tried to get into Co E. & Wagon Master &c. injured me a good deal, but the main difficulty was with Sargents & corporals, so many of them, & if I had have been elected no one of them would have been promoted, & you know that each one of them had his friends. I am satisfied that almost all the Co. thought me better qualified for the office than Downs & if I had been in his place & he in mine an election would not have been thought of. But my Dear wife you must bear this with womanly dignity. I will as a soldier. don't be discouraged. I intend to perform my duty, as heretofore & who knows what may turn up in our favor. I say "our" for that, that is of interest to me is to you & I know that you will sympathise with me in adversity as well as in prosperity, I know it, & O how pleasant is the thought to me that while you will be reading over these lines your heart will be beating true to the heart that is dictating them. & that the prayer "God protect my husband" will ascend from the soul of my true hearted & Christian wife
