Letter from Luther Bruen, Camp near New Baltimore, VA to Augusta Bruen, 1863-10-23
Camp near New Baltimore Va Oct 23. 1863 My dear Augusta: Your good long letter of the 18th reached me this evening. Notwithstanding you commenced by saying you had nothing to write, you seem to have found a good deal to say before you got through. Having wrote you yesterday and the day before, and having laid in camp all that *I* time, I fear I shall have so little to write that I will find great difficulty in filling this sheet. -- You used to scold because I appropriated that little valise, but I think you would be perfectly satisfied, if you knew how useful it is to me now. For a week we were separated our baggage and I had neither soap, towels, hair brush, tooth brush, writing materials, in short when we started, I could take only what I could carry on my horse, my shelter tent, my overcoat and india rubber coat. Three or four days after we started we got a mule, a pair of blankets and another tent. It was not till we had been marching a week that I got to my baggage. Then after two weeks I got a change of clothing and filled my little valise with indispensables which I can easily carry on the mule. Now, I am pretty well fixed. I have already got the worth of my money in the use of it, for this short time, under these unpropitious circumstances. Now ain't you glad I took it. -- It has begun to rain this afternoon, and after a lull of two or three days the air is again filled with rumors. Some say we are going back to Washington, others that we are going forward; some are apprehensive that we may be started off to-night in the rain. I can see no grounds for these, but shall not surprised if we move to-morrow, or in a few days. It is said that Gen. Meade has just returned from Washington. I do not know whether this is true, but it probably is, and if it is, some plan of operation has most likely been agreed upon. What it is can only be surmised and as I am not good at guessing I shall not try this evening. Capt. Dallas rec'd a letter from his wife this evening which said Dick Lay's sister is very sick of typhoid fever. Col. *Berdan* whose name has been published at Washington for dismissal for absence without leave, I see has exculpated himself and has been granted leave of absence for 60 days. He has *pleurisy* of the lungs. I guess he is something of a humbug. -- I am very sorry that I am not at home just at this present time to see Master Robert in the glory of his fresh pants. It must be better than a play. I don't think I can accomplish a visit for a couple of months yet, perhaps not then, for the powers that be are very capricious, and I don't know that I can command any influence in the War Department. My rank however entitles me to some consideration, and as I have not had a leave for over two years I have strong hopes that I may get *one* when I ask for it. -- I have rec'd two Journals and a Commercial for which many thanks to *H* -- but not the one containing Col. *Strong's* obituary. -- It is said to-night that Gen. Meade has forbidden sutlers to follow. #This will make our diet very plain I fear. They issue hard tack now which was made for the army when on the Peninsula, full of worms and bugs, being more than a year old. We had a *decent* turkey for dinner to-day, nevertheless. No room to write any thing more. So I will say good bye, darling and stop. Thine, L.B.B.#
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October 23, 1863
Bruen, Luther Barnett
New Baltimore, VA
4 pages
United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865
Bruen, Luther Barnett -- Correspondence
Catharine Mitchill '31 Collection of Family Letters, Wellesley College Library, Special Collections
MSS.6.241
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http://repository.wellesley.edu/mitchill/241
