Sunday, August 3, 2014

Brigadier-General Thomas Kilby Smith to Eliza Walter Smith, December 15, 1863

Headquarters First Brigade,
Fourth Div., Seventeenth Army Corps,
Department Of The Tennessee,
“Camp Kilby,” Miss., Dec. 15, 1863.
My Dear Mother:

I am glad you were pleased with the pictures, though I think they were all wretched. I do assure you I was anything but sad when mine was taken; indeed, we were all in a high frolic. I believe it is the general expression of my countenance when in repose. General Grant's was a very fine one till the painter ruined it with his daub. The group is worth keeping and will be historical.

Our weather here is most delightful; until within a day or two perfectly pleasant without a fire. Yesterday a thunderstorm and to-day bright, clear, and bracing, something like your October weather. My camp is outpost in a very wild, broken, barren country. I am in front, and nearest to the enemy. We exchange compliments occasionally. Yesterday the caitiffs captured a couple of my men who had ventured beyond the guard line. So we are on the qui vive, and that keeps the blood stirred.

I have left a life of great luxury at Natchez — “fortune la guerre.

SOURCE: Walter George Smith, Life and letters of Thomas Kilby Smith, p. 344

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