John W. Hill to Mary Scott Hill - October 26th, 1862

Knoxville, TN
Oct 26th. 1862

Miss M. S. Hill

Dear Sister

Here I sit in a cold Tent withe my hands so cold that I can hardly write for the ground is white withe Snow. Trying to write though it has ben nearley four monthes sinse we have had a word from home. When I wrote last we were at Bardstown Ky sinse that time we have had a verey hard time of it. We have ben covering the retrest of Genrl Bragg from Kentucky. At Bardstown the yanks tryed to cutt us off and come very nigh doing it They got in behind us withe a considrable cavelrey force And come very nigh gitting in there Infantry & Artilerey Capt Jormans Company and ours was in the advance And when we pitched into them you ought to have seen them git we took one Major one Capiton two Lieutenants and thirty six privates. We killed some twenty or thirty We had one man killed and two or three wounded Brother Bob was left there with the wounded end has not come up yet At Perreyvill our Infantrey had a fight withe the advance of Buell and whiped them on the 8th of this monthe we lost 2,500 or 3000 whilest the Enemy lsot 8,000 But they tryed to flank us and we had to fall back I Have ben in many fights, but the fight at Perryvill whiles it lasted was teh hardest I Have ever Seen We lost sevral out of our Regment Capt Evans from Gonzales was very Severley wounded We did not loose any out of our Company Two dayes after the fight I saw Cosin Tom A. Hill he was near Harodesburg with his comand under Kerby Smithe he is a Lieutenant He was in fine healthe & spirits He was not in the fight at Pereville I was not with him but a very short time. I Guess that He will take up winter qurts about Cumberland Gapp again this winter. Our waggons come on ahead of us across the mountains and we had to go sevral dayes without anything to eat And we had a fight nearly eavry day. We arived at this place yesterday. And it is reported that we will start in a few dayes to Middle Tennesee But I do not know what field is before us Bro Tom has ben very unwell for some time But is verey well at present Cap Bob James & F. McGuire Sam & Jim Watkins 44 Geo McGehee 45 are all in fine healthe Capiton Ferille has just come in to camp it is the first time we have seen him sinse we left Sulpher Springs he is looking very well and I hope that he will be able to stay withe us from this on James P Watkins received a letter a few dayes ago from James Thompson he wrote that John McGehee and all of the other boyes were well The Bush Whackers 46 give it to our wagons as they come across the mountains

Net Rives was i----

wounded man of ----

horse tied behind th ----

the buggey and fo ----

horse and killed hi ----

thought his time had ----

and Sevral horses ----

and he sayes that h ----

at him sevral time ----

we come across and some say that he got away But I think iff he did it was at the end of a rope I Do not think that we mayd mutch by our trip into Kentucky true we brought off a great eal of Provisions and clothing and took a great many more prisoners than we lost But I do not think that we got more than four or five thousand recruits whilest in Kentucky. Oct 27th. Itt snowed all Knight last Knight and as we have no Tents Cap & I had to sleep under some railes sit up against a tree withe and aile clothe over them which was not verey pleasant. We will get Some tints to day also some Clothing Cap Received a letter this morning from uncle Tom dated Sept 25th giving us the first news we have had from home Sinse the first of July you can gues with what pleasure it was read by all of us

---- busey wrighting that

----Dr is going to

---- He is here

---- Lubbick He will

---- All the

---- to you

---- and write Soon

I Send a letter writen by Bro Bob whilest we were at Bards town Ky I found it in his Saddle Bag

Write soon and a long letter
O. d. Sgt. Jno W. Hill

 

Footnotes:
44. Sam and Jim Watkins were from Hayes County. They were members of Company D of the Terry Rangers.
45. George McGehee was from Hayes County. He was a cousin of the Hills.
46. "Bush Whackers" was the name often given to men who deserted or failed to join the army. The term was sometimes applied to men whose term of enlistment had expired, and they had failed to re-enlist.

Goldman, Pauline S., ed., Letters from three Members of Terry's Texas Rangers, 1861-1865, Unpublished MA Thesis, University of Texas, 1930.

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