The Civil War Letters Prince George, Bermuda Hundred, Virginia September 19, 1864

Headquarters Co E 11th Pa Cav nr St George Courthouse
Sept 19th 1864

My Dear Wife

I received your kind and affectionate letter of the 14th and i was very glad to hear that you was improving in health  i hope that you will have no more Sickness for i want to See you looking as fresh as Ever when i come home.

Dear Maggie  i cannot express in words how much i love and admire your conduct.  you are worthy of all the love of a good husband  and Maggie if People think that i have been neglectful of you during these long years of war i know that you have no Such thoughts  and if God Spares my life to come home Safe and sound with all my limbs i will make it my Duty to love and cherish you with all my Strength.  though i have been absent from home i never could forget to love you  there is never a day or hour that i do not think of my Dear Wife and child.  and my Prayer has always been that God will look over you and protect you until i shall come home from the War.  and Maggie wont that be a happy day to us both.  it will be a new Wedding day our reunion after being so long seperated.

Since i last wrote we have had a fight with the Revels on the morning of the 16th.  Gen Hampton with the whole Rebel Corps of Cavalry and artillery attacked our line of Pickets before daylight when two thirds of our men was asleep  it was a compleate suprise  they charged and drove us about two miles before we could Rally and check them  they came in very heavy force  they was almost ten to our one for we had only two Regements and they was Scatred on a line of 10 miles.  While the Rebels had 4 large Divisions of there Best Cavalry  So you will see that it was easy enough for them to drive us  our men was drove out so quick that the Rebels got all there shelter tents  havesacks (haversacks) with four days Rations in  and close to the Picket line there was about 1,000 head of cattle for Grants army and the Rebels captured all of them and drove them of  so they will have plenty of fresh Beef for some time  after the Rebels had drove us as far as Prince George Court house we formed with our Regement and advanced after the Rebs  by this time the Rebs was making back as fast as they could  we followed them up for about 20 miles and over took them about ten oclock at night and we fought them for about 1/2 hour when we found them to strong for us  so we fell back a couple of miles and rested for the balance of the night  and next morning we started back for our old line and here we are again  our line is much stronger now then it was and if they try the same dodge again they will get triped up.  but i have said enough about this for such things happen almost daily.

i have nothing further to add at Present  i hope this will find you injoying the Best of health as it leaves me at Present  Give my Kind love to all the family

My Very Best Love to you
i am as Ever
Your Affectionate Husband
William Lancaster

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