CAMP HILL, N. C., July 9, 1861.
Dear Mother:
We arrived here about night, the day we left Wilson, and having raised our tents prepared to get supper, which we got about 9 o’clock. We are encamped in an old pine field, which is very hot, but the other companies that were here before have a very pleasant oak grove on a hill. The Second regiment, under Col. Tew, are on the opposite side of the road. Our Col. Anderson is a fine looking man, about six feet high, large and muscular, but not corpulent; a high, broad and intellectual forehead, bold face, and whiskers (shaped like Walter’s), about a foot long.
It is different with us here to what it was in Fort Macon and Newbern, as we are now the same as regulars. We have to come under the general regulations of war. I do not think that we will leave here for some time yet, as the whole regiment has to be uniformed with state dress. We have not received anything, and have only drilled this morning. Capt. Hall, of the Irish Company of Wilmington, in Tew’s regiment, had one of his men hung over a pole by the thumbs, but Col. Tew had him taken down. In Tew’s regiment there are 200 men sick, and a great many have died already, but in ours there are only two in the hospital. Walter sends his love. When you write, direct Camp Hill, Company F., Fourth Regiment, infantry.
Goodbye.
Your affectionate son,
GEORGE.
Letters from two brothers who served in the 4th North Carolina Infantry during the Civil War are available in a number of sources online. Unfortunately, the brothers are misidentified in some places as Walter Lee and George Lee when their names were actually Walter Battle and George Battle. See The Battle Brothers for more information on the misidentification.