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My dear friend

Well I am still home & no event of importance to write you about. My illness has passed over, & I go around the same as formerly, only a lingering suspicion of weakness now & then—I go out fishing & have been out riding frequently—

There is a hospital here, containing a couple of hundred soldiers, it is only a quarter of a mile from our house, & I go there a good deal—am going this afternoon to spend the afternoon & evening—Strange as it may seem days & days elapse without their having any visitors—So you see I am still in business—Some of the cases are very interesting—

My mother is very well, & the rest the same—We have heard from my brother up to the beginning of this month, he is well—We felt pretty gloomy some little time since, as two young men of the 51st N Y, friends of my brother George & of our family (officers of 51st), were killed in battle within ten days of each other & their bodies brought on for burial here—Mother was at the funeral of each of them, & I also—the regiment is on the Weldon road & in a position of danger—

I have seen Mrs Price, she speaks of you & hopes to know you, she is only tolerably well—I have not seen Charles Howells for some time—I shall write to William to-day—I rec'd a letter from Charles Eldridge yesterday, he was to pass through New York yesterday on his way to Boston for two or three weeks—"Drum Taps" is not yet begun to be printed—Nelly, I was much obliged for the photograph—it reminds me of you & is good—how is dear little Jennie?—& you, my dear dear friend, how are you in health & spirits, & have you had a good time—O how I should like to see you all again—

Walt

I think it quite probable I shall be in Washington again this winter—(but not certain)—Give Dr & Mrs Channing my friendly remembrance —Who have you met & what seen or heard that I would like to hear of, for you must tell me—