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Head Qurs., 1st Brig., 1st Div., 11th A.C.
Lookout Valley, Mch. 22nd 1864
My Dear Wife

We were very much surprised on getting up this morning to find snow eleven & 1/2 inches deep. This “Sunny South” passes all understanding; ever since we came here it has been extremely cold.¹ We may look for mud of course. The train has just worked its way through.

I have not recd. my mail for this morning yet. As I recd. no letters yesterday I hope for some to-day. I just recd. yours of the 16th inst., and am most happy to hear that you were well.² I had forgotten when your birth day was, but will try and remember it hereafter.³

I do not understand why Capt. Hoskins has not given you the letter I sent. I enclosed a letter to you with his leave of Absence, & he surely received it. The papers you sent have not come to hand yet. My health is very good. We are trying to make ourselves comfortable & it requires a good deal of effort.⁴ Write to me often. May God bless you.

Your Affect. Husband
J. F. Culver

1. Private Dunham of Company C, writing his mother on the 22d, reported, “It has been very cold heare for several days. It snowed all last night and all day today and the snow is now all of a foot deep. I have hurd people talk about the suny South but for my part I have seen enough of it to satisfy my appetite.” Through the South with a Union Soldier, p. 110. [↩]
2. Mary Culver’s letter of March 16 is missing from the Culver Collection. [↩]
3. Mary Culver’s 22d birthday had occurred on March 17. Culver, “Robert Murphy and Some of His Descendants,” p. 107. [↩]
4. According to Private Dunham, the enlisted men of the 129th had built comfortable four-man log huts. Fireplaces had been erected, but the one in his hut “smokes so that we can hardly stand it some times.” Through the South with a Union Soldier, p. 110. [↩]