Bolivar Tennessee

Sunday night, November 2^nd, 1862

My Dear Wife:-

Last Tuesday night just as I had entered dreamland there came marching orders and Wednesday morning we marched to Corinth, where we joined the Regiment and thought that now we was in for a stay at Corinth and went to work to fix up; but alas! For soldiers calculations!!  As usual after being waked up twice to receive orders for the morrow, the third time was marching orders at daylight, with three days rations, and at an early hour, we was in the saddle and our faces set Corinth ward.  At Corinth we waited for the waggons to get off, till evening, when we started and marched about eight miles and bivouacked for the night.  It had been a little over a week since I had seen Corinth and I never saw such a change in any place in the same length of time in my life.  Corinth will soon exist only in name, for the town is being rapidly torn away and instead of frame and brick houses, there is only heavy forts to be seen in all the outskirts.  Then they are tearing away the houses in the interior and erecting barracks, sheds, depots, etc. then the timber all around the town is being cut, making ari abbattis that is almost impassible.  If you should see Corinth with its ugly looking forts and grim guns and the wide deep ditches around them, you would think that Corinth could never be taken.

Friday morning we started and marched through Furdy, an old town, but some good buildings, then through Bethel, a small village on the Railroad, where we passed the 48^th and 49^th Illinois Volunteers, but did not stop and I only saw a few of the men that I was acquainted with.  I saw W.E. Purcell and George Hainie and Brokaw and one or two others that I was acquainted with.

We again laid out about 20 miles from here and yesterday morning we marched to Bolivar, getting here about tow o’clock P.M.  As is common, it took till after dark to know where we would camp, then after we did go into camp, we moved out tents twice to get them right.  That took up the best part of the day (Sunday).  Troops were pouring in here all night and today and even now the cars are coming with more.  We expect the 111^th here tonight.  I today saw Billy Hepner, he came to our tent, he is in the 30^th Ills.  Since dark tonight we have orders to march at daylight tomorrow, with one waggon to two companies.  One tent to each company, five days rations and two hundred pounds of ammunition to each man, leaving all the extra horses and all baggage behind and no doubt that before you read these lines, we will again engage the enemy.  And if we do, we do not expect that all of us will be permitted to write to our families next Sunday, but we expect that some of us will have fought our last battle.  We all hope that we may be spared, but there is no telling who is to be sacrificed to the God of Battles.

Yours of the 12^th ultimo was received yesterday.  I ought to have received another today but we have had no mail today, and I don’t know whether we will have one tomorrow while on the march, but expect we will.  I think we will go towards Holly Springs (there comes another train), but the newspapers will tell you what we do before you can get a letter from me.

I wish you would write to me all about how John got my business arranged.  He has never wrote to me about it.  In my letter last Sunday I sent a dollar to buy some books for the children, which I hope you have received before this time.  I hope you will try to keep them supplied with books so that they may advance as fast as possible.

My love to you and the children.

William A. Smith