Written from Tupelo, Mississippi. Letter regards John R. Hurley's health, the health of some of his fellow soldiers, and personal matters.

Tupelo Mississippi June 10th 1862

Dear Sisters, I seat my self to write you a few lines to let you no that I am getting well I have had the measles but they never hurt me much I staid in the hospital a week but I am at camps now. I reccon you thought I wold not write at all but I haven't had the chance to write before. You have heard that Dick was dead I reckon he died last Saturday was a week I was sick and they would not let me see him buried he was buried at a church at Saltillo about six miles above here he had the measles he took them about the time we left Opelika. The Doctor wanted him to stay at Mobile but he said he had rather go on. Jess [Stop] had the measles and he staid in montgomery and I hav't heard from him since. There is several of them Sick Postell and Tom Dickey has got the mumps. I have seen Will Jackson he told me to tell you all that he was not in very good health but he was getting well. Loves Co. is here clos to us I have not seen any of them my self but some of the boys has bin over there. Bob Shels is well. We move easy two or three days. We are about forty miles from Corinth this is a very prety contry here but water is very Scarce here it is cool here of nights. There is thousands of Soldiers here. I would be glad to see you all but I expect it will be a long time before I can see you though I hope I will see you al some time. I can't write much now I must quit. I will write again soon you must write to me direct your letter to tupelo Miss. Co. A. 39 Reg. Ala. J.R. Hurley

Written from Shelbyville, Tennessee. Letter regards John R. Hurley's health and life at camp.

Shelbyville March 11th 1863

Well Puss Lize and [H] I seat my self to write you a few lines to let you no that I am well and hope to these few lines will find you injoying the same. Jess is right smart sick he has bin sick two or three days. The rest of the boys I believe is well. It is very fine weather here now it is fair and warm it looks like I ought to be at home and ploughing these prety morning but I am afraid it will be a long time before I get to plough. We are living very well here now we get plenty to eat and have plenty to do to keep us in good exercise we don't have to mutch to do though. I don't recon you said I must get a discharg and come home in april maby I will I don't know yet, but maby I will try if I keep as hearty as I am I don't want no discharg because I would have to come right back and I had as well stay while I am here but I would like to be at home these prety days. Tell Tom and Jimey I say I think they are large enough to come to the war now and I think they had beter come for they are neded here now I expect we will have to fight before long if it stays fair we have bin under marching orders about two weeks but we may stay here along time yet. this is a very prety place here while it is dry I don't care if we stay here as long as we stay in the war. I must close you must write to me. I don't intend to write any more untill you you write to me again. I have wrote three or four and have not got but one. So nothing more. J.R. Hurley

Written from Shelbyville, Tennessee. Letter regards John R. Hurley's health, the health of some of his fellow soldiers, life at camp, and personal matters.

April 18 1863 Shelbyville Tenn

Well Puss Lize and [H] I will write a little to you all again as Mr. Park is here and going to start back in the morning. I am in tolerable good health at this time I have had a very bad rizing on the back of my neck but it is getting well now. I haven't done any deauty in three or four days but I am ready for deauty again now. I can't think of any thing to write that will interest you. You said if you was me and Lieut. Roberts got married you would get maried to. I dinot no he was going to mary or had any notion of it but there is some very prety girls up here. I would not blame him mutch if her was to mary up here but I don't think he will. Well I will write about something else. It is a very prety day to day has bin prety weather for some time it has bin right cold for the last week until to day. Their has big frosts every morning they are cleaning up the camps here to day. Their so much smoke I cant hardly see. We just moved here day before yesterday we have moved back to the brigade. The Co. is in very health. Capt. Nall is not very well I believe the rest is all well. Cicero and Henry Satcher is as fat as hogs. I saw Bob Sheels last Sunday he is hearty. Well I write so often I cant think of any thing to write so I will quit you must all write to me. So nothing more. J.R. Hurley

Written from Shelbyville, Tennessee. Letter regards John R. Hurley's health and personal matters.

