[Undated - Probably March 1864]1
Dear Sister Carrie2
I was real glad to get such a good Letter from you although it was short, I expected you would scold me for not writing before but you are a good Sister and dont forget how I am cituated,
I will try and write often if I give up writing to others, I guess you and Hattie like Mr. Daniels pretty well & I hope you love to go to Sunday School: do you ever sing along at the Concerts?
We have good times singing but I think nothing like the good times we use to have. I want you to write if you sing much & tell me what you do at home to enjoy yourselves. I wish I could pop in on you some evening: perhaps I might find you popping Corn or smacking your lips over a lot of Candy. We dont have the Sugar and Molasses now as we did at Plaquemine, then we made Candy enough for the Company. How do you get along with John, is he as full of his fun & Monkey Shines as ever? Tell him I had a great wrestling (rasling) with Jack Lacy3 & I downed him & I can do the same to him.
We have great fun jumping & piling each other in heaps but when I sit down to read your Letters or to answer them I feel that my mind wont be easy untill I am with you all once more,
Write a good long Letter full of News next time.
My Love to you & Hat
Brother Henry
1 This letter was probably written in Baton Rouge as a follow-up to his commitment in the February 2 letter to his mother: "How is little Cad? I suppose she dont like it because I dont write to her... will remember her next time."
2 Henry's salutatory address, "Dear Sister Carrie," is big brother formal. In most of his letters, he refers to her as "Cad." Carrie was often used as a nickname for Caroline but Carrie is, in fact, her given name (Milton Records).
3 Jack Lacy was a private in Henry's Company. He enlisted at nineteen, a stone cutter, from Milton. He was wounded at Cedar Creek, Va., October 19th, and later discharged because of his wounds.