Morganza Loisianna July the 1st/64 My Dear Elizabeth I seat my self this hot morning to write you a letter not that I have not don so for so long but that thare is some prospects of us leaving & I wont not have time to write you for some time I am well & harty & my weight is 146 pounds I hope that this may find you & the children in good helth Our Company has gon out on picket to day I started & they had one to many & I come back & of corse I will miss one picket I heard this morning that we was going to leave to whare I can not tel thare is grate speculations in regard to whare we are going some say to Brashear City some say to N. orleans some to Natchez some to Litle rock Ark. & some say to the Army of the Cumberlain My opinion is that we wil go to Ark. or Tenn. one or the other we musterd for pay yesterday & now we have 4 months pay due us when we wil get it I am unable to tel mabe soon & mabe not I recon you will get plenty of letters now for I have written 4 or 5 inside of 7 days the whether is very hot here now & the flys is so bad that I cant hardly write the pepal down here say that this is the hotest month in the year June I mean let me know whether you are taking the dollar time or not you said that you had signed for it some time back I got a letter from Posey the other day hes well & said that old onkle Peter Ashby was very sick & Vail Smith was dead & Bill Halice was scouring the green river contry stealing horses & other property I wish he had his head fast between that forked sycamore tree at the mouth of deer creek & had to stay thare til I got thare to take it out ( I supose he has a band of theaves with him = & he is the leader - give my respects to all & save my love for your self tel Georg that I have got my horse fat & he will kick up & play with me he is allways glad to sea me & loves to get his oats & corn No 1 is abel to eat there alowance & we have another new member Valentine Rathbone & now I will close by saying that I would write a hole sheet but the postage costs to much & in theas hard times evry litle helps let me no how the grass looks & you must make arrangements to sow some wheat this fall I want you to get the sead & I want James to plow it in get onkle Jo to help him some I will close I remain your husband Mack Patrick J. Anderson http://worldconnect.genealogy.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?db=patanderson 9654 Baltimore Avenue, Laurel, Maryland 20723