Shelbyville Tenn April 28, 1863

Dear Sisters, I seat my self to write you a few lines to let you know how I am geting along. I am well at this time. I have bin sick a litle but I have got hearty again now the boys that is here is all well I believe. I have nothing to write that would interest as I have written since I have gotten a letter from you all. We have very nice weather here now and have had for about a month. I wrote home for clothes but we now have drawn as many clothes as we want but I want some shoes my shoes is all most worn out and I don't expect I can draw any. I want paper too send me some by Lieut. [Hooten] when he comes back if he can. We all have drawn money. I only drawed eleven dollars but I recon I will draw two more months wages before long. we all think we will have to move here before long but I don't know where we will go to. Tom Butts got up here last night but I havt seen him yet. He come to the 22 to Hearts Company. Well I can't think of any thing to write. Tell Dick and Charley they must have lots of watermelons for I think I will be home time enough to eat some yet you must not let my pig dy before I get home nor eat up all the Shanghighs chickens. You must all write to me as mutch as you can write all you no and if you don't no nothing write something you don't. So nothing more at present. J.R. Hurley

Written from "on Picket Six miles from Shelbyville", Tennessee. Letter regards John R. Hurley's health, life at camp, and personal matters. Letter also mentions that "men [are] deserting very bad here."

On Picket Six miles from Shelbyville May 22

Well I will write to you all again as I have just received your letter. I am in very good health, the boys is all in very good health that is here except Dock Wolfe he is not very well abile to do deuty yet. Well this is [H_nts] old box lid I am writing on and it is right greesy and my paper is about to get greesy all over. We have very fine weather here it is getting tolerable dry now, it hant raind in about three weeks. The wheat is very good up here, the corn I cant tell mutch about it it has just cum up. I have nothing to write that will interest you. We get a plenty to eat, bacon corn meal and a little flour yes and some peas. we have bin up up here on picket two weeks I don no how long we will stay up here but I don't cear if we stay up here til the war ends for this is a very prety plae here were we are and we don't have mutch to do. we have to go on guard about evry third day but I don't mind that. You all need not make me any clothes for we can draw as many clothes as we want and I have drawn a good pair of shoes. I hant drawn but eleven dollars yet but I think I will draw again in a few days and when I do I will send you all some money to pay postage as I cant get any stamps up here and we cant pay for letters with [?] and you can pay for them yourselves. I would like to be at home to eat some of that honey and see all them young men flying around but I hope it won't be long before we all can get to go home I am sory Jo Talbot went home and told you I was getting low down I think I am as in good health as I ever was in my life. You must take care of my pig and keep it fat and it a great big hog when I get back. I think yet I will be their time enough to eat water melons and peaches. Well I cant think of anything of anything to write. The men is deserting very bad here seven left one company a few nights ago from our regiment but two of them was brought back and they keep them tide down flat on the ground four hours a day in the hot shunshine and then they get right up of the ground and side a wooden horse three hours that is continued for six days I don't think I will ever disert. I believe I will quit. I cant think of any thing to write you must write to me and for all the folks to write to me so nothing more at present. J.R. Hurley

Written from Shelbyville, Tennessee. Letter regards life at camp and personal matters.

Shelbyville Tenn. June 16th 1863

Dear Sisters, I seat my self to write you all a few lines and let you know how I am getting along. I am well at this time the co. is in very good health Capt. Nall is sick but I think not very bad. It is a very pretty day. Their has bin a heap of ruin here but not enough to hurt anything. Corn looks very nice up here and wheat is very good it is nearly ripe enough to cut now. I think we will get plenty of flour after a while now. Jess is at work about three miles from here on the brest works he has bin up their now about a week but he can come down here most evry day they don't have to work but three hours a day I have worked up their two days we are building powerful works up here there is about five or six hundred men at work their evry day. I don't think that the Yankees can run us from them when we get them done. I got the bottle of honey you sent by Mr. [Hooten] and they it was good was a sight. We had some biscuits and butter to eat with it and that was good enough. I begin to think now that I won't get home time enough to eat peaches and watermelons but I hope it won't be long before we can all go home. I have no news to write you must all to me as often as you can. Mr. [Houten] and Doctor Roberts can tell you all about us all. Well I have to go and drill. So I will close nothing more at present. J.R. Hurley

Written from Chattanooga, Tennessee. Letter regards march to Chattanooga, health of fellow soldiers, and life at camp.

