1 Texas In camp near Henderson july 14th 1865 Dear wife as i have a fiew Leisure moments i will write a fiew lines to you i am well at present and i hope when this reaches you it will find you enjoying the same good health. we left Shreveport on the 10th and went to greenwood and camped for dinner and then we moved out four miles and camped for the night. the next day we got to marshall. we had to move off the road to get corn and water. the next day we came to the sabine river and crossed the whole regiment and wagon train on a flat boat which would not carry only (25) men and their horses but every thing was got over by twelve oclock P.M. and last night we got 2 nearly to Henderson but we had to go four or five miles to get forage and water for our horses. and this morning we overtook General West here and we have gone into camp and probably we will stay here until morning if we can get corn The boys are deserting every night there has been about fifty left our regiment since we started but there has not been any from our company. i think that they are very foolish to leave now for they will lose all the pay and bounty that the government owes them i will now stop writing until we march two or three days good bye for today N.S. Wm Eaegle the band is just going down to the generals to play a little for him 3 (Brazos River Texas (july 24th 1865 As we. are in camp to day i will write a fiew lines to you again. my health is good. and i hope when this reaches you it will find you all enjoying the same good health. we have only passed through four or five small towns since i wrote to you last. i will give you their names and then if they are on the map you can see the road that we are traveling. their names are Rusk Salem Palestine and Owensville there is none of then any larger than St-Johns and there is not half as much business done in any of then we have now been on the march for fifteen days and we are not more than half 4 way through. but we are within 75 miles of Austin and the report is that we are going to stop there a fiew days and let our horses have some rest. we will get to the plains the next day that we march and i expect that will be tomorrow. we have seen some of the worst roads to draw a load over that i have ever seen the sand was more than a foot deep for miles. and water is very scarce through here for man or beast we have some trouble about getting corn for our horses some days we do not get only one feed and and some times we get more. we crossed the trinity river at a place called magnolia. it is just about [penciled in July 14, 1865] 5 as large as our town but they have not got as good buildings. we have not crossed the Brazos River yet we are camped on the bank of it. it is a very nice stream but it is very small to be called a river. we have plenty of melons and peaches. i an not with the company on this march i an detailed for provost guard all the way through and it is a better place than the company now i will stop writing for this time and go down where the band are playing so good bye for this time Wm Eaegle 6 (San Antonio Texas (Aug 5th 1865 Now As we have got to our destination for the present i will try and write a fiew lines more to you. we are all in good health at present and i hope when this reaches you it will find you enjoying the same good health. We got to Austin last Saturday and we crossed the colerado River and camped until Sunday morning i went over in the city. it is not any larger than St johns. and there is no conveyance there only by stage. there is a great many secesh in that town. we got to this place last Wednesday morning and we came into town in style. there was two 7 brigades all came in here at once. the citizens made a great show but there is but very fiew loyal men in this place. the inhabitance are mostly germans and spanish. there is but very fiew northern people here. i have almost made up my mind to come down here to live. there is a man here that offers a farm to as many northern men as will settle here for ten cents per Acre. and furnish them with stock enough to stock their farm for twenty shilling per head. Aug 6th 1865 I did not finish my letter yesterday for we had orders to move camp and after we got every thing ready to move they found a better camp and 8 we will not move until tomorrow. we are only going to move about one mile from where we now are. we are camped about two miles East of San antonio tomorrow the mail goes from here for the first time since the war broke up and i want to get this letter off if possible. i expect it will be a week yet before our mail gets here. the boys that went around by water have not got through here yet. they cannot get nearer than one hundred and fifty miles by water and i do not know how they will get the rest of the way. now i must close for this time write soon and often and direct to San antonio Texas. excuse poor writing for i have to sit on the ground and hold my paper in my hand good by for the present Wm Eaegle