Camp Vanburen, Carter Co, MO Dec 26th 1862 
My Dearest Mary:  You will see from the heading of this letter that we have made another move.  It was a pretty hard march.  It is about 60 m's from Patterson here, the rout we came.  I stood it tolerably well.  I contracted a slight cold on the way.  Otherways I am verry well.  Many of the men gave out & lay down by the roadside, some of them came up at dark, others not until later & some have not came yet.  I am too fast with my story.  I will state that we started on the march from Camp Patterson on Saturday last.  We marched Sat, Sun, Mon, Tuesday, & Wednesday we had to cross creeks & ravines, & wade through mud.
 My Dearest wife.  I know that if you could have seen me toiling under my great pack & could have seen the perspiration driping from my face at times, like rain, that you would have felt sory that I had ever left my cheerful & happy home.  But I know that you sympathise keenly enough with me.  I do not regard a march were it not for the knapsack.  The loads the solders have to carry kill more men than bullets do.  There are so many talking to me & so much noise that I can hardly write & then I have to write on my knee, not even a board, to write on.  I have only a piece of newspaper.  I should have written yesterday, as the mail went out this morning & it will not go now before tomorrow, I received yours of Dec 10th with your picture.  I could not immagine who it was intended for, until I read your letter, you have certainly changed much in appearance, some how it don't look like my Mary.  I thank you for it, it was kind in you, but why have you grown so fleshy? why? O I want to see you so much.  When I wish to see you as you were when I left you I look at the locket after supper  the mail has came in but no letter for me.  I am writing by fire light, we have no candles. & the mail will leave early in the morning, so that I shall have to curtail this.  I would wait & write tomorrow but I know that you will be anxious to hear from me.  My own dearest you can Judge from your own feelings how anxious I was to hear from you although I received one only last Saturday.  I am sitting in the front of Birds Corwin's & Ben Wests tent writing in the light of pine knots.  I believe it is the first time that I have ever been so hard run for light.. & there is a crowd around the fire talking every thing, so you must not expect a very interesting letter this time.  So you can read it & know that my thoughts are absorbed in my waking hours in thinking