Camp Chatanooga July 7th 1863

Dear Sisters, I seat my self to write you a few lines to let you no how I am getting along. I am in tolerable health. I stood the march very well until we got about twenty five miles of this place and their came a rising on my foot and I had to take the train. My foot is in a very bad fix yet but it is getting better. I can walk on it very well now. The boys all stood it tolerable well but a few. William Mills he fell out before we got to Tullahoma and we haven't heard a word from him yet. I haven't seen Jess in four days he got on the train about 30 or 40 miles above here to go to Beige fort we thought then we were all going their. He was sick then a little they then sent him down here to Chattanooga and put him in the camp of direction but I haven't seen him. He is about a mile from he is very sick but I need not write about him for I no he has written two or three times before now. We marched from Shelbyville to Tullahoma the first day that was last Saturday was a week then lay their a Sunday and a monday morning we went in to line of battle behind the brest works and lay there untill tuesday night about midnight and it rained nearly all the time and it has rained evry day I believe since we started and it is raining now. I have marched across the Cumberland mountain but I never want to see it again. I lost all my clothes but what I had on. I toted my napsack about half way and put it in Dick Mitchell's waggon and it broke down and he had to leave it and my things is gon I want you to send me some clothes as soon as you can. Send me a shirt and a pair of drawers and a pair of pants that will do for a while. I kept my socks. The talk is now that we will go to Vicksburg I don't know what we will do. I don't think we will stay here long though I don't know. I have seen Walker and Wills Sorrell they were in very good health. [?] I will send you this ring. Well it is so wet I will quit so nothing more this time. Write soon and I will try to write more next time if I could see you I could tell you a bushell. Send my clothes as soon as you can. J.R. Hurley

Written from Chattanooga, Tennessee. Letter regards John R. Hurley's health and life at camp.

Chattanooga Tenn July 8th 1863

Dear Father, I seat my self to write you a few lines to let you no how I am getting along. I am in tolerable good health at this time only I have a bad rising on my foot but it is getting better now it will be well in a few days now. We have had a bad time for the last two weeks. We didn't get more than half enoug to eat on the march and what little we got didn't have time to cook it nor nothing to cook it in. I thought when we got to Tullahoma we would be shure to fight I never saw such a stir as their was the day we went into the line of battle they marched us about two miles in double quick. Jess is not gon to the hospital he is at the convalesent camps here at town. Mr. Dennis went to see him to day he is not very sick but you have heard from him before now. It is raining here yet I never saw so mutch rain in my life and we hant got many tents in our company we have to take the rain as it comes but we have all got used to it now and we don't mind it much now. I hope we wont never have to take nary nother march but I don't expect we will stay here long. We here to day that Vicksburg has bin taken but we don't know whether or it is so or not. I have no news to write you can hear every thing as soon as we can. We had cabag and cucumbers for dinner and will have irish potatoes for supper. We get a plenty of bacon and flour and meal. I am in a mess with John Dennis Mat Hall and Lieut. Hooten. I saw Walker and Willis Sorrell. They are in the Sixth Florida Reg in Buckner's Division I suppose they have gone back to Knoxville where they have come from they are both fat. Bill is dead I forget now where they said he died at. Well it is going to rain so I must quit. Write soon as you get this. Send my clothes as soon as you can. Nothing more. J.R. Hurley

Written from Chattanooga, Tennessee. Letter regards John R. Hurley's health, news that Vicksburg, Mississippi has fallen, and life at camp.

Chattanooga Tenn July 11th 1863

Dear Sisters, I seat my self to write you a few lines to let you no how I am getting along. I am well and hearty and in good health only my foot is right sore yet I don't have to do any deauty nor hant since we have bin here. It is cloudy and looks like it was going to rain it has rained evry day since we left since we left Shelbyville untill yesterday. I want to see fair weather as bad as I ever did in my life. I hant seen Jef yet but we here from him evry day he is not very sick from what I can here. We hear that Lee has bin whiped in Pensylvania and Vicksburg has falen and the soldiers are all in low spirits if that is all. So I am afraid we will be whiped but the yankies cant whip us for they cant catch us. If they come down here I think we will run to Atlanta and then to Montgomery. I believe I had rather fight a little than run so mutch. We are camped about a mile and a half from town close to the railroad where we can here the cars whistle all the time. I should like to get on some of them and go home but I am afraid it will be a long time before I will get to go home. Me and Mat is going to make some apple pies for dinner. We had some yesterday we can get green apples here and we get right smart of shugar and we make splendid pies. One of our men left us yesterday and hant come back. I am afraid he had gon home but I didn't think he would disert us he seemed like a very fine man he has got a brother here in the regiment a lieut. He may not be gon. He tok Mat Halls watch to town with him and sent it back by a Lieut. that went with him. Well I can't think to write so I will close. Will Strother sends his best respects and says he will write to you all before long so nothing more. J.R. Hurley

Written from Chattanooga, Tennessee. Letter regards life at camp and personal matters.

