Letter from William Hardy to his wife, Sallie Hardy; 09 January 1862

              Winter Quarters near Manassas, Virginia 
January 9th, 1862

My Dear Sallie,

I look anxiously every day for a letter from you and feel so disappointed when the mail comes without a letter from you. I am almost sick with cold, so is Tom, and Henry is quite sick. He has been bordering on pneumonia for several days, and I have been very uneasy about him, but his fever has gone down, and the pain in his lungs abated, and the surgeon considers him now out of danger. Pneumonia is a terrible disease in camps and proves generally fatal and in a short time too. Tell Sister not to be uneasy as Tom, and I nurse him very closely. Besides, I finished my cabin today and as soon as the daubing drys I will move him into it. It is built of pine poles fifteen feet and [illegible] cracks daubed with clay. [The] chimney [is] lined inside with stone. I managed to get two hundred feet of lumber to floor it. So you see, I am going to regular housekeeping, but I will lack the best ornament and greatest comforter of all, and that is yourself. I covered my cabin with rough oak boards which cost me $1.25 per hundred, nails fifteen cents per pound. I paid $2.50 for a small hatchet to cover with in place of a hammer.

So you see it has cost me a nice little sum to set up shop here. I do wish you could see me in this pine-pole cabin when