The following letter was written by Edward French Hall (1824-1903) of Co. B, 3rd New Hampshire Infantry. The 3rd New Hampshire was a three year’s regiment who members were mostly recruited in New Hampshire, but there were also 116 men from Ireland, 81 from Vermont, 70 from Maine, and 31 from New York. 

Edward wrote the letter to his wife, Susan (Blood) Hall (1822-Aft1900) with whom he married in 1847. Edward was a native of Epping, New Hampshire. His parents were Samuel Hall. and Elizabeth Lee. Edward and Susan lived in Haverhill, Essex county, Massachusetts in 1860 where Edward was employed as a shoemaker.

Edward was 37 years old when he enlisted in August 1861 as a private. He was severely wounded on 16 August 1864 at Deep Bottom Run which resulted in the amputation of his left arm.

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

Hilton Head, South Carolina
Dec 11th 1861

Dear Susan,

I received your letter dated Exeter, Nov 30th, last night and take the first opportunity to answer it. Those money letters are all accounted for except one with $10 in it and $15 which I sent to Mary by Express. Two letters I sent from Fortress Monroe, each containing five dollars, and directed to Oxford. The next two were written on the Steamer Atlantic, directed to Bradford, $10 in one and $20 in the other, and put in the [Post] Office before we landed. Then after we had got ashore, I got a letter from you written at Orford so I found out you had not returned to Bradford. (and the next two money letters were directed to /this is a mistake, one letter instead of two/ Orford each containing $10. I don’t remember the dates but they were both written after we landed and before the 20th of November. The fifteen dollars I sent by Express was given to the Chaplain on the 20th November and he said a receipt for it would be sent back from Fortress Monroe soon as they could have time to make them out and a boat was coming this way. This receipt is given so that in case the money is lost we can have something to show that we have sent it and the company makes it good. But I have not seen the receipt or heard from the money yet.

I sent a letter to Mary directly after telling her I had sent it and have not heard from her since. There don’t seem to be much regularity about letters going or coming. Some go or come quicker than others. There is no regular Mail Boat but the Mail is sent or brought whenever there is a chance. If you write a letter and it gets to N Y just before a boat leaves for this place, it will come very direct. But if it gets there a week before the boat leaves, of course it will take so much longer for it to reach here. Sometimes letters lay in the Office here some time before there is a chance to send a Mail to N. Y.

You ask me if I have clothes enough. Yes, with the exception of a pair of gloves. I have two coats and an overcoat, two woolen shirts, two pairs of drawers. The cold weather here is only once in a while. A good deal of the time it is too warm for comfort in the day time, a little chilly nights.

When you get to Haverhill, I think you will find some letters there from me. I think the missing letter with $10 in it must have reached Orford after you left unless it is lost. But I don’t understand why I have not heard from the $15 sent by Express. I write so many letters that I can’t keep the run of them and I think it will be a good plan to number them, and I will commence with this and call it Letter No 1. The next will be No two and so on. And when you get one, you can acknowledge the receipt of No one or two as the case may be. Then if any are missing, we can tell where the gap is.

I believe I have written about all of consequence, and will bring my letter to a close. Please write and tell me all the news when you get to Haverhill and tell Mary to write often. My love to all and believe me I think of you much and often. Good by, — Edward F. Hall