30 October 1864

This letter appears here courtesy of George Wilkinson at 4thMichigan.com.

Decatur, Alabama
October 30, 1864

Dear Father,

I had a little time to spare this morning and I thought I would write you a few lines and let you know that I am well. I have had some close calls. We are on the right of the lines in entrenchments. The night before last our regiment lost 5 men — one man right in front of me — shot in the back and died this morning. I think the rebels have left these parts. We did not see but a few yesterday. The day we arrived here, they had quite a bunch with them. We took 117 prisoners and 2 captains. You could not tell them prom privates. We killed the man in command of them. They look rather hard looking but they can shoot their guns [and] are a great deal better than ours. They [a sharpshooter] once shot at me and the captain 3 times, and I think he would have killed one of us but we got out of sight and one of the men shot him.

Sherman will be here today and I think he will follow them up. We are not in much danger as long as they keep us in the ditch. The captain understands how to place his men. James Hiller was shot in the foot. He is the only man in our company that has got hurt. The rest of the men are well. The rebels are making a desperate effort to capture us but I don’t think they will make it out.

We have got 3 gunboats here that shell them all the time and keep them from crossing the river. If they could get across, they would take us sure. Capt. Henderson sent his sword to you today and wants you to send it to Capt. G. H. Henderson, Lapeer [Michigan]. I will send mine home as soon as I can get hold of a common one. I don’t think it looks much like war here. We can look off to the left and see a lot of Reb graves and 2 dead horses that have been killed here during the fight.

I think we will not stay here much longer. They have ordered us to pack our knapsacks and that makes me think we will not stay here long. I would like to hear from you. I have not had a word from you since I left home.

If you want to see a stony place, you ought to come down here. It is nothing but stones. We went through places where I could look up 20 feet and see nothing but stone.

I send you some cotton. I thought it was a great deal larger than it is. Tell Birt that I will write to him as soon as we get settled down. I send this through Nashville by a man that was captain in the 7th [Michigan] Regiment.

Give my love to all the family. Your affectionate son, — C. J. Fox, Jr.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.