Camped at Unionville Va. July 22nd 1863 Dear Brother, I rec. your kind letter of the 12th inst. the 19th while at Percellville Va. at the place we halted for the Night and our second days March in this State, and I assure you I was very glad to hear from you. I should of writen to you before if I could of found the time but, we have been Marching most of the time since the Battle of Gettysburg. Therefore I have not been able to find time hardly to write to Rachel. We have done some pretty hard Marching within the last 5 or 6 weeks, in 4 days we Marched 100 Miles, and ____________________________ 2 in 2 of them we Marched 60 Miles, that is a pretty hard days work, specily to March that distance through a hot Sun as we have had to some days. You better believe we were some tired come Night when we went in to Camp, but we all stood it first rate and were able to give the Jonney Rebes theWhipping at Gettysburg that their Army in Va. never got. Yes? God has given this Army a . I will not attempt to give you an account, for you can get a better one in the Papers than I can give and besides I have not the time. They are now blowing Boots and Saddles in some of the Batterys ________________________________ 3 now. That means hitch up, they are doing it in our Battery now, so I must close for this time and finish when I can get an opertunity. Well we Marched some 4 Miles and have gone in to Camp some two Miles from Uppervi -lle, I expect the reason we went in to Camp so soon is the road is full of Troops and Baggage Waggons, so we shall have to wait till they get out of the way. We are Marching for Warrenton, where we shall go to from there I can not tell, but probably for Richmond, if we can get there, and I am in hopes we can this time, for the Rebele Army of Va. got badly used up at Gettysburg. They must _____________________________ 4 of recrossed the Potomac with nearly 40,000 less men than they had when they first entered Md., but probably their Army has been reinforced by part of Gen Brags Army, but that will not make them any more than whole. We have rec. conciderable Reinforcements since the Battle, and if Gov. will let Gen. Meade keep them to March on to Richmond and let Gen Foster (who is a Fighting Man) act against that Rebelious City on the Pernincula (where he has superceded Gen Dix) I think Richmond must fall, and besides; there will be one or two hundred Thous -and conscripts in the Field within two or three weeks. Things look very encouraging now and I hope and Pray they may continue to do so till this wicked Rebelion is put down, as regards our enticeing the ____________________________________ 5 Rebes on to our battery at the Late Battle, it is mostly true, the mane part of the story is true, one or two other Batterys done the same thing at the same time (that stood near us) the Rebes suffered teribly for their false belief, in thinking they had Silanced our Batterys. We mowed them down like Sheep, it looked hard, but it could not be helped. We would make great Gaps in their ranks, but they (poor Fellowes) would close up again and again would we make great Gaps in their ranks. There was some three thousand Men in that attacking Column, but not over 1,000 of that No. _____________________________________ 6 ever lived to get back again. The rest were either Killed or wounded or taken prisoners. I never saw so many Prisoners taken, before, in so Short a time, it has hapned with us as you say, ever since we have been out here when there has ever been a fight we have had to have a hand in it, such has always been our fortune or missfortune which ever you are a mined to Call it, but through the blessings of God we have escaped with the loss of a very few men, through his Mercies I again escaped without rec. a scratch, for which I feel truly thankful the Shells and bullets come sometimes. Gen. Mead I think is a very good Gen. he handled the Troops well at Gettysburg. I think Hooker would of done as well. I have a few Stamps left and will use them till they are gone or nearly so, then will do as you say, send them without a stamp to you. give my love to your Family, to Melissa and Hellen ask Melissa how she directs a letter ________________________________________ 6X to Charles. my health is first rate and ________________________________________ 5X Spirets good. I rec. those Papers you sent me and thank you for them. Write often. I will try and write a more interesting letter when I get time, but I hardly think that will be this Summer or Fall. I must now close. I remain your affectionate Brother T C Cheney