The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-04-04

Thomas caffey the Cenfedsrats SOL
dier. who wrote these letters nome
soi sro1 aus wss so%Dsay ns
mp Of young men Of Montgomery. He
was. born In Lowndes County but was
praoticing law In this city when the
war broke out. He entered the Con-
federete Army az private ana these
letters are views and Impressions writ
ten home to members Of his family. He
family Of Middle Alabama many of
uhcn I'VE Lowndes. Chiffon and join
Ing counties. The writer safely pass
ed through the perils OF the war and
lived to & ripe old age. Ed motel
sending Lefters Home.
Entrenched Camp
Norfolk. Va. Nov. 81. 1851.
Iwrote YOU a letter q few days ago
bat a. I have . chance to send another
By Ii. Han have concluded to write
you Q few tines. Since my last letter
10 you have suffered a good deal
with cold ana occasional fevera but
1eei much better today and hope to
aoon ba ~ well a. usual. We have
had some very cold weather in the
past week and OCCASIONALLY z severe
but 40 TAR no damage has been done
in health or Otherwise other than CIV
ing M n rood deal Of Inconvenience.
know Of no sfcaness among our boys
thouRh/ they are constantly exposed to
the various changes OF this chanReabis
Il matters not what the state Of the
weather is when you are detailed for
duty you hsve TO 50 and DO the best (you
can to keep from drowning. or Frees
ine as the case may be. In q few days
(sothe Colonel says) we will get into
our new quarters--and hope that wo
will manage to keep more comfortable
than we now are ana that the guard
duty will not be 90 ouerous as II now
70. One very great difncuity we have
20 contend with IL the want OF wood.
priyates and non-commissioned ofifcera
ara allowed by the regulations only
one-sixth Of ascord per month and a.
the article costs the government $500
per cord you can readily imagine that
our supply ts not very abundant We
intend however to cut all we can In
our vicinity and leave the ConIecerste
States to account to the owners Tor II
az we do not intend to freeze in tnis
cold country II we can help It.
Rum0rs Of nm Early Attack.
Again rumors begin to come thick
and fast that an early attack will BIO
made on this place. I learn that o
board was found In Elizabeth River
yesterday supposed to have been
thrown overheard OF some vessel by .
confederate prisoner. notifying the
authorities that an attack would DO
made In few days. I am inclined to
think there 10 some truth In the ru-
NOR as the Yankees for two or three
days past have kept up g. continuous
hre on our batteries at Piggs Point
and seweils Point. AND 7 presume In all
they have expended about 1900 shot
and shell. A few days ago body OF
: 5000 Yankees marched from the south.
) ern part OF Maryland to the eastern
shore OF this State which comprises
the Counties of Accomac and North
ampton. and succeeded In running on
and capturing every man favorable ."
II this force Ia not intended TO opsr.
ate against Norfolk II does not look
! reasonable that their sole object is to
keep In subsection two small counties
which are isolated from the main
iand~1-and the occupation Of which can
never b OF any benefit to them. II
would aot surprise met II these rumors
are truel 70 have : night here at any
! time in the next ten days. So far as
my opinion is concerned i look on all
reports concerning the capture Of this
place 30 sensation stories and are
gotten up by some Of the ten thousand
. Yankees who inest Norfolk. The ras-
calls win never dare come this way.
though I must confess we are not as
! they don't know that and probably
never Will unless soma traitor from
Norfolk gives them che information
sonce thought ! would come home
Christmas but Il have now declined
the idsa. ne only have a little more
than f1ye months TO serve the confed-
crate States. hope to hear from you
III remiss IN writing to me- I have
heard nothing from Hopper in nearly
5 two months. IL he too busy to remem-
Der his absent brother.f Willie and
Hub are both well. Give love to all
Your Bro.
Thomas.
Camp at Moselys Church
ses Near Norfolk Dec. 10th. 1851
Your letter came to hand a few
days ago and having a good chance to
send TO town tomorrow i will write
you a brief reply tonight. I intended
writing You by Willie Dunkiin but the
granting of furloughs being discon-
! tinued he will not be able to go home
before the expiration OF his term of
service. The reason I understand why
no more furloughs will be granted is
that an attack on this place is regard
as imminent by Maj Gen. Huger and
In consequence the presence of every
available Soldiex belonging to the COM
znand IL necessary to aid in its defence.
II the danger passes away. you may
possibly see Willie after Christmas,
but as long as the Yankees are as ac-
tive IN our vicinity as they now are
every man will be required to remain
, IN camp. We have now been in Vir-
ginia eight months and all that time
. largely superior force, Of the enemy
have been only eight or nine miles
from US, yet they have not dared thus
far to hazard an attack on our lines.
We would certainly give them a
Tight IL we could get them away from
under the protection OF the guns of
their heavy armed vessels and Fort
ress Monroe and besides we have no
means of crossing Elizabeth River to
s get at them and even IL we did the