This letter was written by John Pfeifer (1837-1898), alias John Fifer, who served early in the Civil War as a private in Co. C, 8th Indiana Infantry—a three month’s organization. When he mustered out of the regiment on 6 August 1861, he gave his residence place as Delaware county, Indiana. John wrote the letter to his wife, Sarah (“Sallie”) Strucker with whom he married in January 1848 in Ripley, Indiana. John was a German emigrant and a boot/shoemaker by trade. After he was discharged from the 8th Indiana, he returned to Muncie, Indiana, but a year later enlisted again for three years as a sergeant in Co. D, 84th Indiana. He lived out his days in Muncie.

The 8th Indiana Volunteer Infantry was organized at Indianapolis, Indiana, on April 21, 1861, for a three-month enlistment. The regiment was assigned quarters in Camp Morton initially where they drilled and they remained there until 1 June when they moved to an ecampment five miles east of Indianapolis called Camp McClellan. Named for Major General George B. McClellan, commander of the Department of the Ohio, the camp was sited on the Jacob Sandusky farm, future site of Irvington. They remained there until mid June when they were ordered to Clarksburg, West Virginia, and attached to William Rosecrans’ Brigade, in George B. McClellan’s Provisional Army of West Virginia. They fought in the Battle of Rich Mountain on July 11, 1861 and returned to Indianapolis in August to be mustered out.

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

Camp McClellan
Indianapolis
5th [June 1861]

Dear Sallie,

I received your letter you sent to me by Mr. Harter and was very glad to hear from you. I am sorry that you are not very well but I hope you feel better by this time. Dear Sallie, you must excuse me for not writing any oftener. Last week I had no time atall to write because we moved from the fairgrounds. I sent a letter up to you by Harter and you did not say if you got it or not. He told me that he gave it to you and I sent a letter last Monday to you by Mr. Wise.

Sallie, I am very sorry that you think I had forgotten you or be mad at you. Sallie, I will remember and think of you until I see you again. I will not be very long. I hope you will not think hard of me because I could not write oftener. I will write to you whenever I can. Believe me that I think of you all the time.

Sallie, we are all satisfied now because we got some new guns. We can shoot as far with them as any of them Southerners. We would like to go and try them on now. The report is that we will leave for sure next Saturday. We all hope that we will.

Dear Sallie, you want me to come up to see you. Oh how glad I would be if I could see you and more before I go to war. [But] Sallie, I could not come unless I run off like the rest of the Boys did. I do not like to go unless I could go honorable. Our time is over half up and in about five weeks more I am sure to see you again. I shall not enlist for any longer till I see you and more if I keep my life.

Sallie, you say you like to know how I liked that cake you sent me. I liked it the best kind. I gave all the Boys in our tent a piece of it and they all said they wished they had some as good as that was every day. I wish so too. Sallie, you say that you heard so much talk about Camp Morton. I do not think that one half of it is true. There is too much false reports about us. We have to do the best we can here. It is not like home. Everyone’s got to take care of himself.

Sallie, they was trying to get us in for three years but they could not do it. I think there is not many that [are] here that would enlist for three years. They’ll be satisfied in three months. Our place here looks like a small town, a [ ] from all the railroads pass about two hundred yards from our new camp from Indianapolis to Dayton and every train stops here. Our camp looks nice but it is very warm. We have no shade at all.

Dear Sallie, I’ll remember you as long as I live. Do not think that I have forgot you. I will write to you whenever I can. Perhaps this is the last letter you get from me but I hope not. I must close. Write as soon as you can. Yours truly forever. My love to you, — John Fifer

Goodbye dearest Sallie. I dream of you most every night and think of you all the time.