Dear Dispatch
I hope you will excuse this intrusion, but I wish to send you a few extracts from a letter just received from a volunteer, (an orphan boy) expressive of his feelings in regard to reenlisting, to one whom he esteems as a mother. I believe the same spirit animates many noble breasts as it does his:Yorktown, Jan. 29th
I am all alone in my tent to-night, the rest of my mess having gone home on furlough — I wrote to you by E--; hope you have received the letter ere this. He is a noble boy and I consider him one of my warmest friends.
My thoughts are with you all at this quiet hour, and I have been thinking how happy I shall feel the 21st of May. I shall then go home, and won't it be pleasant to fly around with the girls? But I shall soon return to my post, with the same determination to stand or fall by my gun. I am the only one left old enough to represent my family, and you shall never blush to hear it said that I have shown the white feather. I have yet to hear that any of my name was ever afraid to fight, and I never intend it shall be said of me. Camp life has its hardships, to be sure, but when we think of the cause, all that we suffer seems a mere trifle.
Give my love to the Misses--, and tell them my greatest camp comfort is knowing that the young ladies cannot think half so much of the boys that are delicate, or those that make trivial excuses, or holding small offices, as an excuse for not being in the army as they do for the true boys who are determined to stand the war out.
Hanoverian.
I do believe old Hanover has sent many with the same spirit. fe 5--1t*
