The following letter was written by Cassius Newell Baker (1844-1919), the son of Harris Porter Baker (1801-1879) and Emily C. Baker (1806-1852) of Mesopotamia, Trumbull county, Ohio. Cassius enlisted as a bugler on 8/20/61 in the 14th Ohio Independent Battery of Light Artillery. He reenlisted in 1864 and mustered out of the Battery on 8/9/65 at Camp Dennison.

After his service, Cassius married and relocated to Pottawattomie county, Kansas, where he worked as a retail grocer in Louisville. He later moved his grocery to Wamego.

T R A N S C R I P T I O N

Camp Dennison
Wednesday evening, December 25, 1861

Friend Henry

Your letter came to hand in due time [and] found me all right side up with care. The Boys are all well and in the best of spirits. It is Christmas today. I suppose that you are eating oysters and turkey today. It was Christmas eve last night. Few were the things that I got in my stocking but we had a hell of a dance you may bet.

We are in new barracks—the whole company in one building. The house is 130 feet long and bunks up on both sides three tiers high. Two sleep in a bunk. I sleep in the middle bunk with Milo White so you see by the construction of the building we have a hall of 130 [feet] long and about 19 wide. We have an oyster supper tonight. I don’t like them so I am a writing up in my bunk [while] the boys [are] eating oysters [at] a table the whole length of the room. I presume after supper we shall have a dance. Then a couple of the Boys are a fighting about a spoon [?]—that is, [?]. When I say that, I mean taat [?] Ackley of Bloomfeld.

We have not got our guns yet but we have got our harnesses and saddles and bridles. I tell you, they are O. K. Bridles with brass bits and about 12 inches.

We have to go about 1.5 miles to water and have a hell of a time a running horses. Miles is up in the bunk now. Supper is about over. We are about 20 rods (~100 yards) off the depot. The cars run [over] a man and most killed him. Expect that he will die. He was tight.

Tell Ed White that I wrote to him and expected an answer from him before this time. I guess that I have wrote all the news. You can’t read this. The boys are a raining thunder and I can’t write. Give my respects to all the folks. Orm got back all right side up. Tell Bud’s folks to write and I will answer them, Tell Cele Parish and all the girls I send my love to them and have them to write, and Bill and Aaron and all my school mates and the school mom too.

From your friend, — C. N. Baker