Camp Benton Oct 28, 1861
Dear sister i received your
letter last Saturday  night 
and was glad to hear from 
home once more and to hear 
that you are all well there and
this will tell you that i am 
the same at present. we were in vir
ginia last week and was there two 
days and then come back to camp again 
there was about five hundred rebels 
rushed out of the woods and fiered on 
      us
us but they did ^ no damage but we 
gave them a couple that sent them 
off in double quick time I tell you
and there was some of our boys out after 
straw to sleep on when they were fiered 
upon you may calculate they left that 
place in something of a hurry i tell 
you we killed a number of them 
they was all night in taking care of their

dead and wounded that we left on 
the field when we left there our 
general received a slight wound in the 
the leg. you wrote that Bill said that 
he is in this brigade but he is not here 
in this part that i can find out 
i think he is in the michigan brigade 
under general williams and he wants 
to get us ther with him. there was a 
grand march from this Point last 
Saturday in which the troops moved off 
further down the river we was on one 
general lee farm while we were in dixie 
and our boys killed three cows and some 
sixty hogs so that we had a plenty of 
provision. you see while we was there 
i have had three letters from mary 
since i have been here and you may 
guess that i was glad to hear from.
Some of the relatives if not from home 
and I had a letter from [lib?] Sunday night 
and it was a long one i tell you it was 
a large sheet of fools cap and she filled

it more than full and i was glad to hear
 that she had mary at school. your old 
friend austin spencer is here and is sound 
as a brick. this is the last letter that i 
shall write at present on the account 
of having no more stamps just now. you 
must write to me as often as you can and 
let me know how you are a getting 
along and all the rest of the friends 
in deerfield and vicinity. I should 
like to know whether doctor cougdon 
and his wife has got together yet or 
not and how keyes folks get along in 
marathon and whether they have 
moved on to their place yet or not.
ned Pierson is here with us and he is 
all right and he is getting so fat
 that he can hardly see out of his 
eyes and he is as tough as an ox and 
you may calculate he is a hard one 
to handle if he is so tall. i have 
not told you half of what has trans
pired within the past few days

nor will i for it will take 
more paper than i have got to 
describe it if you move get this 
before you move write as soon 
as you get out there and let
me know how like the coun
try out there and what the 
chances are for getting hold of
land and the average price per 
acre and the kind of timber 
generally and i want you to tell 
the boys not to go out into 
muskgon as they are far enough 
north already in mich they
had better go the other way 
and So No More at Present
And I remain your affectionate
Brother Roger Noble
P.S. Direct As Usual
Good Bye for this time