Dear Parents,

I thought perhaps you would be glad to hear from your runaway son again, so I will write a few lines.  I am well and in good prospects of remaining so.

We have mad a move but got stuck in the mud and so did all the artillery and the expedition was abandoned.   We started at the edge of the evening and it commenced to rain.  We did not go 3 miles that night.  The pieces and the caissons got stuck every little ways.  Such a night as that.  It was the worst night I ever was out in.  It rained like torrents all night.  The wind blew like a hurricane and was cold enough to freeze you through in one blast.  The next morning extra teams were hitched on to the pieces and caissons that were stuck.  The battery got together and we started.  We went around and struck the Warrenton Turnpike.  We wished to go to the river about 8 miles above Falmouth.  We got within a mile and a half of the river about 4 o’clock .  It rained most of the time.  We suffered a good deal from the cold.  3 pieces and one caisson fetched up here. The rest were stuck back several miles.

We stopped here all night and the next day and night.  In the morning, we started back for camp. The canoniers had to carry their own knapsacks.  Several brigades of infantry were to work on the roads.  We got back to camp in the afternoon and pitched our tents.  We have log houses built with tents for roofs.  The day before yesterday, we had a snowstorm, the heaviest we have had.  It snowed everywhere about 3 inches.  It has cleared and warmed and the snow is going very fast.  The roads are dreadful muddy.  It is impossible to move artillery and almost impossible to move infantry, else they have boots to come to their knees.

I have had my portrait taken and will send it in this letter.  I don’t suppose my features look very natural.  It was about noon and outdoors and I had to look towards the sun.  It was impossible for me to keep my eyes open.

I don’t think of much more to write. I send my love to you all.  Goodbye for this time.

From your son,