The Hattiesburg news. (Hattiesburg, Miss.) 1908-1917, 1915-03-17
A WAR TIME
DOCUMENTS


The historic document that follows
which gives a thrilling description OF
ZINES during Our own civil war, was
furnished to The News by j. w. Van
Norden, a Hattiesburg resident. The
letter in full is as follows:
camp near Bardstown, KY,
Sept. goth, 1862.
Miss F. A. Cain,
Zion Hill, Miss.
My dear Sister,
am thankful to God that am per
mitted once more to write to you. /
have not received line from you
since I left Tyner's Station. Tenn;
and you may imagine how uneasy |
am about you all. I received two let.
tiers from my dear wife the other day.
Hardy sent them to me. He came as
far as Chattanooga and took the fever
again. So he wrote to me and sent
me the letters; but he is not sick
much, l do not think. am very
anxious to see him. There are about
three Of US, and 1t looks like that !
am the only one that can stand life.
tell you am not standing it at all
now. My health is not good, nor it
has not been good for some time; but
felt good deal better this morning
than / have for some time past. III
took the fever about three weeks ago.
and the mumps also, and I had to
march every day; and tell you 1t got
me pretty low down. I am so weak
that l can hardly go; but I am in |
hopes that I am on the mend now.
We have travelled over one of the most |
broken countries you ever saw. After
We left Tyner's Station we crossed the
Tenn. River. and camped four days
IND nights. w then struck tents and
moved about three miles and camped
lear one of the best springs l ever
Jaw. We stayed there three days
mink, and then we took up the line
II march and have been at 1t ever
tnce. We have marched about two
undred and sixty miles. We crossed
yer the mountains. We first crossed
That is called Bolton Ridge, but l
all tt . mountain myself 1t vas
hree or four miles from the bottom ,
the top. The next was the Cum. :
erland mountains. It took US two !
avs and nights to cross these noun.
aims. This was pretty hard, was It ,
OF? I have seen some very hard I
mes since l left home. but Gen. I
ragg gives US praise for enduring 80 Z
lany hardships and not murmuring d
them, and says that we will have {
endure great many more priva- (
ons yet. .'
l pray God will. give me health and
,rength to be able to 20 through
it'll them. We are now camped near
ardstown. Ky. This, no doubt, Is a
miliar name with you, as this is the
ace that Bud went to school. It is \
very pretty place. l saw the old c
atholic church as l passed through t
'wn, and l. expect the college, as n
ey are all together. How long we s
LII stay here cannot say; but l do n
'pe and pray to God that we may v
DO permitted to 30 homo soon; but n
DO not SEQ any prospect for any p
'aee soon, but still hope so. Well, d
'ank. We begin to have some pretty ~
Id weather up here, and am in q
city bad hx for cold weather a. Ii
getting pretty poor. nor have I any
At yet sent home BY Sam Nun.
ny for some winter clothes, but he m
$ not returned yet. and there IL no lie
ling now when he will get back. d.
will give you an account OF the ID
Mt We had two weeks ago yesterday.
took place at Mumfordsville, some
'ty miles below this place. Our
gade was the only one engaged in
night. We had between twelve and
zen hundred men. We attacked
I'm between daylight and sun-up.
ey were In fort strongly entrench- l.