Bristol Station, Va.
January 21st, 1864
Dear Father:
Yours of the 12th has been received. Day before yesterday I wrote a long letter to Frank and Miles, but having a spare hour today I will also write a line to you. Six months from today will be just three years from the date of the battle of Bull Run and of the muster in of the 10th Regiment at Harrisburg. So if kept until that time I have just six months to serve yet.
Say to Bingham I am much obliged to him for his criticism. I am glad that he notices such errors, grammatical and orthographical, and is able to correct them. I do pride myself on being a tolerable speller, and am referred to, daily as a sort of walking dictionary. I have often felt grateful to my parents for urging the necessity of being thoroughly conversant with the old spelling book. I have supreme contempt for a poor speller.
I am glad to hear that the books I ordered have been received. I wrote to the boys about commencing the study of them. I received the Journal of L. C. Smullen which you sent me. Poor fellow! He was my class mate at college and a brother member of old Philo Society.[1] I had heard of his death some time since, but his Journal is quite interesting to me. It shows just exactly the every-day-life of an enlisted man in the Army. His statement of cruel, heartless treatment etc. is undoubtedly correct. I have seen the same and worse myself, though I have never been the subject of such treatment. His Journal extended only over ten months—What would a history of a three years’ experience be?
I am glad that my lithographic album has reached home safely. I was much afraid that I would lose it in moving about from place to place, but I managed to take good care of it. I value it highly. I have two or three other books which I wish I had at home. I have had excellent health for a long time, and am feeling first-rate now. Tell Mother that my gray woolen shirts are not yet worn out, but that they have shrunk so that they choke me even when the top is not buttoned. I have plenty of clothing, bedding, and enough to eat, though not such a variety as might be found on the “bills” at the “Metropolitan” or “Willards”. Jesse Pryer and others at home from the Army can give you all the news and answer all questions of interest to you. I received a letter from Evrill a few days since, enclosing his photograph, which I now forward to you. He don’t look as though a minie ball had passed through his vitals. His wound has healed up, but he suffers pain when he breathes or is jarred suddenly. With proper care he will be as well as ever in time. He does not expect to ever be back in the Army—but thinks he will serve the balance of his enlistment in the “invalid corps” about Baltimore or Washington. He would be “all right” as long as Sylvanus stays in Baltimore but he says that Sylvanus is about to leave for some Hospital in the west. Please put the picture where it will not get lost.
Extend my “distinguished considerations” to Miss Chadwick and tell her that I shall look for that letter from her just as soon as she “collects her thoughts”.
Hoping to hear from you all every week. I will close for this time.
Yours affty
J. D. Chadwick.
In your next, please give me your age, Mother’s and all the children’s.
Next posting: January 27, 2014
Jonathan E. Helmreich
College Historian
Allegheny College
Meadville, PA 16335
[1] During the 19th century nearly all students at Allegheny College were members of literary societies that greatly shaped the intellectual and social lives of the young men. The two largest and dominant were the Allegheny Literary Society and the Philo-Franklin Literary Society.