Civil War Letter - Powell & McCann

Camp Lafayette
January the 5th '62

Dear Friend

I take my pen in hand to inform you that I am well at present and hope these __ [unclear] of mine find you in the same fix __ [unclear]. We left Indiana the last day of Dec '61 and landed in Jeffersonville about the morning of the 1st of January, 1862 and staied there untill about 12.ocloc and then crossed the river in to Louisville, KY and marched out about 1½ miles and half camped _ [unclear] tomorrow We leave here and we may go to Bardstown and if We don't go there We will go Lebanon or to Greenriver We were out on a general inspection with our napsacks strapped on our back Esie [Jsie/Isie?] this letter is being wrote for James McCann[?] While he is on gard for he wont write for him self and I do not like to write for another man when his is not by but I am doing it __[unclear] James is the funest felow that you ever saw he __[unclear] is all well and hearty that is here Ecuse My bad writeing and spelling for I am not use to writing with a pencill. Scribed by John Young for James R. McCann to Esie M Powell

Note from contributor, Jami Davis: "This letter came to me through my paternal grandparents -- we do have Powell's in our ancestry but none of the three persons mentioned in the letter are directly in my ancestry to my knowledge. The letter is in pencil except for the final sentence and is written on a folded sheet that has a color "logo" on it of a US Flag flying over a cannon and the words "Dupont's Persuader!" under. I assume the letter is authentic as it came to me with other old letters and photos."

Submitted by: Jami Davis