*** This is a continuing presentation of Civil War letters written by William A. Smith. The letters are made available through Marion Brimberry. I have attempted to type the letters as true to the grammar and spelling as presented to me. David Thomson *** Jacinto, Mississippi Monday evening June 30th, 1862 My Dear Wife:- Another month is passed. Another muster day is over. There is now four months wages due us. There is a Paymaster in the neighborhood paying off other Regiments. We think he will soon pay us for two months. He may possibly not pay us for some time. There is not much trouble about money however, for if we all had plenty there is not much chance to spend any of it. In fact there has been nothing here to sell till yesterday when a load of pies, butter, buttermilk, eggs, etc except a very few blackberries brought in by the negro women and children. Butter is fifty cents per pound, buttermilk is 10 cents per pint, sweetmilk is sixty cents per gallon, eggs are 25 cents per dozen. A common round blackberry or green apple pie is 20 cents. You cannot imagine the great quantity of blackberries there is in this country. There is a great many old worn out fields, and the only production of these is a kind of Sedge grass, young pines and blackberry briars. The weather is very hot, but the health of the Company is about as good as common. My health is as good as you could wish me to enjoy. So you may know how well I am. I keep my weight very well for so hot weather. It is today 149 pounds. What is your weight now? I wrote to Dave Nichols three or four days ago and enclosed a note to you which has told you of my receiving yours by the hands of Eldridge Jones. I have not yet received the one you sent by the hands of Charles F. Wilton. I received the package of papers, thank you. He also brought two papers that pap gave him the money to buy for me. Thank him also. Papers or letters are always welcome visitors to me. I sent a note in John Fosters letter directed to Nancy, in answer to hers and Johns letters. They will have to excuse me for not writing more, for of all the busy times in a Company, the last of the month is the most busy, particularly muster months. I will try to write more to them the next time. I will now try to answer yours of the 12th to 15th. You use the name of Mrs. Smart. That reminds me of the man that Henderson B. Jones introduced me to at Camp Butler. I well remember him. He appeared to me like a gentleman. I hope your acquaintance with his wife may prove pleasant. When I framed the Tobacco Union, I did not think that Diora would ever rehearse it at a school exhibition. How did she get along with it. I am sorry that John Hamilton remains so weak. I sent you a notice for him to either return to the Regiment or send a certificate from an army surgeon. I hope you took it to him as soon as received. Your understanding of my views of the new Constitution are correct. I would not if I had had the chance, voted for the new Constitution as a whole, but parts of it is excellent. Part of it that is so good is only a reprint of the old one. Then the section in regard to the 7 per centum of the net proceeds of the Illinois Central Railroad is worth a great deal. While on this subject I will just say that Congress has just passed some bills that I know you will be pleased with; one is the Poligamy bill, the others are the Pacific Railroad bill then there is the bill giving pensions to widows and orphans of the soldiers of the Union army, which I think will soon pass. I think a good confiscation bill now would do for this session of Congress. Four days from now and you will help celebrate the Anniversary of the Independence of the United States. I cannot be with you. May the smile of friendship be upon every face. Love be in every action and Truth be in every word. May lessons be learned there that will guide our children in the way they should go through life. You think strange that I do not know the movements of my own division. It is a little like you knowing the actions every day of all the people in Marion County. Thirty or forty thousand is a great many men. If is five times more soldiers than the southern sympathizers in our neighborhood said could be raised in the whole state of Illinois. I am glad that you intend to buy a willow wagon for the babe. I think he must be tolerably heavy by this time. I am very glad to learn that there is some apples and walnuts on some of the trees. Tell me about those grafts in the garden, how are they doing. Have you any peaches this season. How are the currants doing, then your cherry trees, how do they look? I have nothing new to write you, only that Lieut. McDonald was yesterday elected Captain and Sergeant Breeze was elected second Lieutenant. You have no doubt heard of the opening of the Mobile and Ohio Railroad from Columbus, Kentucky to Corinth, Mississippi. This saves our supplies and mail from coming up the Tennessee river to Hamburg and it saves our teams from a trip of twenty or thirty miles every load. I think that before this reaches you the cars will be running on the Memphis to Corinth. My bedfellow, R.F. Young is rather puny. I fear he will not be fit for duty for some time. It seems like he will never get stout again. Hoping to hear from you soon, I bid you good bye. William A. Smith

*** This is a continuing presentation of Civil War letters written by William A. Smith. The letters are made available through Marion Brimberry. I have attempted to type the letters as true to the grammar and spelling as presented to me. David Thomson *** Jacinto, Mississippi Monday morning, July 7th, 1862 My Dear Wife:- Fathers letter an your note came to hand yesterday evening and I hasten to answer them. You had wrote to me about Pap selling the hay. There is but two and half dollars due now to the Seminary. I