CAMP RUSSELL NEAR WINCHESTER, VIRGINIA,
December 6, 1864.
DEAR MOTHER: — I received your cheerful letter on Sunday. It finds us in
the best of spirits and so comfortably camped that we all
would be glad to know that our winter quarters would be at this camp.
We have the railroad finished to within eight miles; daily mails and telegraphic
communication with the world. The men have built huts four feet high,
eight or nine feet square, of logs, puncheons, and the
like, banked up with earth and covered with their shelter blankets.
My quarters are built of slabs and a wall tent. Tight and warm.
We are in woods on a rolling piece of ground. It will be muddy
but we are building walks of stone, logs, etc., so we can
keep out of the dirt. — I have a mantel-piece, a table, one chair,
one stool, an ammunition box, a trunk, and a bunk for furniture.
We get Harper's Monthly and Weekly,
the Atlantic, daily papers from Baltimore, New York, and Philadelphia.
The Christian Commission send a great many religious books. I selected
“Pilgrim's Progress" from a large lot offered me to choose from a few days
ago.
Our living is, ordinarily, bread (baker's bread) and beef, and coffee and milk
(we keep a few cows), or pork and beans and coffee. Occasionally we
have oysters, lobsters, fish, canned fruits, and vegetables. The
use of liquor is probably less than among the same
class of people at home. All kinds of liquor can be got,
but it is expensive and attended with some difficulty.
The chaplains now hold frequent religious meetings. Music we have
more of and better than can be had anywhere except in the large
cities. We have very fine horse-racing, much better managed than can be found
anywhere out of the army. A number of ladies can be seen
about the camps — officers' wives, sisters, daughters, and the
Union young ladies of Winchester. General Sheridan is particularly
attentive to one of the latter. General Crook is a single man —
fond of ladies, but very diffident. General Custer has a beautiful
young wife, who is here with him.
I have just seen a case of wonderful recovery — such
cases are common, but none more singular than this. Captain
Williams of my command was shot by a Minié ball on the 24th of July
in the center of the back of his neck, which passed
out of the center of his chin, carrying away and shattering
his jaw in front. He is now perfectly stout and sound (his voice
good) and not disfigured at all. But he can chew nothing, eats only
spoon victuals!
Dr. Webb is a great favorite. The most efficient surgeon on the
battle-field in this army. He is complimented very highly in General Crook's
official report. He hates camp life, especially in bad weather, when he suffers
from a throat disease. My love to the household.
Affectionately, your son,
R.
MRS. SOPHIA HAYES.
SOURCE: Charles
Richard Williams, editor, Diary and Letters of Rutherford Birchard
Hayes, Volume 2, p. 543-4
