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Octr. 7th 1862
Camp Near Shelbyville, Ky., Head Quarters, Company A, 129th Ills. Vols.

Dear Wife

We have had no opportunities for receiving mail from Louisville as yet, so that if any letters were sent I could not yet have received them. I wrote on Sunday & a short note yesterday & mailed them at Shelbyville. Since then we have moved our camp; for two days we were in an open field, very dusty. There has been no rain except a short fall shower last week since the first of July, & the weather is very hot.¹

We are now in a very pleasant grove a short distance from our old camp, & I judge from appearances that we will remain here some time, how long I do not know. The general health of the Camp is good. Adjt. Plattenburg has been sick to-day but not seriously. N. W. Hill of our company has also been quite sick to-day but is much better to-day.² All the rest of our Company are well.

I have tried several times to compose myself & think over business at home but find it impossible. If anything arises, you will please inform me. I wish I could make suggestions, but my time is wholly taken up. I hope to hear from you by the first mail that arrives & hope to hear that you are quite well & baby flourishing. I have not received letters from any source yet except the one from you.³ A letter would be very acceptable.

Mary dear, do not allow yourself to be lonely. You have the babe for Company, & as soon as you are able to go around, you must take plenty of exercise. Our time when together has been very happily spent, & I shall earnestly desire a return of such pleasant hours though I shall cheerfully respond to the call of my country & discharge my whole duty.

Bro. Cotton is holding a prayer meeting to-night near the hospital for the benefit of the sick. He is making himself very useful. Lieut. Smith is very well.⁴ He received a letter from his wife on Monday & feels very uneasy. She seems to fret as much as ever. I do hope she will be more contented. It gives him a great deal of pain.

I have not yet written to anyone else in Pontiac, except to Remick on business, but hope I shall soon have time to write to many. May the Blessings of Heaven rest upon you for which I shall ever pray. May health & happiness attend you, & may we both be spared to enjoy many days & years of pleasure together. I feel that God will be with us.

Write soon. Give my love to all & believe me ever.

Your Affect. Husband
Jos. F. Culver

1. All accounts of the Kentucky Campaign refer to the drought and suffering caused by lack of drinking water. The battle of Perryville, fought on October 8, was precipitated on the previous evening when troops of Gilbert’s corps lashed out to secure pools of water standing in the bed of Doctors Creek. Stanley Horn, The Army of Tennessee: A Military History (Indianapolis, 1941), p. 180. [↩]
2. A 24-year-old farmer, Nathan W. Hill was mustered into federal service as a private in Company A, 129th Illinois, on Sept. 8, 1862. He was promoted to corporal on Jan. 20, 1863, and to sergeant on May 9, 1863. Sergeant Hill was mustered out at Washington, D.C., June 8, 1865. Compiled Service Records of Union Troops, NA. [↩]
3. Until May 1, 1864, J.F.C. carefully preserved most of the letters received from his wife and relatives. The letter referred to, however, is missing from the Culver Collection. [↩]
4. John W. Smith of Pontiac enlisted as a 2d lieutenant in Company A, 129th Illinois, on Aug. 2, 1862. The 30-year-old lieutenant was mustered into federal service on Sept. 8 for three years. At Resaca, Ga., on May 15, 1864, he was wounded in the abdomen and shoulder. On Aug. 11, 1864, Smith was promoted to 1st lieutenant, and on Sept. 14 he resigned his commission, citing his wife’s “delicate health.” Compiled Service Records of Union Troops, NA. [↩]