Augusta County: Jedediah Hotchkiss to Sara A. Hotchkiss, August
24, 1861
Summary:
Hotchkiss describes camp life, including food and shelter. He includes a floorplan drawing of
his tent.
Sara A. Hotchkiss
Saturday Night -- Aug. 24th 1861
My Ever Dear Wife
I wrote to you a week ago from Huntersville & have thought every day since that I could write to you again, but time, fully occupied, has passed on rapidly and now I am at the close of another week, and I did not know it my dear, until I asked, that it was Saturday night so completely does war unhinge all ones ideas of the lapse of time -- and I am afraid I shall have no Sunday tomorrow for maps are wanted & the information is at hand and I must put it down -- You can judge how busy I am when I tell you that I had two newspapers lent me today & did not read them had to return them unread -- and that is really strange for me you know well -- But I must go back and give you an account of the days -- and by the way -- I intend to send you a journal of my doings, seeings &c and you must keep it, for that is the only way I can have one kept -- and you will be glad to know what I am daily doing -- Sunday Aug. 18 I spent in Huntersville -- it rained very hard all day -- no half way work about it, and the streams got very full I read & wrote some & talked with Capt. Moorman of the Greenbrier Cavalry, who had by our permission had his bed put on the floor in the room where we stayed -- as we had a fine place & some fire & so had expelled some of the chilly dampness & gotten rid of the sickly smell that pervaded everything there -- Dr. Butcher is my bed fellow -- a kind hearted man from Randolph Co -- I wrote to you about him -- I declare I must quit -- the old tallow dip we have is so bad that I cannot see -- so good night & may God be with you all --
Sunday Night 8 P.M.
I am seated again at my barrel head to write to my beloved -- this has been a glorious day
-- sunshiny & clear, the 3 rd one of the same sort that we have
& it has been a quiet one -- though there has been a good deal of stir too -- the
changing of guards the parties at work on the road -- the making of a coffin near me, for one
of the Pittsylvania boys that died just below us, on the hill side & then the train
that went along to the burial -- but I have been in my tent nearly all day -- went down to the
Artillery Camp, about a mile & a half
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to get a box to put paper &
drawings in -- and then got 2 lbs. of hard biscuits from the commissary & a pound of
candles, on my way back -- that was at noon after I had been at work all the morning putting
down information on maps that the Gen. wanted at once -- and as I supposed he know the wants of
the service & it was a work of necessity I went at it with a will & worked
quite hard -- after a breakfast of our own getting up -- by the aid of Charley Woods -- the
Springs fellow that got into the scrape about Mary Burns, you remember & he sleeps in
my tent -- we had some honey that Dr. B. got yesterday -- wish you
had some of it -- and Charley got us some bread -- flat heavy, inch thick stuff -- and on that
we breakfasted -- our first meal under our new messing arrangements -- but more of what I have
done &c in the eating line -- after breakfast I worked at a map of the country between
here and Huttonsville -- the Gen. wants to understand fully all the points of the country
before he makes a move & I do not suppose it will be long before one is made -- well
while I was gone to the commissary's after the hard bread -- the Dr. baked 15 potatoes -- we
bought a bushel of fine ones yesterday for $1.25 & after I got back I cut up 2 onions
-- I bought 9 of them yesterday for 10 cents -- put salt & vinegar on them -- begged
the salt of the Reg. Commissary of Col. Gilhorn's Reg. -- and
drew a pint of vinegar from the Commissary on my own a/c -- so we
ate roasted potatoes, salt, onions & hard bread for dinner & I relished it much
-- for we have been eating since we came here with the Randolph boys & they only have
bread & meat -- the flat, greasy bread of the camp -- then I worked all the P.M. -- one
fellow that had been with us went out & got a 2 quart basin full of blackberries -- the
sweet ones -- such as grow in N. Y. -- at dark I quit work & got supper -- Woods had
bought a small Coffee Pot -- so I rinsed it out & made if full of
tea -- some of that you sent me -- it made me think of home -- made it first rate - - got a
handful of sugar from the Commissary -- I intend to draw some for myself tomorrow -- then
washed our cups -- (the Dr. went off through the country & found at a store 4 cups
