Elexandra April 26th: 1864

Dear wife and children I will try to write to

you A line to let you know that I am

still in the land of the living and well

and hope that you are all well I got yours of

the 3th yesterday and was glad to here that

you was well I am afraid that if you go to keep

boarders you will work to hard but you must

keep a girl to help you now I will tell you

something about our march we left camp

th 15 of Mar cince that we have marched 524

miles and have fought 3 hard battles I

was not in eney of them we first met the

rebs at a place called sabine cross roards we

had bin held in reserv all untill almost night

then the rebs was reinforsed by 10 thousand

and our men begun to give way then our

division was called for and they whent in

but I will not try to discribe it I cannot

it was alful the rebs tryed to take a betrey and we

let them get almost up and then we opened on them

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we killed 1300 in one hour that night we

fel back to plesant hill and they followed us

and they got to clost for we killed a host of

them but banks [Major General Nathaniel Banks, commander of the

Red River expedition] kept on the retrebe untill

we got to a place called GranD Core [Grand Ecore] on the red

river and we styed thir 11 days but we stayed

to long for the rebs got all round us and they

thought to take all us they was mistaken

for we cut them all to peses one day they

attacked us in our frunt and rere all at once

but they drove thare ducks to a bad market

we killed from 3 to 4 thousand and tuck

3 thousand prisners we have stopped hear

how long we will stay I cannot tell I had

like to for got to tell you what we done as we

come we burnt every thing for fiftey miles

wide and 100 in lanth that was fun fore me

if we stay heer I am agoing to cend home

for a box some think that we will stay heer

untill hot weather is over I hope we may

unless we could go on the miss river

we will have to have more men before

we can go up through texes

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I will close tell the children I will

write to then if we stay a few days

untill I get rested little No more from

Wm R Brooks to

Jane Brooks and all the children

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