Dear Sister,

I gladly improve this earliest opportunity of responding to your gladly welcomed letter of  Nov. 6th that did not reach me untill day before yesterday.  I presume it had been to Little Rock which may account for it's dillatory arrival. I certainly thought you maintained a very long silence for which I could not guess the reason.

Well,  I commenced this two or three days ago,  but was interrupted by the "long roll" and, of course had to fall out into battle array.  The cause of the alarm proved to be nothing but a "scare"  and we were soon allowed to retire to our quarters with the caution to be ready to go whenever called at a moments notice.  Yesterday morning before breakfast we were again called into line and this time the different regiments were kept in line the greater part of the day and Co. B,  was sent out to strengthen the pickets but the rebels not coming we were again called in.  There has been quite a guerilla force in the vicinity of the railroad east of here for sometime past.  They have been conscripting, plundering,  etc.  Our forces had several battles with them in which the rebels were routed but it seems they have not been entirely driven from the vicinity yet.

Nothing can be more uncertain or changable than a soldiers life. He never knows what will transpire the next moment,  whether he retires at night he will be permitted to sleep or be called up at midnight to confront, or go in search of an insidious foe.  He does'nt even know whether when he sits down to dinner he will be allowed to eat it or not,  nor can he form the least idea of the future or his whereabouts or his doings on the morrow.

I was a little disappointed on hearing that you had engaged a school this winter.  I hoped you would have gone to Hopkinton.  Your imaginations in regard to my "cooking" are without foundation as I seldom do any cooking myself,  never unless I want something extra.  You ask if I have plenty to eat and if  it is good.  We usually have abundance, although the quality is not always as good as might be.  We are not furnished as large a proportion of vegetables as I would like or at least not of the kind to suit my taste.  We always have plenty of rice and beans but I have no great relish for either.  We have bakers bread and occasionally Irish potatoes,  etc.,etc.  Since we have been here the boys have had no real trouble in supplying their difficiency in fruit and vegetables from the many peddlers baskets that overrun the camp. This however requires money and as Soldiers purses are not usually inexhaustable this mode of replenishing their table has a very different effect on their purses.  I usually exchange my coffee and sugar for such other things as my taste may suggest.

I would be very thankful for the "REGISTER" or any other paper you have read,  if you could send it without any trouble.  I will send you another counterfeit of my Phip (?) which I think is much better than the other one I sent you.  We have our tents arranged quite snuggly and conveniently.  There are four persons in the one I occupy all very nice gents except myself.  We have a fireplace and everything fixed very cosily.  The weather for a few days past has been cloudy and rainy but this morning the clouds have disappeared and the atmosphere is considerably cooler that usual.

But want of space compells me to make a virtue of necessity and close.

My love to all - Write often - Good bye -

Your loving brother

Rufas
 
 

Hi,

I am not a descendant of Rufas.  I am descended from eight men who fought for the Confederacy.  I found this letter, and the one that now is in the collection of the Old State House, at an antique store about two years ago.  I have enjoyed reading it and I have enjoyed owning the letter.  Since I collect old muskets mainly,  I would be glad to offer you the letter to keep at no cost.  By the looks of your wonderful web site you are passionate about the brave men who fought in the 27th Iowa.  I feel Rufas would be glad to know the  letter he wrote to his sister wound up with a person such as you who had an ancestor that was in his company.  If I ever want to see the letter I can just go to your web page and be able to read it and be happy that I once owned it.  If you want it,  just e-mail me your mailing address and I will send it to you.

I identified Rufas as Rufas McKnight from mention of his Colonel in a previous letter he penned from Little Rock Oct. 13, 1863.  I researched the OR's and found the 27th Iowa was the only unit with a Colonel by that name that was in Little Rock at that time.  This letter is now part of the collection of the Old State House Museum here in Little Rock because of its origin.  In the letter above Rufas mentions Co. B.  He is the only Rufas listed in the roster of Co. B. and his unit was sent to Memphis from Little Rock in this time frame.  The insidious foe he mentioned had my great-great grandfather among them.  He rode with Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest in the 12th Tenn. Cav.  He was seventeen when he joined Forrest's Cavalry in December of 1863 at Bolivar Tenn., forty miles from where Rufas penned the letter to his sister.  Both their units would face each other in their future, now our past.

Brett Stuart Herndon
Little Rock Arkansas
(Not a friend of Bill)