Dear Wife
I take this present opportunity of writing to you this Sabbath Day. I am well at present with the exception of a cough, hoping this may find you all are well & in good spirits. I received a letter from you yesterday & I was very much pleased that you were getting along as finely as you do. I also received the news papers you sent me for which I was very glad for that is something we do not often get. The men in this regiment are tolerable healthy, then are some sick. I must tell you that there was a great time here yesterday when our letters came. I got one from you & one from Alf Mimmich, & one from Henry Trough & one from John & Rate. The one I received from you, My Dear, was the best of the four. You do not know & you have no idea how it cheers up the poor soldier when he gets letters from home. I do believe that some of our men would have been sick if they would not have got letters soon of nothing else but just a fretting & some of them did get bad news when they did receive them. Elias Ford got a letter yesterday that his wife was dead & buried. Since he got the last letter from her, she was confined & She left a small child 2 days old & his brother came out to see the other brother that was sick & when he came here, he was dead & buried a week then already, so that things work strangely.
I am sorry that Jennie has a sore finger & that poor little Charlie cries for his Papa. Tell him his Papa will soon come home again if he is a good boy. But he must take care of his little sister Jennie & he must not hurt her, & now I will tell you about our camp, we have it all laid off in streets about 18 feet wide. We have 18 tents in our street. Our tents are wedge tents which the most of us have raised up with logs about 2 feet high. We have our raised ours with boards that we carried about three miles. We have a floor of boards in our tent & we live like fighting cocks. Since we do not lie on the ground we do not get so sore as we did before & about my clothes. I will inform you that I am very well supplied.
My stockings were pretty well worn out but George got me a pair & then I drew 2 pairs, one for myself & one for him, but he would not take them so that I have now 2 new pairs of stockings & I am still wearing the gray shirt I only had it off once & that was to get it washed. I keep it as clean as I can. I have a blouse & a good coat & lots of other clothes & I still have my old boots, almost as good as new. I don’t want you to believe any stories about us being killed in battles or taken prisoner for that you will often hear & them stories are first raised to put our families on nettles. When there is a battle fought & we are in, you will hear all about it in the newspaper the next day & the number of the regiment & if the 158th is not mentioned then you need not be afraid or uneasy about. As soon as it is over & I am Safe I will write.
But I do not think that there is any danger at all of a fight here, & if there is there will not be a great loss on our side for we can get behind breastworks & forts & they will have to take the open field for it. I forgot to tell you we have pine trees to all our tents & it looks splendid. Daniel Shanabrook was here day before yesterday, he used to live there at Bell’s Mill and he was surprised that we looked as well as we did. You need not be afraid of us freezing or starving here if we can only stand the heat as well as the cold we will get along finely.
I see William Bell & Thomas Bushman & them other boys of the 101st almost every day. They are getting along first rate. Will Bell looks better now than ever I saw him. We may go whereever we will, we see some persons that we know & about going further away from home yet, I think that is not likely, we may & we may not. But I do not think we will for there is no other place Excepting Charleston, South Carolina, that troops can lay any length of time. It is thought that we will be stationed here all the time until we are sent home. One thing I do know we will not get to a safer place than this & if they do send us to Chambersburg, All I wish for is that the war is over & that they would send us home & that we was all at our homes & then I would be satified. I think the Rebels will soon be Played out if they only were & would know there own good, it would soon be over. I hope God will soon cause Peace to reign Supreme over the land again & that I may return safely to you again, is my wish. I think that we may come home by the first of May & if we do, our time will not be as long anymore. Tomorrow we will be 4 months in the service, then we will have 5 more to stay. If we must stay till July & if we get discharged in May we will only have to stay 2 months, & a half yet. It would suit me first rate. I would like to be at home in Harvest if I could be. But if I cannot be home we will have to do the best we can. If we just have Patience the time will pass around.
I know you have a hard time of it, My Dear, & I pity you from the bottom of my heart & that is the reason I would like to be at home to help you along with the Children.
But it is as it is & we cannot help it now. I know you can get along if you keep up the spirit & it will be a Joy to you & me both if ever I get home again for us to think of the dark times we have both passed through. Hoping & trusting that God will Bless & spare the lives of you & me & the Children & give us good health and safe return, is my Sincere wish & Prayer. Hoping by His Will to see you again & live to Honour & love you is also the wish of my heart. I must close my letter to you, write soon & don’t forget the old soldier. Farewell, Dear Wife & Children, Farewell & may God Bless you all & me is my Prayer.
Direct your letters the same as before
Jacob M. Bushey
To
Lydia A. Bushey