HEAD QUARTERS, ANDERSON BRIGADE,
August 15, 1862.
My Dear Mother:
As Mr. Parker will leave in the morning for home, I thought I would avail myself of the opportunity to let you hear from me. There is nothing new to write in the way of “War News.” You hear everything that we do, and that’s in the papers. Everything on our lines is quiet. We were put under marching orders a day or two ago, with the expectation of making another march to “Malvern Hill,” but the Yankees left and it saved us the trouble of running them away. Eight hundred of the Brigade are still working on the breastworks, some two miles below here. I am in hopes the Yankees will never get near enough to Richmond for us to have to fight behind them. The other regiment in the Brigade has received their conscripts, ours is the smallest one and we haven’t received a single one, and I hope we won’t.
General Anderson was making a calculation this morning and he says that we have lost 226 men, killed and died from their wounds, since the day before we went into the fight at “Seven Pines.” The Regiment is now under command of Pat Simms. All of our company are in very good health. I don’t believe that we have a single man on the sick list, and I believe it is owing in a great degree to the good water we get. It is the best we have had since we’ve been in Virginia. I am getting along very well indeed, enjoying excellent health, and have a very pleasant time.
We have very little writing to do, not half as much as we had at Manassas. General Anderson has no Adj. General yet. I would not be surprised if he was not waiting for Dunham to get well. I believe he likes Dunham better as an officer than any man in the Brigade. He has one of his brothers (Walker) as one of his Aides. I wish you would please look in my trunk and send me that brown veil that you will find. I want it to put over my face when I take a nap in the morning, to keep off the flies. You never saw any flies yet, you can measure them by the bushel here. The mosquitoes are terrible here, too. I shall put it over my face when I sleep out of doors, and that’s every night that it don’t rain. I’ve just learned from Mr. Parker that little Leon was dead. Poor little fellow, I never thought that when I left home it would be the last time I should see him.
Give my love to all the family, my respects to all my friends. Write soon, tell me all the news.
Your affectionate son,
WALTER.
P. S. Please send the veil by the first one coming to our camp. Give my respects to all the boys that you see.
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.