3 October 1861

[to] Edwin W. Bradley

Dear Brother,

I have written to father for some things & there were some that I did not think of before. I want some turkey, rhubarb, & if you have any pickled tomatoes, ripe or green, or cucumbers that you can put in tin cans & there is room in the box put them in. You need not send that tippet with my name. Have mother collar my drawers & put loops on them to hold  them up. Put in a little camphor. I don’t want any shirts of any kind but be sure & put in two pairs of good stockings. Tell Pa that [creased] it all right with him. Dr. Benton has written some more poetry, I hear. Send it to me. Tell Mary that she need not send me the Rural for one of our boys that it sent to him & while I have been writing he has fetched the last one to my tent and told me that I was welcome to read them but send me some other good paper.

Why in the world don’t you write? We were on guard yesterday. We were reviewed the other day & our quarters also & Co. H & I had the best ones in the whole regiment so the officers said.

Lieut. [Prentice B.] Wagner ¹ is very sick. So are some of the toughest boys in our company but I am all right as yet. Tell Hat to write to me.

We are having potatoes now a part of the time. They are good. We are getting tired of meat but still fare very well. Did the graft that I had set the Saturday before I left in that little pear tree in the corner of the garden across the creek live? And how far has it grown? And how do the others get along and those grape vines that I set out? Do you have any grapes this year? Write how things are and how they look. How many apples have you &c. &c.

Chas. E. Bradley

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¹ Lt. Prentice B. Wagner died of disease on 22 October 1861 at Alexandria, Virginia.