1st Epistle 

     Vicksburg Miss July 10th 1863 

                          Dear Brother & Sister 

I Sit down this afternoon to write 

you in Answer to your letter of the 

21st of June which I Recd on the 5th 

inst., [?] but have not had time to Answer 

it untill now I was verry glad to 

hear from you and to hear that you 

was in no worse health I am consid 

erably troubled with Dyspepsia and  

[crossed out] [have] Nerviousness Since warm wether 

commenced and I have been troubled 

with Rheumatism a great deal the 

latter part of winter and all through 

the Spring months but I have 

not missed a days Duty my Rheumatism 

does 

^ not afflict me so mutch now Since 

hot wether; I wish you mutch Joiy 

over your big boy & hope he is a 

whaler and can lick his daddy; not that 

I want his daddy licked but then I 

would know that he was a Spontaneous 

boy; thats all 
I 

^ Rec,d a letter from my wife last night 

dated June 20[?]nd She says her and 

the little one is well She thinks She 

has got the greatest gall out of Jail 

it weighs 20, lbs; She Says She will 

Answer your letter as soon as She gets 

time; that is; after She gets it; 

I Rec,d a letter from Ike and his wife 

and Mahala last night it was dated the 

22nd of June; they wrote no Special news 

I thought I would write so as to 

Send you and Ike a letter alternately 

about Every two weeks but you neg 

lecting to write when you Recd [illegible] 

letter it brought both of your letters 

together again; I also Recd a letter 

from David Ingersoll and Ida 

they wrote that the folks was well 

and that little Charlie was as 

big a roudy as ever: I would give 

my Boots and Breeches and all the 

Old dirty Socks I have if I could 

     get to See him; It is over 2 years since I saw  

                                                                                       him 
Vicksburg  July 10 1863 

[illegible] 

I Supose you have heard before this time 

all about the great Surrender of 

vicksburg in the papers I will not 

therefore attempt to give you many of 

the details of the affair: but I will 

Say that I never Enjoyed the celebrat[torn] 

of this fourth of July So well in my life 

as I did this year; not that we had a 

fine fair ground to parade on; not that 

we had a large procession of Spruce young 

Gents [crossed out] [not] and finely dressed young 

Belles Representing Each State, not 

that we had a pick nic and a Splendid 

Dinner of all the delicacies of the 

                                                          no 

country to tempt our appetite ^ not that 

for my Dinner consisted of hard tack 

Boiled Beans and what the boys vulgarly 

call Sow Belly; the cook brought it out 

to us where we were in line in front 

of the Rebel works; we sit down on  

the ground took [crossed out] [out] our tin plates 

and filled them and the ground was 

our table; while I was eating my 
Smelling propencities become some 

what Excited with the Savour of Some 

thing that was in no wise delicious 

on investigation I discoverered a 

                            Badly 

partly dried and ^ Smashed muskrat 

[illegible] it; under my plate, Of course 

I Retreated a few feet; and then 

finished the Repast; So mutch for 

the Dinner; and it was not the [crossed out] [Ball] 

gay ball room the graceful dance; or 

or a cut and dried political speech 

that I Enjoyed So well; But 

it was to See white flags run up 

[illegible] all the way round on the Rebel 

fortifications a distance of several 

miles; and the Rebels come out and 

Stack their Arms in front of us 

and and Surrender themselves 

and vicksburg in the hands of 

the Union Army; we then marched 

forward and took [crossed out] [the] possession of the 

Rebel works and Arms Just as they 

had left them; uninjured  T.J.Davis