Name: JAN BETTENCOURT
E- mail: JANNPAUL@WMCONNECT.COM
U.s. ste
john raine water prof la.
Sunday jan. 3rd 1864
dear cousen i am so tired i can hardly write but i suppose i must try to answer your letter i got yesterday it is the 2nd one i have got sense i left home, i have been in the saddle for three days scouting and it is very hard work where ther is as many rebs as ther is hear yesterday. We was in miss.
Today we roade 25 miles through la runing rebs scouts and taken prisonors they are very thick hear we have been fighting them for three weeks they slip up on us and kill our pickets and then run and we catch them if we can. We are 75 miles below vicksburg and i expect we will go on down the river the day after christmas. We had fight at port gibson and yesterday we drove the rebs a way from oakland colage and held it about 3 hours then we collected all the fat cattle we could get and started for rodney. We get off the boats 10 miles above rodney and the boats was to be ther befor us we got there by land after we got the cattle together. The major started me ahead of the column to see if the boats had got to rodney and to tell them to be ready to kill the cattle it was a dangerous tripp and i didn't know the way but i loaded my carbine and took my revolver in my hand and away i went. It was three miles and some places i could not see 50 yards ahead of me, steepe hills and steepe cuts but i whiped through and got to town safe.
The boat got there as i did. 50 rebs could get in to them hills and whip 500 of us if they had sense enough there is a good deal of suffering amongst the reb families hear this morning there was two women come on board to see if they could buy some shoes for there children they had three small children with them they were bair footed cold wet and muddy such things make me feel sorry i bought them some soda and crackers which was the first flower bread they had tasted for some six months well i quit for this time direct to the john raine be sure to put co d car mmb
ashley j. Fraizer write soon tell all the news my health is good i will write again soon
Notes: ashley j. Fraizer son of john j. Frazier and abigail leonard born 1840 indianna died in ohio cousin of lydia ann burgess parker written as wrote no corrections of spelling or punctuation
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