Chattanooga, Tenn Aug. 9th 1863

Dear Sisters, I seat my self to write you a few lines to let you no how I am getting along. I am well at this time and the company is in very good health. I have no news to write to you. We got the things you sent by Mr. Hooten. We will live well now for a while. Joe and Martha got here yesterday. They have taken a tent and gon off in the woods away from the camp. They can do very well they have got plenty to eat now for a week or two. It is very nice weather now it very warm though. We have got the best camp ground here we ever had. I hope we will stay here all the year if we have to stay in the war. But I hope the war will soon end and we can get to go home but I don't expect to to go home before Christmas now. Oh this old paper I can't half write on it. You said write if I got them apples you sent by Mr. [?] I got them one with a string tied around the stem and they was very good. I would like to have some more. I suppose Jimmy has ruined his hand. I am sory to hear that uncle Billy hant got no body to help him now. We are building great brest works around this place. I recon when we get the place well fortified we will leave it like we have bin doing. I will have to quit I can't write on this old paper. I will throw the rest away and buy some more. So nothing more. Write soon. J.R. Hurley

Written from Chattanooga, Tennessee. Letter regards life at camp and personal matters.

Chattanooga, Tenn. August 19th 1863

Dear Sisters, I received your letter this morning and was glad to hear from you all. I am in tolerable good health. The boys is all well but Milton Park and John Reeves. You wanted to know if I got the pants and drivers you sent by George. He didn't bring them but Mr. Hooten brought them when he come. We got evry thing you sent us. We have very nice weather now it is getting tolerable dry here now. It looks like raining every day but it don't rain. I would like to be at home to eat peaches and watermelons. We can get a plenty of peaches for a dollar per dozen and watermelons is worth from five to ten dollars and I can't buy many at that price. I think I will be home next summer now and if I new I could get to go home by next summer I would be satisfied but I hope I will get to go before then. Well I will quit writing about going home and write about something else if I can think of any thing else but I don't know any thing to write. You said Uncle Billy's folks heard that Dick was dead but he aint. He is down in Georgia about fifty miles below here pasturing his mules. We heard he was going to mary but I don't know whether it is so or not but I don't expect it is. Charles Styron was here last Sunday and he looks like he did when he was in Ala. He is in the 19th SC Regt. He says he has bin out nineteen months and never bin sick but one day and want sick mutch then. He has bin in our division all the time and we never seen him before. Will and Martha went up on the mountain last Sunday. Joe is sick but she is getting better. Well I must close. Write soon and often. J.R. Hurley

Written from "five miles South of Chattanooga," Tennessee. Letter regards health of fellow soldiers and an attack on Chattanooga.

Camp 39th Ala. Regt. Aug. 26th 1863

Dear Sisters, I seat myself to write you a few lines to let you no where I am and how I am geting along . I am in very good health beter than common. Jess is gon to the hospital. He went off about three days ago. He wont very sick when he left but he has wrote I no so it is not worth while for me to say anything about him. The rest of the boys is well. We are camped about five miles South of Chattanooga. We have bin moving about five or six days and hant got out of sight of the lookout mountain yet. I thought we would have a fight the other day but I don't think now that we will. The yankies shelled Chattanooga right smart. They killed six or eight persons. Our Regiment went on picket picket three miles below town on the river where we could see the yankies by getting up on a high peak on the bank of the river. I dident see them but I could hear them. Some of our wagens were over the river and there was no boat their and they tied some of the mules and swam the rest across and that night Lieut. Roberts and three more men went across the river in two batans and got two of the mules and brought one of them across the other one got lost. I expected they would be shot by the time they got to the bank of the river but they dident. Well I will write about something else. Puss you said gues what Jake Wolfe wrote about. I can't without it was about marying and such like. This is all the paper I have got and I have toted it in my knapsack so much I cant write on it. We are fixing up here like we was agoing to stay but we may have to leave before morning, I can't tell. I will close. Write soon. J.R. Hurley