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1st Brigade, 4th Division, Western Department
Head Quarters, Company A, 129th Regt. Ills. Vols.
Louisville, Ky., Sept. 27th 1862

Dear Mary

I wrote to you this morning since which time I am informed that I cannot take my trunk with me. I have therefore put all my things in my trunk. I purchased a small valise being all I can carry.

It has been raining all day & is rather muddy; the troops have taken possession of all the buildings within the lines; & are doing very well. We are in Chapin’s brigade & in General Gilbert’s division. ((Three other regiments (the 23d Michigan, and the 102d and 111th Ohio) had been brigaded with the 129th Illinois to constitute a brigade commanded by Col. Marshall W. Chapin.)) The boys in Company A seem to be quite happy tonight & are busily singing in the Quarters.

Louisville is a very pleasantly situated place. I have not been much about the city, but what I have seen is rather fine. We are stationed on the outskirts of the city.

I have not heard from Bro. John [Murphy] since I arrived here. I have kept the brushes &c. as mother [Murphy] directed, & will send them to him on the first opportunity.

Write soon. Give my love to all. Tell Bro. Utley to write. ((Leander Utley, a 37-year-old Pontiac Township farmer, was born in Providence, R.I., and had moved to Illinois in 1853. In 1860 Utley, a bachelor, was living in the same Pontiac hotel as J.F.C. On Jan. 7, 1861, he married Margaret Murphy, Mrs. Culver’s eldest sister. Eighth Census, Livingston County, State of Illinois, NA; The History of Livingston County, Illinois . . . (Chicago, 1878), p. 652.)) I can only get a few moments at a time & always feel like writing home first. We may be on the march soon, & I shall have no opportunity to write. You must not neglect in that event to write often. I have not yet written home [to Carlisle]. Send all my letters after you have read them if you think them interesting; but all business letters preserve carefully. I sent some money to Kankakee & expected a receipt. Please preserve it & tell me the bal. due as I requested him to inform me. Tell everybody to write. I should like to hear from some of [the] Remicks. ((James W. Remick was a 39-year-old Pontiac Township farmer. Born in Franklin County, Pa., he had arrived in Livingston County in 1850. In 1856 he was elected sheriff and in 1860 clerk of the circuit court for Livingston County. Remick had married Sarah DeNormandie in 1844, and to the couple were born three children—Abbie, Lida, and Noah. History of Livingston County, pp. 648-649)) I shall try & write home soon.

Your affect. Husband
J. F. Culver