Transcription

Cumberland Landing,
on Pamunkey River 

12 miles from West Point,

May 17, 1862.

Dear Mary,

     My hurried note to you some

four or five days ago was so short that

I cannot call it a letter, & will now

try to write one more worthy of the name.

We are now on the Pamunkey R. a tributary

of the York, and are about 25 to 30 miles

from Richmond. There is a house or two at

the landing, & the river is crowded with

steamers, sailing vessels, & transports, of all

sizes and descriptions, from a canal-boat

to a six-gun propeller.

     You already know that we have been

in a battle, & a pretty severe one at that.

We had marched from Yorktown on the 4th,

and at 2 A.M. on the 5th, a Virginia

drizzle sat in, through which we marched

until about 3 P.M., when we came to a

point 3 miles below Williamsburg. We

dropped our knapsacks there, & in obedience

to orders from Gen. Heintzelman, ran the