No 2 Second Edn

My Dear Aunt, 

I do not know as I shall have a chance to send this away until it will get old and stale but the fact is we are so close to the enemy lines that the mail does not go very regular. I have heard that all of our letters were to be stopped until after the accomplishment of this expedition, so you will not wonder if my letter does not reach you when due.

lt is now nearly two weeks since we have received any letters at all and it makes me feel lonely to be so long without hearing from friends. We expect a hard fight here every day. We are not allowed to fire on their Pickets at all. They come out of the woods near enough to speak to us and swing their hats, call us names etc. They tell us they will serve us as they did at the action of Manassas last spring but they will find they have rather more troops to contend with than they had then.

I had a narrow escape today. A short time ago a shell was thrown from one of the Rebel Batteries. lt struck and exploded near me but I threw my self to the ground in time to prevent its doing any other harm other than to cover me with mud and dirt. Even then it would have hurt me had it burst the right way.

Please write to me as soon as you received this. I do not know as you will be able to read this. I cannot get Pen and Ink and my Pencil is poor. I expect before you get this we will have driven the foe from this point, not without the loss of many lives I fear… 

A C Woods 

Letters of Alfred Covell Woods. 

Contributed by J. Tierney