Page 80

Headquarters Co. D. on board Str. Diana,
Yazoo River, Miss., March 24, 1863.
Dear Mary:
I once more sit down to address you a few lines, although
I am not in very good humor and the worst of it is I am not
sure who to be vexed at, you or the mail. I have not heard
a word from you since the 14th day of February; think of that,
a month and a half nearly. Isn't that enough to make one vexed,
not to say mad? Jimmie, too, said he would write as soon as he
reached home. Some twenty or more of my boys have received
letters since he got home, but I got nothing. Tell him if he
does not write I will cross him off my books. I wish I had
him back again, I miss him more every day. I received a letter
this week from Sister Nancy and one from Simpson, saying he was
too sick to return at present; if they come I do not see why
others cannot. Now I have done what growling I want to this
time and will write you a little of what I have been doing since
I last wrote.
We were on the back tracks up the river; we all felt like
sheep dogs running away from what we verily believed we were
able to take, providing we made the proper exertions. The first
day up the river was interrupted but once; one of the mosquito
boats was fired into and six men killed and four wounded. The
next day we met another fleet of six boats under command of Gen.
Quimbey, who outranked our Gen. Ross, and ordered us back again
- 80 -