under potest of our general, he threatens terebly but there are many hogs & beeves & chickens taken notwithstanding, yesterday one of our mess went out with a foraging party & brought in six chickens, we have had them fried, & stewed, sometimes we have a feast & at others a famine, for the last day or two we have had nothing but meat & boiled corn & potatoes, parched corn &c.  To day we have crackers, I did not know that I could do so well on meat, some of them made bye morning others Just boiled it in clear water, but we are nearly all enjoying the best of health & must not complain.  Now Mary I must say that I have a poor pen & ink & it may be some trouble for you to read what I am writing, I am writing close for the sake of economy as I have no stamps or envelopes & they can hardly be had at all.  I may send a letter I am writing to Stewart & Austin with this & you may hand it to them.  There are a great many things I would like to write about that I cannot for want of time.  O it seems to me that if one of them was in my situation & I in theirs that I would write often to him, but I suppose that they are hurried with their work so that it is not convenient, but you do not neglect me, & this is a source of pleasure to me more than any other.  I always look with a degree of certainty for a letter from you in that well known hand writing. & then I have a feast, to day I went away out by myself & read your last over O my precious how the warm tears rolled down my cheeks while reading the pure sentiments of a true wife, not tears of sorrow but those of I trust manly appreciation for my loved wife.  Sometimes when I see how this war is going on I almost regret having enlisted in my countrys cause, there is so much rascality & treachery going on that I sometimes feel almost disgusted
