CAMP FOURTH NORTH CAROLINA REGIMENT,
NEAR PETERSBURG,
COX’S BRIGADE, RODES’ DIVISION,
W. VA., January 15, 1865.
My Dear Mother:
McBride came night before last and brought everything safely, except the butter. He looked all over his baggage and we searched the box thoroughly, but could not find it. The articles which you sent me were the very articles which we needed most, especially the peas. We draw one third of a pound of meat now and we make out very well. You need not send me any more meat, as you need that more than we do. Send such things as peas, potatoes and such things as you make plenty of and do not have to buy. We are very comfortably fixed up in our winter quarters now. We have been busy cleaning up for the past two weeks and I shall be glad when we finish. The boys have gone into these quarters with less spirit than any we have ever built. We would not be surprised at any moment to receive marching orders, and none of us have any idea of staying here until spring. The greater part of the soldiers seem to be in low spirits and a good many say the Confederacy has “gone up” (as they term it), and that we are whipped. I have never seen the men so discouraged before. I hear also that the men are deserting the front lines and going home by large squads. If this is true and it is continued long, the Yankees will whip us certain. It is the opinion here that Richmond is to be evacuated this winter. That has a very demoralizing effect on the men also. I hardly think that General Lee will risk a battle around Richmond in the spring, unless he gets more men. I don’t think there will be any general engagement here during the winter. The sharpshooters keep everything alive on the lines day and night. Every dark and cloudy night they keep up such a heavy fire as to resemble a line of battle; although we are some four miles off, we hear every musket that is fired, as distinctly as if it was fired in our own camp. Every two or three days the batteries on each side take a notion to have a little duel, and for an hour or two there is a cannon shot for nearly every minute, then gradually dies out. It used to make me feel a little uneasy at first, for when we were in the valley and heard a cannon every man would fix up his things, and by the time he got that done, marching orders would come, but here we do not mind it any more than if nothing was going on. The box of blankets which we sent to Richmond last winter, and the one in which my shawl was packed, came the other day. Lieut. Wells expects to go home in a few days and I shall send it home by him. I drew a new blanket and also a pair of good woolen socks which, with the ones you sent me by Mac, will last me the rest of the winter.
Give my love to all.
Your affectionate son,
WALTER.
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.