Samuel G. Clark

Shantilla, November the 22 /62

                                               

Dearest Parents

inow take my pen in hand to let you know that i and William are pretty smart at present and hope that this will find you the same wee have not had time to wright senc wee recived your letter William seyes that hee has answerd your letter wee have bin too harsons farms and now wee are within 20 miles of Washington wee marched from Harsons Farms with in 7 miles of Centervill to this plase distance of 24 miles in less than 2 dayes it raned as hard as it cood all of the time wee stade the first night of the march on the first Bull run Battel field in barex bilt and aucpide by Buagards men last winter ihope that wee shall get out of this state before long 

 

wee left Harsons farms on the 18 and arived hear on the 19 wet and hungry and coald but it has cleard off and wee are dreying our cloas now ther is not maney sick in the Brigade now wee have not bin payed pade of yet and doant now when wee shall iwod not give 4 cents fore all of the state of Virginia send mee some papors if you have got eney for wee doant get eney papors hear But the Danbury papors i cannot ithink of eney more to wright this time give my love to all of the folks in Redding and Wright as soo as you get this ihave not got time to wright eney more and ihave writen this on my leag and setten on the ground Good By for this time from your Sone /

                                                                                   

Samuel G Clark and William

                                                           

Direct your letters to

Washington D. C

in care of J. E. Moor

Chantilly November Dec the 6 /62

 

Dear Father and Mother and Brothers and Sisters Inow take my pen in hand too let you know how William and my self are getting along wee are well and hope that this will find you all the same thare is snow on the ground 2 inchs deap hear now it fell last night and it is varey coald hear now fore too gow and stand on picket 24 ours gard thare gows my ink all over my lap let it gow thare is more whare this came from ihave had the ganders but iam as tuf as a not now wee are in the shelter tent thare is 3 of us in this and thare is rume enouf fore one and hardely that but wee have got too make the best of it thare was quite asture in camp on the first of / this month thare was some niggars came in too camp at 1 clock on Mounday morning and sead that the Reabbels ware at aplase cald alde and ware coming in this direction the drums beat the long role and the bugal serenade and such getting out of tents as that was you nore eney bodeyels every saw wee got our 60 rounds of cartreag and our guns and fell in too line in no time and was readey fore Jackson ore eney bodey els that dared too come but thare was no wone seamed too dare too come and make ous yankes aviset Sow when it came dalite the general Mc lane road along the lines and toald the men too bee readey at amoments notice But it was nothing but some Calvery that had come thare too seay see iff thare was eney of ous thare / not finding eney bodey thare they went some whare els alde is a small town about one days march that is about 15 or 20 miles from hear thare is not much too wright about hear at present ireceved that letter that you sent on the 1 of this month and those papors and was glad too hear from you at home and too hear that you are all well and those papors came in time fore ihad not had eney news in some time ishould licke too get some papor that has got the President mesage in when you wright agane send mee some cider in your letter wright as often as you can when you that the ware is ened wright and let yous know fore wee should not know wheather it is ened ore not down hear 

 

imust close now fore this time wright as soon as you get this

 

Good By fore this time from your Souns Samuel and William

 

Chantiley Dec 6^th 1862

Dear Father Mother Sisters and Brothers as Samuel was going to write i thought i would write a few lines and let you know that i am well and hope these few lines will find you the same Sam has given you all the nuse i suppose i have no time to read his letter so if i write the same thing he has wrote you must excuse me to day there was a rebel Cpt brought in to General Stalls head quarters look on the small paper for more No 1 you will sea the same on / this sheat

No 1

            The Cavelry came acrost this reb some where between here and thoroughfare Gap two or 3 days ago there was a young girl between 16 & 18 years old dressed in soldiers close taken by the Cavelry and brought to General Stalls head quarters She was a reb spy after being examined she was taken to General Siegel to do what he thought best with her when she started from Gen Stalls head quarters she jumped on the horse to go to Siegels head quarters and there was of corse a great many soldiers looking at her she told them to kiss her ___ and a great many other things that was not desent for a man to say She was a pretty fare specimen of the women they are all of the lowest grade of human beings the white girles are very ignorant as for the boys there is none left so we cannot tell wether they are the same or not but every thing looks the same 

 

we have just been out choping some wood the wether is pretty cool it snowed yesterday to the depth of 2 inches once level the ground has not been frozen any but 3 or 4 times the ground is not frozen at all and the snow will soon go if nothing happens and then it will be mud up to owr ancles or higher it is lovely down in Dixie and the Goos Hangs high we are all well and hope you are all the same write as often as you can.

