johnson the later geting the wounds two companys has not come yet thare being no room when we came so they have not ariven yet Give my respects to all enquiring frends & save all my Love for your self I am yours M A Hooker Patrick J. Anderson http://worldconnect.genealogy.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?db=patanderson 9654 Baltimore Avenue, Laurel, Maryland 20723