& saucers, white, with handles on & one tin basin) -- put out a nice saucer
full of honey comb -- poured out 3 cups of tea -- set out the
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the blackberries and
put out some hard bread all on my brrel head & we sat down,
on the half flour barrel seats -- and I lit a candle -- had borrowed a candlestick from my
Boss, Major Williams and we went at it, and I tell you I ate a huge supper & enjoyed it
much --a quiet cup of tea -- good hard bread -- I have learned to like it -- good honey
& blackberries -- it was so good after the hard fare we have had lately -- I ate long
& the Dr. & Mr. Crouch that has been with us today did the same -- Woods does
not yet mess with us -- but he took a cup of my tea & a cracker & said it was
so good it made him think of his home & mother -- as he was not very well -- after
supper I washed up the cups &c -- the water is but 10 feet from my tent -- runs out of
the side of the hill and seated myself to write to you -- after spreading out my hay &
straw at one end of the tent & putting down my two blankets & quilt &
the Dr went to bed & Woods was already there -- the play being as follow -- the door of
the tent facing the E & the end of Cheat Mt -- [DRAWING OF TENT] My bed is the wide
space across the end -- rail outside & in -- Woods has the same fix on the left side --
only narrower -- & up near the head of his bed he has two posts driven into the ground
& boards nailed on for seat & table -- then you see my barrel seat &
table & up in the corner [illeg.] are stowed away bags &c. There goes
the tattoo -- drums above and drums below -- but I shall not quit -- they are not as rigid here
about lights as they were at Rich Mt. -- and there go the taps -- for putting out fires
&c -- and now the whole camp is one vast roll call -- every Co. has its roll called now
-- before going to bed and I can hear it now on every side
But I must go back & tell you about coming here from H-- Monday Morning -- yes
Sunday evening -- who came to my room do you -- think -- why Darnall -- who formerly lived
it Mt. Solon & married Dr. Hopkin's sister & told me he
was coming out this in a top buggy in the morning to near this place -- after a brother-in-law
who was sick and had dropped out by the way side -- and he heard I wanted to come out &
he would bring me & I thought of coming -- but in the morning it was muddy the mud deep
& the Dr. had not got the wheel we broke fixed, so I could not leave him. D. started
but he soon came back -- covered in mud, after help -- his horse had stuck fast in a mud hole
-- but he got help & went & brought back his
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the buggy &
left it in H -- & he went on on horseback We i.e. the Dr. & myself then went
hired a wagon & hauled rails we got of the landlord to the shop to put on the tire --
the only dry wood we could find, it had rained so long that everything was soaked, then he got
a man from Capt. Moorman's Co. that he knew -- a blacksmith -- to
come & helpt put on the tire & so by dint of work
& management we got fixed to start after dinner -- We took down Knapp's Creek -- a
stream as large as Middle River -- found the mud very deep -- we were just behind a long train
of wagons & so we went very slowly -- we at last got by them and at Greenbrier River
bridge we met John Arbuckle -- he had been home for a new horse -- he belongs to the Greenbrier
Cavy & told us about the skirmish on the Sewell Mt. which
you no doubt have heard of -- then we crossed the river -- a large stream even there -- where
are the famous [unclear: Morlin's] bottoms -- splendid flat land -- and there the rain
began to poor down in torrents -- and we rode some distance in it came up to
[unclear: Edray] -- 12 miles from H -- and there turned off the main road some distance
to Mr. Pogue's at the head of the Indian Draft -- to get lodging -- they somewhat reluctantly
took us in as there were already some 8 there before us. -- You have no idea how the country
gets filled up with the sick & stragglers -- but we got in -- got a good supper of
Maple Molasses, good bread & milk and stewed fruit -- then sat down & got dry
by the side of a blazing fire in a wide chimney -- talked over a good many things with the
Lunenburg boys we found there & then went weary to rest in a very good bed in the upper
story, which was all one room -- & full, as is usual of the wealth of the Mountaineer
-- a loom with a web in it -- a long table full of sugar loaves, made in tin pans -- piles
& bundles of everything -- saddles -- yarn -- sheep skins &c &c and of
course we slept well --
