St. Simons Island
Jan. 12th 1862
My own sweet wife,
It is now Sunday night and I am seated at the old counter table in the guard house surrounded by a set of sleepy sentinels; so to keep from being like them I will try and pass away some of the long and tedious moments in holding a sweet converse with the dear one left behind.
I got your note at Waynesville and sent you the ginger. There were no oranges [1] there so of course I could send you none. But I succeeded in getting 14 on board the boat and as there were no more of them to be had I told Tom he might take half of them for Jennie and the children. Witter did not send for his box till day before yesterday so his chickens were spoiled before he ate them. He is quite well and sends love to all of you. He was sick the day Tom left. I think he had some fever; he has however recovered. You must send me my chickens the first good chance you have as we have had so much sickness that the boys gave away all we had here to the men.
If you see our Captain you can tell him we are expecting a fight down here every day. There is now, or was at sunset this evening three large steamers anchored in full view of our batteries and the picket has reported three more off the north end of the Island. We are all in hopes they are Gen. Burnside's [2] fleet, and that he will give us a call.
One of Capt. Dent's men died last night with congestive chills. He was taken on yesterday and did not live but twenty-four hours, his name I believe is Burnett [3].
If you have a chance, I wish you would send to Mr. Alex Stewart's [4] for six chairs he made for me and send them to me. I would have sent the boxes by Tom but Mr. Mathews said he would go up today and carry them but it is so squally down here he had put off going a few days longer. I will however send them when he does go. I saw Mr. Mumford about the Acts he has not made it out yet but will let me know how much it is as soon as he has the Acts made out. Tell Ma there was no money at Brunswick for officers so I could not return the amt. I borrowed for old Mr. H. but will get it next week and send it to her.
I took a very sore throat on the cars the other night coming down here it has troubled me a great deal but I am in hopes it will soon be better. Oh Louly! you don't know how very much I do mis you. It seems to me every time I go home to you and come away I miss you more. Oh ain't it hard for one to have such a sweet little wife and have to stay away from her what poor taste, isn't it? Never mind precious my time will be out some of these days and I will try and serve my dear little wife some and let some others who are now at home look after the protection of the country. But there is one thing I fear this war will teach me to do: and that is living away from home. If anyone gets in the habit of running about it is very hard to break them of it. But dear wife I will trust to you to do that for it does seem to me if I could only get to live with you again I would never want to leave you. Home! dear darling home! When, oh when will I ever see you again?
It seems like an age since I left you and since I have left all that is dear to me with you; you seem doubly dear to me.
You must give my best love to Father, Mother, your Father and Mother and to all for me. Witter says tell Barber he is quite well and wants to see her; he wore a very pretty shirt today he says she gave him. You can tell her for me that son is a very good boy, and washes his face and hands every morning when he gets up. I am going to send the rest of our sick home tomorrow if the Col. will let me.
Goodbye dear darling Wife,
Nate.
[1] oranges - orange groves were established along the St. Johns river in Northern Florida by the time of the Civil War, so it is likely that is where the oranges came from,
[2] Burnside - Ambrose Everett Burnside (May 23, 1824 – September 13, 1881) was an American soldier, railroad executive, inventor, industrialist, and politician from Rhode Island, serving as governor and a United States Senator. As a Union Army general in the American Civil War, he conducted successful campaigns in North Carolina and East Tennessee, as well as countering the raids of Confederate General John Hunt Morgan, but suffered disastrous defeats at the Battle of Fredericksburg and Battle of the Crater. He conducted a successful amphibious campaign that closed over 80% of the North Carolina sea coast to Confederate shipping for the remainder of the war. This included the Battle of Elizabeth City, fought on 10 February 1862, on the Pasquotank River near Elizabeth City, North Carolina. His distinctive style of facial hair became known as sideburns, derived from his last name. He was also the first president of the National Rifle Association.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ambrose_Burnside
[3] Burnett - I could not find any record of a Burnett in the on-line Roster of the Confederate Soldiers of Georgia 1861-1865, or in the Find a Grave website.
[4] Alex Stewart may be Alex K. Stewart (1808-1872), buried in the Oak Grove Babtist Curch in Camden County. (from Find a Grave)