4 September 1862

Written by A. P. Jones from Mill Creek Hospital near Fortress Monroe. Is this Adam Jones of Co. C?

Mill Creek Hospital
September 4, 1862

Mr. Bradley
Dear Sir,

Your letter of the 28th with the five dollars is received. I am still alive and kicking and getting better as fast as I could expect to. If I do not have any fall backs, I shall leave here for my regiment within a week if the doctor will let me go. They sent 300 away Tuesday and yesterday as many more came here from Washington. They are sending all of their sick away from Washington to make room for the wounded. I have not heard from the boys since I left them—only what I have seen in the papers and that has not been a great sight.

Bull Run it seems is in Virginia yet and that the rebels have been there to take another look at it. It does not hardly seem possible that we have lost in three weeks nearly all that we worked all summer for. I would like to see Bogert after he has went through one campaign in Virginia such as we have had this summer. There are so many stories afloat here that it is not safe to believe anything that we hear. We hear now that the army has fell back to the forts around Washington but it is not confirmed yet. They are sending all that are willing to go to Alexandria for nurses. Anyone can go that wants to. They sent fifty-four there today and the doctor says if he can get as many more to go, he will discharge the rest of us.

Friday morning, well after chewing my grub, I will bring this to a close. You want to know if you can do me any good by coming here. I do not think you can and more than that, I do not think that it will do any man any good to know how a hospital is carried on at Fortress Monroe. I cannot hardly blame a man for running away from the hole. If it was not one of the healthiest places in the world, we would have all been dead before today. I think that by the time my two years are up, I will know whether a soldier is a brute or a human being. I do not wonder that our soldiers do not get well when they are taken sick and that one half of them are in the hospitals now for they are not used so that there is any chance for them to get well in this place unless they have the constitution of a jackass and never can be discouraged.

If you recollect how we were used on Staten Island, you can form an idea how we are used here for both places are nearly alike. If the government had rather keep us in the hospitals sick than to have us in the field, I am willing. I can live here and will live here until I am entirely well and when I am well, I will go to my regiment. The manner that this is carried on is a disgrace to any country, I don’t care where it is, and the sooner a man gets out of it, the better he is off.

Yours respectfully, — A. P. Jones

P. S When I read your letter the first time, I did not think that there was more J. Bogerts than one and if the twin’s father is at home and not enlisted, I will take back what I said about his soldiering. There are a lot more going to their regiment this morning. Wish I was one of them.

If the receipt is not written right, let me know and I will try it again.