Argyle Island, Ga.,
December 18, 1864.
An opportunity offers to send a few lines home. We are now
on an island in the Savannah river, very near the Carolina shore, our principal
duty being to guard a rice mill which is threshing out rice for the army. A
gunboat and shore battery have tried to drive us off, but we still hold our
own. To-day we shall probably receive rations from the fleet; for the last
week, the army has been living entirely on rice and some fresh beef. No
operations as yet are going on against the doomed Savannah. I imagine that
Sherman is waiting for a force to come through from Port Royal and connect with
our left, so as to invest the city thoroughly, and cut off all retreat for the
enemy. As soon as we get settled anywhere, I will write an account of our last
campaign, though I can't do it justice in any letter. Such a variety of
experiences as we have passed through during the last forty days, I never
dreamed of.
We had a very jolly Thanksgiving, although we marched that
day from Milledgeville to Hebron, fifteen miles. Turkeys and sweet potatoes,
honey and various other luxuries, were served at our table at eight P. M., and
we drank to the memory of the day in some old apple-jack of the country.
SOURCE: Charles Fessenden Morse, Letters Written
During the Civil War, 1861-1865, p. 197-8
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