hope though that you will pay off the whole five, it will then be settled. I think John Foster has some money yet and he will see Corrington and pay off my subscription. I will not send much money by mail unless you need it very bad, but I could send you one hundred dollars, if there was an express close here. But there is none nearer than Cairo that can be depended on. If I get the chance to send to Cairo I think I will send to John Foster seventy five or eighty dollars. You can if I send, take part of it to use yourself and Pap had better take fifty dollars of it. He has I believe a note against me for fifty dollars, if he has not, he can apply it on some other note. I will only keep a few dollars if I have the chance to send any home by express. I wrote to Lucy for you to tell John M. Hamilton to bring me a lot of stamped envelopes and half ream of this size letter paper. If he calls on you I wish you would give him the money to buy them with, if you have it. If you have not the money, borrow it and I will send you the amount. I had not thought of Albert paying for the mule but I suppose there would be nothing wrong for him to pay a reasonable price for it. You will let him use his pleasure in the matter and it will be all right with me. If he decides to pay for it, he will have it valued at once, or let him and Pap or lee or any body else say how much he will pay, then he can pay for it whenever it suits his convenience. Tell me how they decide the matter. I am glad to hear that Isaac Jones is at home. It is better for any one to be at home that is sick. I am glad that there was no abolition votes in the North Fork precinct. What to you say now Pap? Is there any Abolitionists in the North Fork Precinct? Or are they all gone to the war? I have the election returns in the Salem Advocate. George F. Tryner and Dick Smith was here Saturday morning and told me about Doctor Green and J.S. Martin fighting. Tell mother that I know that she is anxious to see me, but that it is very uncertain when I will be at home. I am not afraid of being forgotten by her, even if I do stay three years. As to you looking for me home, you need not look till I write that I am coming. If I find that I can come home, I will write to you if I have time before I start. If not, I will come without writing and get home when you are not expecting me. You need build no hopes upon that however. I do think that every well man that is in the army ought to stay along to his Regiment and try to help bring the war to a close so that all may return home in peace. I know that there is hundreds every day going home. Some on sick furlough, some on leave of absence, and others without either. If it was necessary for me to be at home and I could not get a leave of absence or furlough, then I would do as others do, risk being disgraced by Courtmartial for leaving my Regiment without the sanction of my officers. My mother would prefer not seeing me at all rather than see me with such a blot on my name. I sent you a note in a letter that I sent to Lucy Chance. You have no doubt received it before now. On the 4th we was paid off for four months. We have never paid for our clothes yet, so that gave all the boys quite a pile of money, $100.80 each. The Paymaster paid this Company over ten thousand dollars and paid this Regiment more than one hundred and twenty thousand dollars. Don’t you wish that this Regiment belonged to you four months, you would be almost rich. We was last Saturday sent out on two days scout and went south on a road that I have never been on before. We stopped in the woods about ten miles east of Marietta and found that about one hundred rebel cavalry had just left there the evening before and gone down the Fulton Road. You will remember that we was at Marietta just two weeks ago. We returned to camp last night at dark. The 3rd. Michigan which is in our Division has been having a fight with the secesh sought of Booneville, at the very place that I told you of us having two skirmishes with the some time ago. They had to bury about thirty rebels and had some of their own men wounded. I think we will have a fight with them down about Marietta one of these days. We cross and recross over the same ground that they are continually scouting on and we will certainly meet before long. During our scouts I see many amusing mistakes made by some of the citizens, but I am now too lazy to write them. When I see you I will tell you some of them. Good bye, William A. Smith

*** This is a continuing presentation of Civil War letters written by William A. Smith. The letters are made available through Marion Brimberry. I have attempted to type the letters as true to the grammar and spelling as presented to me. David Thomson *** Jacinto, Mississippi Monday morning July 14th, 1862 My Dear Wife:- My health is very good. The weather is very hot and I am very lazy. It seems that Saturday and Sunday is to be the days for our scouting. Last Saturday the report came that seven thousand rebels were within a few miles of our camp, intending to attack us. At 4 o’clock P.M. the Regiment marched out. We went about ten miles and hitched our horses to our arms and waited till morning. At daylight we moved on about six miles where the rebels were said to be. Here the companies separated and went in different directions for a few miles, then again we met and ate breakfast. After breakfast we (there the bugle sounds and I must go to headquarters to get orders, well they only want three men for guard tomorrow) started back to Jacinto, traveled a few miles and stopped to graze our horses. Forward was sounded and on we came to camp. Received a note from C.F. Wilton which I send you. Polly Lee says that Barthollett Lee wishes all the Republicans killed, that would include me, would it not? I expect a letter from you this