Letter from E.W. Mudge to his mother, March 17, 1862

Camp Smith near Corinth Miss                                           

                                                                                                                        March 17^th, 1862

Dear Dear Mother,   

In obedience to my promise in sister Sue’s letter I will not endeavor to write you a letter.

After finishing Sue’s letter the other evening I returned to bed in a house in Corinth with ten others of our Company and after talking then or fifteen minutes went to sleep and was not disturbed until 2 oclock next morning when we were adjutant of the Regt and told to put on our caps & Cartridage boxes and with our guns in our hands we filled down stairs into the street and were communicated in a whisper to halt. we were then told not to talk over a whisper and to follow him (the adjutant) we filled up town turning several corners (and I can tell you

we expected something in the way of a fight was coming) well I was saying we followed him until He halted us before a large brick house there ten men (I among them) were detailed to go up stairs and bring down the ammunition which we did though rather hard work I was as a box of 1000 cartridages weigh pretty heavily on one man’s shoulders. well we brough[t] them all down and by that time the rest of the Regt had arrived so the cartridges were distributed among the men 40 rounds each and then we were told to go to our several resting places and put them in our boxes and hold ourselves in readiness to march in a moments warning but that warning has not yet come so we rested in peace the rest of that night. Yesterday I was a guard in town all do so all the meals I had

was breakfast and supper though that is faring pretty well for a soldier. I ate my breakfast and quietly and passed the day in the same way but about five oclock I was relieved from duty and went immedi-ately to the Tishomingo Hotel and after washing myself and putting myself in  ?? I went into the partes? Where I was introduced to a young lady in whoes company I passed most all of the evening very pleasantly and then went into the dining room where we had a very nice supper (and I do believe she thought I was going to breed a famine after supper I stayed in town enjoying myself very much until nine oclock when I had to leave for camp where I arrived in safety just before role was called _______

Mar 17^th

after role we had to go to bed where we all remained until six this morning when we were arroused to answer to our names again after that we had breakfast after that I was detailed on guard duty where I will remain twenty four hours which time I will extend until eight oclock tomorrow morning that is I will serve two hours on duty and four hours off. This duty and the picket duty are the hardest part of a soldiers life. I must now go on duty so I will finish this letter some other time so good bye for the present.