December 6^th, 1862,
On Picket

Dear folks at home,
Here I am, lying flat on the ground, trying to write a few lines with some ink that I have just manufactured. I am as hearty and well as ever, and feel first rate after our marching as far as we have. The boys from our neighborhood are all well and hearty as bucks. They all send their best wishes and respects hoping to hear from home soon. There has not been but very few letters received by any of the boys from home, and as for myself, have not rec'd a single one from any one. Can it be that all of you have forgotten me, or that the letters misscarry. We reached the Tallehassie [Tallahatchie] 4 days ago, and found that Price had burned all the bridges and obstructed the roads as much as possible. So we had to stop to Rebuild the bridge. The stream is about 200 feet acl across and quite deep, and besides all that, the water runs very swift. It took them two days to build it. When, a heavy rain coming up came near washing it away and the army was obliged [to] move immediately. So we all moved out yesterday and marched about 5 miles to our present encampment which is a good one on a high hill in the woods. We had not been in camp but a little while, when our company was thrown out as pickets. Price had calculated to make a stand and on the Tallehatchie and had thrown up long chains of breastworks and fortifications, some say as much as 15 miles. It is certain that he had a good position. But, when he found that he was likely to be caught in the trap that we had, he skedadaddled. With Grant coming in from the east with a heavy army and Sherman with our forces of about 35 or 40,000 which came from Memphis, which is in a northwest direction from here, he would be placed between two fires which he thought was to much. Several deserters have come in and they say that his soldiers are leaveing him every chance that they can get. If you were to travel through the country in our path you would [see] but very little of any thing. The houses are all robbed and fences, a great many of them, burned. The fences burned and destroyed. Corn & cotton taken for the use of the government. Yesterday we passed a large sawmill gristmill & cotton gin all combined which was lying idle [and] which was immediately set to work. There is lots of cotton through the country which is just picked and a good deal which is not picked yet. About ½ mile from where I am now, there is an old fellow which ran away on our approach who had about 200 bales about half of which is already baled. Each bale being worth in Memphis about $150.
We live first rate as long as there is any thing to live on. This morning our boys went out and brought in about a bushel of sweet potatoes, a couple of pails of molasses and a pail of corn meal, all of which very soon disappeared, & the hogs and cattle around here have a curious way of shedding their hides, and, all put together, we make out to live. Well I must bring this irregular scribbling to a close. I wish that if you could you would send me a few stamps for I cannot get any here. Now do not fail to write as soon as you receive this, for I have not got a line from you yet, and it seems rather lonesome away down here in Mississippi.                                                       
I remain ever your son,                                                                                         
Edward L                                             
To N.S. Chatfield 
Direct Company B, 113^th Regt. Ill. Vols., Via Cairo / Care of Capt. C. Williams