evening. I have received none from you since Pap’s letter. I answered it a week ago today, I believe. Good bye. William A. Smith

*** This is a continuing presentation of Civil War letters written by William A. Smith. The letters are made available through Marion Brimberry. I have attempted to type the letters as true to the grammar and spelling as presented to me. David Thomson *** Jacinto, Mississippi Tuesday, July 15th, 1862 My Dear Wife:- I yesterday received yours of the 4th, 7th and 10th inst., and will now try to write you a reply. I am glad to hear that the celebration at the Burgh went off in good style. I hope that you may live to see many such. I am sorry to hear of the sudden death of John Fosters babe. I see by the paper that esquire Wills big house is burned down. On last Wednesday evening I found that the Regimental Quartermaster was going to Corinth and I stopped from writing a letter to Mrs. Lee and went with him to Corinth to send some money to John Foster. I sent him $100.00 which I hope he has received by this time (the mail is in and brings me a letter from Miss E.A. Hamilton which I will answer in a day or two.) I took twenty nine hundred and seventy five dollars to Corinth to send to Illinois. I stayed all night. This is the first time that I have ever saw Corinth. It is very poorly situated but has some very nice houses in it, but it has a sad, forsaken appearance. Piles of ashes and rubbish mark the places where have stood stores, warehouses and depots, Oh! Such a waste of property. Returning I passed by where there is hundreds of waggons collected together and nearly all partly burned up. I had supposed that we had only a few troops now in this neighborhood, as our scouts are always off in a southern direction and we never see but a few Regiments, but it is sixteen miles from here to Corinth and it is literally a camp all the way, though I noticed the names of three Generals whose headquarters are on the road. General Rosencranz, General Stanley and General Granger. Then there is General Jeff. C. Davis, his headquarters are here in town. Our headquarters is with Colonel Mysner at Rianza, eight miles west from here. Then there is an endless lot of field artillery all though the country. If the rebels should attack us we could yet give them something of a fight. When I was about half way to camp I passed through a place where there was some Indians standing guard. These are the first that I have seen since I have been in the service, they are from Minnesota. They would say “halt, got pass”. I was haulted by three different squads of them in Tuscumbia river bottom. It soon bean to rain and I think the hardest rain that I ever saw fall, fell on me from there to camp. The next night after that, Jack Foster waked up and Felix W. Arnold was trying to get his pants from under his head. Jack spoke out and Felix laid down and laid still for a few minutes. Then he got up and the boys watched him and he went over into Company “L” and commenced talking to a man there. Clay missed his money, $111.15 but they did not have Felix arrested. The next morning Clay went to Lieut. Lee and told him of it. About the same time I went down the line to make out the sick report for the day and fell in with Jack and he commenced telling me of it. Felix came up and heard Jack telling me and asked Jack what he said. Jack told him that somebody had stole Clays money and the he caught Felix trying to steal his and that Felix was the one that stole Clays money. At this Felix began to tremble all over, then he began to try to make light of the matter, but Jack told him that it would not win, for he had stole Clays money. Felix then went across the road to the Commissary store, then down the side of the hill to a big stump, but Charlie Lee was watching him and ran towards him and called to Felix and asked him what he was doing. Felix told him a lie and Charlie caught him in it by going to him, for he was grubbing behind the stump. He jumped up and Charlie accused him of stealing the money and told him to give it up and Felix put his hand in his pocket and drew out Clays pocket book with all the money in it except the fifteen cents. He then said that he took Clays money for a joke. Charlie asked him why he buried it and he said that he was afraid some one would steal it from him (he was on guard himself). They took him to the guard house and he is still there awaiting his trial. I have no idea when he will be tried. His trial will be at Rianza. What do you think of his case. One man in our Regiment was caught asleep on guard post a few nights ago and had his trial last Friday and was sentenced to imprisonment three years or during the war. I pity him but it will not do to allow sentinels to sleep on the posts. Your uncle Montgomery is now a Lieut. in his company. Success to him. He stayed with us last night. I wrote to Polly Lee and sent you a note enclosed. I will expect a letter from Nancy in a few days. I sent you Harpers Weekly from Corinth. I think you have received it ere this. The health of the Company is first rate, only five absent and five present sick. None is in the hospital here of our Company. My health could not be better except my nerves are as unsteady as a man eight years old. I lay it to the powder, the surgeon lays it to the strong coffee. I have never taken a dose of medicine for it. Captain Ludwig of Company “M” resigned and went home to Randolph County. One of the men of his company that had been discharged, got into a quarrel with him and killed him on the 3rd inst. The fellow escaped. Our Company has been organized eleven months tomorrow. Then two years and one month and I will come home if I keep well. If you are tired of trying to read this, I will stop, promising to write again in a few days. William A. Smith P.S. Felix’s trial will be tomorrow.