[Note: This letter is in the Cornelius Van Houten Correspondence, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress but has never been previously transcribed.]

On the Battlefield [of Seven Pines or Fair Oaks]
June 13, 1862

Dear Father,

I was very much pleased to receive a letter from you yesterday. I received three letters all at once so I thought as I only had one stamp left I would answer them all and send them all in one envelope.

I am a great deal better. I wish you could see this battlefield. There were so many men killed that we could not bury them all. Some we throwed a little dirt over and those who laid in piles we laid brush on and burned them. Some are not burned or buried. They lie out full of worms like a lot of dead horses. It is one of the awfullest sights I ever saw but such is war.

You say Mary is coming to stay home all summer. I don’t want her to stay longer than two months. The she must leave for you know how it is with a mother and daughter-in-law. I hope you will not take any offense for I surely mean none. You know how it was at Giles. Mary can make a visit for a couple of months. You must take her and let her stay a while with the folks at Whynogree.

I hope we shall soon be through with this war so I can come home. I am getting tired of it. Give my love to Mother and tell her I am getting along finely. Remember me to Grandfather and Uncle Cornelius and all. Accept this from your dutiful son. — C. Van Houton

Joe and Jimmy are not very well. Rest are all getting along finely.