Providence Louisiana Feb 17th 1863 Dear Sister I Rec,d a letter from you last Saturday dated Feb 1st it found me as well as usual with the Exception that of Rheumatism which I have been Troubled with for Some time though I have not been laid up with them yet I was Sorry to learn that you had Suffered So mutch with your Eyes though I was glad that they were getting Better I hope this may find you all well; I Rec,d a letter from William yesterday Dated Jan 27th he was at O,K,s he had Just come up from St, Louis he Said he had been Exchanged and was going to Start to his Reg,t the first day of Febuary If you wish to write to him Direct your letter to Nashville Tenn he wrote that he and [Keys?] folks was well Okay wrote that he intended to have gone up to Mercer Co on a visit in the fore part of the winter but the weather was So bad that he could not get Started So he give it up I Rec,d a letter from Isaac last week and Answered it the, 12th you Said that Isaac and his wife had gone up to frosts on a visit I Supose he will go [crossed out] [over] and See the Old Lady Ingersolls folks Before he comes Back I wrote to my frow a long time ago that you Intended to write to her She Says [crossed out] [illegible] She thinks you are long time in writing I Recd a letter from her the Same date of yours She Said that She and the Boy was well and that the latter was growing finely … We left Memphis on the 20th of Jany and arrived at Millikens Bend Near Vicksburg on the 23rd here I come across .J.Y. Spaulding my wifes Brother he is in the first Wis Battery and was in the fight at Vicksburg and Also at Arkansas Pass he has been at Cumberland Gap all Summer In our letter you give a description of Some of the Self Styed patriots that Remain at home and do their part of the fighting with gass at a Distance; I notice that Both in civil life and in the army that those ^ do the most Spouting and Blowing always do the least fighting and are the first to Run when fighting comes; I never pretended to be a very Brave man I was actuated to go to war by a principal for my countrys good; but that Principal [crossed out] [has] Seems to have been overruled ridden, down and lost in the Dim Distance thus far I have served my country honestly and faithfully So [illegible] far as my power to do so was concerned I have been in Several fights and [crossed out] [run] run some narrow Risks; But I have Become Dissatis fied with the way this war is carried on; I now Sometimes think If I get into another Battle I will get out of it the quickest way I can that is if my leg Serves me a good purpose . I do not however Saddle the War on Lincoln and his proclamation as a great many of late do; for the war is older than the Proclimation [crossed out] [It] as far as the Proclimation is concerned its Self amounts to Just nothing one way or the other toward Stopping us or Proloning the War for the Rebels was fighting ^ with all their available force; their Strength and ambition could Devise; and probably Dispised us Just as bad Before the Proclimation was Issued, as they do now So I do not see that they can fight us any harder now than they would have done if the Proclimation had not been Issued; I do not approve of sending Negros North into the free States and I do not think there will be mutch of it done: I would almost give give my Existance to See Every Nigger Removed from the face of the American Continent and the whole Southern Confederacy (that is their power) Crushed to the Earth never more to Rise and Every Northern Office Seeking Traitor piled on the Ruins there to moulder through Eternal ages as a public Example to future Traitorous Rotton hearted Office Seeking political aspirants who may have Brass Enough to Revive them again I Dispise the Northern Traitors a hundred per cent worse. than I do those in the South It Grinds my Spirit as a free American citizen (now Military) Slave) to think that I with thousands more are Enduring nearly every conceiveable hard [crossed out] [sh] Ship in fighting for our country while we have politicians at home and all through the North who are opposing all war measures the Administration all war appropriations and Every thing Else; But the Southern Traitors and their cause; thus Weakeing our Strength at home and Encouraging the rebels South; Shall we throw Down Arms and Ask Traitors for peace on their own Terms; Shall we humbly Stack arms and ask Rebels for an Armistes While the Muzzles of their cannon is pointed full on our faces and Defiantly tell us they abhor our authority; Should we ask for peace and go home with our fingers in our mouths and leave the Traitors in Tryumph ; And disgrace the graves of a hundred who have fallen in battle thousand of our Brave Soldiers ^ without having avenged their Death ; Shall all this be Submitted to ; at the hands of the Traitors ; it is Horrible to think of ; yet I fear it will come to pass ; Swindlers thieves and Traitors in office have been gnawing at the vitals of the Government Ever Since the war commenced ; many of them who would Sell their Birth Right for a Mess of Potage; or Sell their best friends for a Small office ; And among the upper circles of Military authority they Seem to have more Design in Making Big Officers and Killing Privates than they have in putting Down Rebellion ; All this to a great Extent has Discouraged and Demoralised our Army the Result is many are Deserting and many more would hail a peace with great pay no matter how Dishonorable So it would Relieve them from the Service and the fatigue of a soldiers miserly life; and many ^ Citizens would have the war Stoped, too; for fear they will have a few Dollars of Extra Taxes to pay I; Believe however this war will be Settled in the Spring by Acknowledging the Southern Confederacy and letting them go; and there may be a Row Raised in the North and a Division of the East and west attempted ; it is Dificult now to Determine how this war will End; My paper is is out and I must close ; Yours with Brotherly love: Thos.J.Davis To G.W. and Elisabeth Ditto