Camp near Salem Ronoke County Va
Jan the 12th 1863

Dear Wife
I seat myself this morning to write you a few lines to inform you that I am well at this time, hoping these lines will find you and your family well. We arrived at Salem all safe and sound. We are encamped two miles east of town in a beautiful pine grove. All the objections we can find to the situation is the wauter is unhandy. We have to carry wauter some half a mile or more. We have to burn a great deal of pine wood which has smoked some of us black as the ground. Three days will smoke a man black enough for the kitchen. Although we have to live hard I dont hear much complaint. We get plenty to eat, such as it is, pickeld beef, as salt as brine, we havent had any pork yet. We get sugar and rice sometimes, not often, though when we do get rice we make coffee of it which answers very well to wash down the salt beef and tough bread.

We havent had any drilling to do yet but will soon. We expect to organize the regt in some two or three days. The candidates for Col are Davis & Ferguson. For lieut Col Maj Caldwell. For Maj Capt Gent.

I dont know who will be our Col yet, it is the impression of most the boys that Ferguson will be our Col. I dont care which for my part, I can serve under either. I am perfectly easy about the election myself, either of the men are well enough qualifyed to fill the office I supose, so I will close that part of my discourse.

They say there is several cases of smallpox in the neighborhood, there is one man in camp that has been with the small pox. They wont allow him to stay with anyone else for nine days. He is off some two hundred yards from the main encampment. He is guarded so that no one goes about him. Our sergeon is going to vactionate our bttallion as soon as he can get some vactionating matter.

We have all drawn our winter clothes such as blankets, pants coats, shirts, slips, shoes & caps, most of which are very rough and strong. The shoes are stitch downs of the coarsest quality, real negro brogans. We have some eleven or twelve hundred men in camp at this time.

We havent gone to Richmond yet as the people anticipated before we come here. I dont know how long we will stay hear, we may go to richmond for all I know. I dont care where, I am resigned to my fate, let it be what it may.

I dont expect there will be any furloughs granted this winter, if there is I shall try and get one and come home between this and spring. I expect Burnet will come home in about a week to gather up the rest of the men. If the men had come up punctual, they could some of us got furloughs, everything is high here, one dozen apples ar one dollar, hard to get at that, whisky $4 per pint and very hard to get. Some of the boys bring it in after night to speculate on. We get plenty persimmons here of the very best.

Take good care of things at home, feed my mare good, and have her strong in the spring so she can carry me with ease. Tell B.F. Vermillion to write and give me the home news in full. So nothing more at this time. Write to me and let me know how you are geting along. Write soon, direct to Salem Va.

Yours truly
I V Reynolds