Franklin County: Henry C. Metzger to His Father,
June 16, 1861
Summary:
Metzger writes to his father about his regiment's position and possible movement
in Northern Virginia.
Father
June 16, 1861
Camp Riley [deleted: Hanover]
We arrived here today about 5 o'clock in the evening after marching 12 miles, we left camp Brady on
Wednesday afternoon and marched through Greenecastle and camped 3 miles south of it [added: called Camp Lee]. We are now encamped 2 miles
east of Williamsport and 2 1/4 miles off the Virginia shore and 19 miles off
Harper's Ferry. I saw
Charles [unclear:
Stine
] in Greenecastle his family is all well.
as far as we can learn the enemy has left Harper's Ferry
and destroyed
everything
before they left. I think we will lay here now until we
get further orders from head quarters as our
destination was Harper's Ferry. the row of troops that
left Camp Lee and neighboring camps was at least 7
miles long. we had 6 rifled cannon in our Brigade.
There is [unclear: any] amount of Infantry Cavalry
[unclear: &co.] on the road. we did not go through Hagerstown. a
good many of our men gave out today. it was very hot. I got at least 4 miles ahead of the brigade. we had 1000 cavalry along with us and 11 regiments. the people in Maryland are very
clever they only charge 3 cts for a small piece of
bread. but you can see nothing but the
[page 2]
Stars & Stripes.
yesterday I saw that captain that would not give up at
fort Sumter and six of his men. he looks like a determined man. each of our men
has 40 rounds of [unclear:
cartridges
]. tonight a scouting party will leave for
Virginia. The other day J.V. Schriver was with
us in Camp Brady. we left the camp 2 hours after he left. I could easily march
20 miles a day, and not mind it. the scouts have very strict orders. there is a
report circulated that we will now be sent to Washington or Alexandria. our men
are all well but tired. we are only 6 miles from Hagerstown. if we get different
orders we will march to our left through it on to Frederick.
Sunday Morning June the 17, 1861. There is a very heavy thunder gust coming up. it almost seems like night. we are encamped right aside of the [unclear: Canococheaarge] creek. the same one that was at Camp Brady. every day we go in swimming. there is nothing new here of any importance. as soon as we move our quarters I will write. if we go to Washington we will take the cars from Hagerstown. as for news about the war you know more about it than we, as we do not get to see any papers, or any thing else but troops.
from your son
H.C. Metzger
[page ]
Tell
Mr. Piller
if he writes to direct to
Williamsport
Washington
Co.
Md.