Camp Holmes, Annapolis, April 1, 1864.
Dear Hannah, — . . . I am glad to find that you are so pleasantly situated in Baltimore, and hope you will enjoy your visit very much. As to my coming on to see you, I am afraid that I shall not have any chance to do so. I have not been out of camp but once since arriving here, and now I am on court-martial, which will take up all my time from nine A.M. until three P.M. every day. I am very sorry that I cannot accept the invitation for the ball this evening, but as I have said, my duties prevent.
The regiment is getting into very good shape indeed. The men begin to appear and act like soldiers. We have very little trouble with them, and the number in the guard-house is diminishing. For the worst cases, we have provided a scaffold some twenty feet from the ground, erected on poles. Here the hard cases are placed, with the ladder withdrawn at night.
The troops around here are very poorly drilled and disciplined. Many of them are old regiments just returned from furloughs, which I most sincerely hope accounts for their want of drill and discipline. They are many of them Pennsylvania troops, however, which accounts for their deficiencies or failings. . . .
I am most happy to inform you that the regiment has improved greatly in battalion drills, etc. It will be a fine regiment soon. . . .
