“Wee are faring badly…”

At Camp Shenandoah on April 9, 1862, a soldier named Shep wrote to Penelope that he was still alive and in good health despite severe spring weather on the mountain. He said sleet was falling fast, already about four inches deep, and that the men were faring badly in tents because they could not stay by the fire much. He expected a fight there within the next three weeks, believing the Yankees would follow them, but he thought the top of the mountain was a strong position that would be hard to drive with even a superior force. He also said he had received three letters from William and two from Penelope, and wrote that William planned to start for camp with Capt. Hawkins on the twentieth of the month, though Shep hoped he would be able to endure it and not arrive sick because it was the poorest place for a sick man he had ever seen.

Virginia · United States