I recd your welcom letter this morning and you cannot imagine how glad I was to hear that you were all well at home I am well and so are the rest of the boys that you know I have got a large boil on my knee from which renders navigation rather hard Jacob has not arrived as yet and I have not heard of his comeing as yet We are laying still now doing picket duty which is quite heavy And we are quite short of rations we draw 3 days to last five which causes us to forage considerable

The other day 4 of our Company and one of the 104 Regt went out some 5 miles from camp after something to eat I had 40 lbs of flour and 3 hens that I had got out of a house and started back to camp and looked over in a field where we cut a crop we looked over in the fields and there was a skermish line of 150 rebs between us and camp I tell you things looked dark for us but I told the boys that we must flank them or loose our lives for I knew that if we was caught they would kill us for we had been plundering houses for our forage we shoulderd our truck and lit out and got in safe by going 12 miles I was pretty well wore out for a few days Harlan has gone to the rear

He has the scurvy and so are the rest of us but we have not the comission that is the difference between us though he was pretty bad off his legs swelled up awfull I hope this campaign will close soon for we are getting pretty well wore out I hope you will write oftener in future I was over to the 38 O.V.I and saw A Falconer he was well I had a letter from Jim the other day he was well he sent me a bunch of envelops a quois of paper and 8 stamps or I should be out I had a letter from she that was Jane Bartlett Lydia J Furgerson Well I must close good by write soon my love to all

H E Randall