Stoneman Station, Va.,
Sunday, Feb. 8, 1863.
Dear Sister L.:—
I send you a Harper’s, thinking you do not often see them. It is one of the choicest numbers I have ever seen. “The Picket” is a gem for a wood cut. It is lifelike and true. The officer’s uniform is an exact copy. Don’t it strike your fancy there is a bit of romance in the midnight—
“Who goes there?” There is, and much matter of fact, too. You see a good portrait of our “Little Dan” (General Butterfield), too. If I ever get home I’ll show you the bugle he took out of my hand to “sound the charge” at Bull Run. I’m proud to see him now Chief of Hooker’s Staff.
“The army stuck in the mud” is just as good as illustrated papers can make it. The road that looks like a river is mud, not water. In front of the barn you see a “caisson,” or ammunition wagon. The officers .on the jaded horses, the coffee pots and pails on the muskets, in fact the tout ensemble of the picture is first rate. The literary part of the paper I don’t think so much of, but the pictures are good. Keep it to show me when I come home. “Ould Graaly” is a decided hit.
