Will Fisher to his mother
Bridgeport, Alabama
December 23, 1863

My own Mother,

The other day I wrote you, I forgot the date, & on the same day received the barrel but after I had mailed it, so I could not notice it in that letter. Things pleased me first rate & the goods were all right, except some vinegar leaked out on the tobacco, so, instead of tobacco spoiling the rest, it liked to spoil the tobacco, but it did not hurt it any, only wet about half doz. papers for each of us. The cakes were superb & in good condition. How good they tasted, even those cakes that I used to detest so when I was at home. I can eat such things now.
Oh how I look forward to some happy times when I get home & when I get to thinking about home I think if the next year & a half pass off as pleasantly as this has I shall not find any fault & the longer I have to stay the more of a treat it will be to get home. I am in hopes that this will be the last winter we will have to serve. Nearly half of our time has gone & still it looks a good while to look ahead. In fact it seems unlike civil life a good while to look back a year & half.
There is no change in affairs here at present only it is more busy, if possible. There is several heavy jobs going on here. Five steamers in process of building to run on the river from here to Chattanooga. There is four already running, & five building, two saw mills running night & day.
Lemuel is well & still studying quite hard so as to be able to pass examination on the negro question. I hope he will get a good high position, still, I should hate to have him leave me, because I should be alone entirely. Jim S. has gone & Albert & now, if Lemuel goes, I shall be all alone. But still I think it would be a grand thing for him for they would not be any promotions for him in this co. during the term of service. We have been in service over fifteen months & there has been only one promotion in the company & that makes Lemuel 7th cpl. This makes me 1st & if there is one more it will make us all one step higher.
I hope in a week or two there will be a copy of Waverley Magazine in the mail for me. I am expecting them soon after New Years.
By the by, I suppose I might wish you all a merry Christmas & a happy New Year, please notify my friends of the fact. I am intending to have my stocking up tomorrow night with what success time can only tell. I expect I have received so many presents lately & such valuable ones too, that old “Santa Claus” will hardly feel indebted to me any, but never the less I shall try for the Waverley & live in hopes.
What are Aunt Sarah’s prospects for the holidays? I hope really she will enjoy. I can still remember in childhood happy hours of the happy Christmas & New Year festivals in days of yore.
But my sheet is full & I must close. I do wish you would write to John & ask him if he is not ashamed of himself to have a brother in the army & not write to him for months.

Love to all, while I am your own boy,
Will Fisher