Letters of Rev. John W. Alvord

much to be thankful for, in this distracted state of our country & when so many are suffering— Thank Mrs Cornelius for the 20$. I think she does well to put it ^into^ [Hy?]. [BK?]. There is no one thing the soldiers call for more earnestly, & nothing keeps them ^in^ good spirits, & in a high & pure moral tone better than singing sacred songs. ^In all meetings of worship they are indispensable^—My last hundred went today, & two chaplains have since come to my tent for them, I could only promise that they [S.B.?] be first [second?] in the future—How I wish every body could see the worth of money when put into these little precious things out here in this Army. ^They are^ war material (as well as gospel) worth a hundred times what ^they^ cost. You speak of the houses—am glad you see to them, & keep them up in good condition

[sideways on paper] Tell Ruth to write me all about home &c

The dividend on the 7 ^3/10 7. notes (You will find 1100$) you had better take—(Mr Broughton will get it)— & sell the gold for its present price & then put the money in the Provident Savings Bank, or perhaps what will be better make it up to $100—& buy another Treasury note of that amount, There are now one [note?] of 500—one of 300 & three I think of 100 = making the 1100—You will of course see that they are all put back safely in the little bundle of my valuable papers in Mr Broughtons [case?]—If you put it in the Prov. Savings Bk, you will get a new book as I [drew?] all out there, & gave up the old one, You had better make it up to the 100 [Boll?] Treas^y note if you can, I dont mention putting it in either of the other savings banks because we now have as much in both as they will put in [interest?].

Stonemans Switch Va H^d Qurs 35th [Mark?] March 9, 1863

My Dear wife

I have this moment eat the first supper from the Box, crackers, butter, Ham, coffee, jelly, or what is it?—Figs—tea cakes all for supper! Not "all' in the box, but to my stomachs content—Quite a change from tough beef & hard tack—Every thing is in first rate order, except one side of one of the lemons—[unclear] besides the a-bove—Dried or smoked beef (a big piece) codfish (very pure)—cheese (good)—tea, salt, pepper, mustard, horse raddish, spoons knives & forks—sauce pan—sugar, candlestick, &c &c I guess, for something new turned up quite to the bottom—a very "Pandoras box" only goodies instead of "plagues" flew out, I am much obliged to you—I will

[Sideways:] Will try to keep my promise about finishing the letter and will write the children

try to [enjoy?] all you have sent [though?] [past?] [unclear] of it [in?] [loneliness?] Since if the old knives & forks [and?] the [unclear] [unclear] [pot?] I recognize. They look so [homesh--?] as almost to make me homesick—Your letter too of 5^th inst came today. I cannot answer it this evening. I am too full of —applebutter do you call ^it—^ that juicy stuff? Tomorrow, if i get over my high tonight, I will finish for you a long letter which was begun some days since.

I dont think any letters have miscarried, except the two which stopped at Aquia Creek. Now, have I any idea that Boxes are lost, what makes you all think so of late? ^Because I complain of receiving so few?^ I have four large ones of reading matter with yours this evening—and last week I had six—I cannot, (tell Mr Broughton) acknowledge them separately as he does not now send to me the [unclear]—O dear! Good night J. W. A.

[sideways on page:] P.S. Morning—I have survived with various [imaging?] through the night & have been lecturing my boys here at breakfast on "eating too much." We have agreed that these nice things ought to ^be^ mixed in with the "tough" & the "hard" & made to go "just as far as possible," so dont think me nor your goodies in as much danger again as the they were last night, I aim to do a great days work to do What these boxes of reading [unclear] I fly about I letter you How I wish they could send more

Head Quarters Army of the Potomac Va—Mch 12^th 1863

To the young readers of the Child at Home

My Dear Children

I have just received the march number of your paper.

Those pictures on the first page—Though I object to their making me so public—reminded— me of scenes, of which perhaps you would like to hear. They are from the Battle work before Rich-mond

It is painful to recall the sufferings of our ^noble^ army during those days of struggle, but I am willing to do so for your sake, On Wednesday June 28^th ^the battles^ com—

-menced—General Hooker drove the enemy. But the rebel General Jackson, on Thurs-day, made a furious ^& successful attack on our right ([is?] on the right of our army as you look from the Chickahominy towards Rich-mond) at a place called Me-chanicsville. On Friday came the great battle at Gains Mill, a little town down the river. When the [commander?] commenced I was distributing tracts & papers to the infantry Regiments as they lay on their arms in battle lines They received what I gave very gladly, for approaching battle make men feel very serious.

Let us pass lightly over the bloody work which followed. I helped

away in an ambulance train such as could not walk. These ambulances became lost after dark, & know-ing the road I tried to guide them, But we were soon sur-rounded with army wag-gons fleeing, & in the confusion were obliged to stop where we were Fortunately, the rebels stopped too. I slept, or tried to, with a sick soldier by my side in the waggon, & others were sheltered under it. We had now crossed the Chickahominy & our men next morning blew up the bridge behind us, with an awful crash it flew to pieces & this hindered the enemy from coming on for a number of hours—so we took our wounded to Savages Station—There, all the large buildings were quickly filled

and also an acre or more in the yards about the house was covered with them. They ^lay upon the ground so thickly you^ could hardly put your foot down where a soldier did not lie Loaded ambulances were constantly coming in. The doctors were very busy, & we all worked hard—cary-ing water & food, stopping the blood, & helping to bind up their wounds. Many were rapidly passing away to the other world, & when no more could be done, we told them about the saviour & heaven, & so they would fall into our arms or sink down by our side & die.

All this time, the rebels were firing their cannon at us furiously from a distance, but I drove to another hospital where were many hundreds of soldiers sick with fever. I could not save them but left garments & blankets & other comforts & with a heavey heart tried to speak words of encouragement. & then was obliged to leave these pale, sick boys to fall into the hands of the cruel enemy.

of bread & hands of beef & pork, which we could not carry, & all the while fighting too. Such a noise & such flames! You never saw a sabbath like that, & I pray that I may never witness another such. Many soldiers slightly wounded had straggled from their regiments & could not find their surgeons. & so I tried, to minister to them, They would push their bleeding heads or arms up to me in the waggon & sponging away the blood I put on cool water, & bound them around with bandages. They thanked me as you never hear people thank at home. Have you learned, dear children, how blessed it is to do good?

Sunday night was terrible, our Brigade camped in the woods, for we could march no longer. The men were tired and hungry—no fire could be kindled to cook by, for

Charles River Cross Roads—in which we were near being beaten, sending another multitude of wounded soldiers to the war, & [swelling?] the lost worn out & exhausted.

Our army then retreated to Mal-vern Hill, where was still an-other battle, more fierce than any one before it. Our side drove the rebels this time in all di-rections & we might have driven them to Richmond at a place called [Canters?] Landing, thousands of the wounded were brought and from fields of ripe wheat we gathered straw for their beds. Can you believe it? Again acres were covered with a crimson colored carpet of bleed-ing soldiers. Oxen were slaugh-tered to feed them, for they were hun-