CAMP OF THE 208TH REG[IMENT]. P[ENNSYLVANIA].V[OLUNTEERS].
Nov. 6, 1864.
DEAR SIR:
I am seated this morning to drop you a few lines to let you know how we are flourishing. We are getting along finely and enjoying the best of health.
Company H had quite a time yesterday presenting Major [Alexander] Bobb, of Bedford County, with a horse.1 It was quite affecting, yet all the boys appeared to enjoy it.
There was heavy firing in the direction of Petersburg yesterday [November 5, 1864].2 It is supposed that the rebels will make a general attack along our lines about the time the election takes place. But we are bound to vote for Old Abe if we must vote in line of battle.3
I never knew a regiment to have better health than the 208th [Pennsylvania], we have not lost one man by sickness although we have had one killed, one of our own men shot him on picket. They both belonged to Company E.
Jacob College is very much under the weather. He has had eleven attacks of spasms in one week, they are caused by homesickness. If he could only see Rosy it would be all right.
Yours Truly,
DAVID S. JOHNSON.4
SOPO Editor’s Note: This article was transcribed by Roy Gustrowsky.
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Source/Notes:
- SOPO Editor’s Note: Major Alexander Bobb is listed in the Dyer’s Compendium entry for the 208th Pennsylvania. Here is his Find a Grave site: Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com : accessed 04 December 2020), memorial page for Maj Alexander Bobb (1823–1910), Find a Grave Memorial no. 25890215, citing Fairview Cemetery, Martinsburg, Blair County, Pennsylvania, USA ; Maintained by Candy (contributor 46888015). ↩
- SOPO Editor’s Note: This was almost certainly coming from the November 5, 1864 Skirmishes in Front of Forts Haskell and Morton on the Eastern Front of the Petersburg lines. Letter author Johnson and the rest of the 208th Pennsylvania were in the lines along the Bermuda Hundred front as part of a temporary Provisional Brigade at this time. ↩
- SOPO Editor’s Note: The Presidential Election of 1864 was only days away. IT was scheduled for Tuesday, November 8, 1864. ↩
- “Camp of the 208th Reg. P.V.” The Bedford Inquirer (Bedford, PA), November 18, 1864, p.3, c.3. ↩