Will Fisher to his mother
Washington, D. C.
April 9, 1862

Dear Mother,

I thought I would write a few lines tonight to inform you of my whereabouts. Our camp ground is entirely deserted with the exception of Nelson, & myself, & Albert S. Excuse me for putting in myself before Ab. We are here alone. Tomorrow at 11 o’clock Nelson & I start for Philadelphia & are to meet Ab there next week. We shall stay there for four days.
The rest of the boys are going to try and surprise their folks with their return, but as you probably know that the regt. is out of service I do not wish to make you uneasy so if nothing happens to me we shall be home next week.
Do you think there will be any impropriety in my staying to uncle’s 3 or 4 days with Nelson? I shall not get any clothes till I get home, except some collars.
We all sent our things home in a box by express which T. Shiland will leave to our house till we get there & we will fish them out ourselves.
We will probably get in to York by Wednesday.

This is Wednesday night.
We were paid off Monday & for the past two days I have been visiting the battlefield of Bull Run & Manassas, & also I have been to Mt. Vernon, the Washington place. It is about 20 miles from here down the Potomac. At present the soldiers are not so thick as they have been for they have all been advanced, I believe on Richmond.
Tonight it is very stormy & cold. It has rather a tendency to make me homesick, but when I think that it will be so short that time will find me on the cars homeward bound I feel happy. All I am afraid of is that I will be in such a hurry that I shall not stay so long as I want to.
I have not thought what I should do this summer, but we will talk about this soon in a different way than by pen & ink.
Our pay is decidedly a bug. They have allowed us eighteen dollars milage for to go home & they have charged us for both sorts of clothes which we have had.
But I must close. Good bye from your boy who is coming with an honorable discharge.

W. G. Fisher