 

James Kyle is in the tent with us he sends his love to all of the folks. No more at present Give owr love to all From your sones WAClark & SGClark      

                William A Clark

 

            Good night.

 

[top of this letter upside down and sideways]

 

write and let us know how mutch the pig weys

Paper is played out so is stamps

 

write as often as you can for we like to hear from home we will answer as many as we can Goodby for the present WAClark

 

[front top margin upside down]

 

Direct your letters the same as be fore and put on siegels Core first Division second Brigade we will get them more direct.

January the 23, /63

Brooks Station, Va.

 

Dear Parents Inow take my pen in hand to let you know that iam well and hope that this will find you all the same irecived aletter from Josie on the 22 and that is the first letter that we have had in some time and we was glad to hear from you and to hear that you was well we have not recived eather wone of them letters that you and James sent but they may have gon to the Rigement we are detached from the rigement for gard over the aminition trane and we are some of the time 10 and 15 miles from the rigement we are in the rear we are detaled for 3 or 5 months and iam glad of it for we shall not be in eney fight unless we are atacked in the rear we marched on the 20 from Stafford we are close to the RR that runs from falmouth to aqui landing

 

            this is all that ican think of this time this is from your Son Samuel G Clark

 

William will finish the letter for iam tiard out /

 

Brooks Station

Verginia Jan 23^d 1863

 

Dear Father Mother Sisters and Brothers

haveing a few moments after writing to Pheebe i thought i would write and let you know i am well and hope these few lines will find you the same we are on the march again we had orders to be ready to march on tuesday morning so we was aroused at 2 Oclock in the morning had roll call and then there was eleven of us detached from each Company to do guard duty on the ammunition train so we will not be likely to be with the Reg again in some time but we have the advantage in one account we are near headquarters so when the mail comes we get it first before it goes to the Reg so you sea we are all wright on that account now i will give you the number of wagons there is 90 wagons and the most of the wagons have six mules and some have 2 hitched behind the wagons so you sea we have quite a drove of mules there is about 600 mules on this train when the train is moving there is quite a string the train under way takes up about 5 miles in length then there is a supply train in the rear of us that takes up about the same space so you sea there is quite a lot of wagons in this Corps these wagons are extra there is from 6 to 10 wagons besides for each Reg then there is a train for each Brigad of about 20 wagons so you can / sea what a job it is to move an army we are here wating for orders to move how long we shall stay here we do not know but not long i will give you the names of the boys from ower Company Charles & William Curtis Henry Booth John Holmes Frank Benson Bob Fry Bob Farvour Alfeus & Leverit Farchild WA & SG Clark we are all in good health and hope these few lines will find you the same Sam had a letter from Josie last night and we was glad to hear from you She sayed you had not heard from us since christmass i received a letter from Father some time ago and answered it in a day or two after i received the letter i have no time to write now because we are expecting to have to go to the depot to onload hay oats & ammunition so i must close to have a cup of coffee before we have any orders to go Sam commenced and he sayed he could not write it so you sea he makes me do all the writing he can he always haves some thing the matter to get rid of writing no more at present ower love to all inquiring friends give ower love to levis folks and to Calvins folks also to Pheebe an Han and all the rest tell them all to write and we will try and answer some of them if not all Give ower love to all

 

Good by From your Sones     

William A Clark

S. G. Clark

 

Direct your letters the same as ever

 

[top margin upside down]

 

write as often as you can tell Calvin to write and when i get time i will write to him.

                                                                                                           

WAClark