Alexander May Shannon Letter - August 26, 1862

Sulpher Springs Rhea Co Tenn
August 26th 62

My Dear Father & Mother,
A few days ago I received a letter from you dated June 1st, from which I derived great pleasure. I was very glad to hear that all was alive & well at home. It was the first letter I had seen from you since last Feby & be assured that I have felt great uneasiness about you all. But thank God, I learned that my best hopes were realized and now I still hope that we will all meet at home once more. This is one of my great desires. I wrote you a letter some ten days ago and sent it by Mr. Wilson a member of my Co. that was going home. Henry wrote to you since then & now another chance presents itself & I cannot refrain from writing you a few lines. This leaves Henry & myself in excellent health, & I hope it will reach you in due time & find you all in a like condition. In a day or two after writing my last, we crossed the Tenn river & came out near this place, where we got with the balance of the brigade. We were then ordered to prepare two days rations for ourselves & horses & be ready to take up the oline of march across the Cumberland Mountains for Middle Tenn. I had prepared my things and was ready to start; but was sumoned to be in the presence of the Col. from whom I learned that it was necessary to leave 20 wagons 175 men & 250 animals at camp, and that a commissioned officer would have to remain in charge of them & I was selected for that purpose. It was a great disapointment to me to remain behind, but the first duty of a soldier is to obey orders to I could not complain. Col. W. promised to order me on to join the brigade as soon as he could do so with safety. Genl Bragg has crossed the river at Chattanooga 75 miles below here, and will in a few days, take up the line of march for some of the points as advance guard. I anticipate a lively time. I expect orders to move in a few days. The balance of the regt are now at Sparta. Forrest has 4000 men including Morgan's forces that are with him. The enemy are at McMinnville in force only 30 miles from our boys & I would not be surprised to hear any day of them having a brush. Here in camp we have quite an easy time of it, plenty for ourselves & horses & nothing to do. We get plenty of bacon, beef, peas, beans, apples, peaches, cider, milk, honey & many other things that are nice. Some time back I bought a barrel of nice sugar from the government at 3 1/2 cts per lb. This with the nice soft peaches & rich milk make an excellent desert every day for dinner. I wish I could divide it with you. I want you to write as often as you can. Direct your letters to me, my Co & regiment. Also Forrest's brigade, Bragg's division CSA, on it. Send it care of E.H. Cushing, Houston, Texas, & it will reach me. I will write every opportunity & will write more next time. Our prospects are much more favorable than they have been since last spring, we all feel confident of gaining our independence. The health of our regt is better & we have more men for duty than we have had at any time since we arrived in Ky. Give my love to all excuse haste & believe me dear parents

Your Dutiful Son
Alex M. Shannon

If I can meet with a wagon going into you country, I will send the leather.