3 pages, 5 x 8, in ink, written by John A. Yeckley. Fully identified with company and regiment.

Camp near Darnstown, Maryland, Oct. 17 [1862]

Dear brother,

It has been some time since I have written to you or heard from you & the reason why is that I did not know where to write for I heard that you had enlisted & that is the reason that I have not written oftener. I got a letter from mother yesterday & she is in want of some money. She says she is not allowed a cent this summer & that her feet is bare to the ground. It is impossible for me to do anything for her at present for I had the misfortune to lose my pocketbook with forty dollars just as I was agoing to send it home the next day. If you can help her a little at present I can send her twenty dollars in about a month when I get my next pay. I think you had better go & see her. If possible move her away for I don’t suppose that she is very well used [to] where she is & I think her & Nancy Jane might live together with very little more expense. You must write to me as soon as you can. Do anything to relieve her wants. If not let me know & I will try & get a furlough to come home & see to things. We are about twenty miles from Washington. We are in a very good section of country. The land is what the chestnut oak & prime land is in our state. We have plenty of spring water. The weather is pleasant & the nights warmer than they was in the summer. I have not had anything yet but a fly tent open at both ends, but I never enjoyed better health in my life than since I left Washington. We have plenty to eat and drink of everything that we want. We only drill about three hours per day, just enough to give us an appetite.
Direct your letters to John A. Yeckley, Co. E, 28th Regt. N.Y.S.V., Washington, D.C., care of Col. D. Donelley.

The big guns is firing towards Washington today & they was all day yesterday & they are fighting in the neighborhood of Chain Bridge, but we hear so many reports that we can’t believe anything we hear, but we have had orders to have two days rations in our haversacks & to have our knapsacks packed so as to be ready for a march.
Write as often as you can for a letter never comes amiss to a soldier.

Yours in haste,
John A. Yeckley

Bold and very neatly written. Excellent fully identified New York infantry soldier's letter..

John A. Leckley, was 24 years old when he enlisted in the Union army as a private, at Canadaigua, New York, on May 14, 1861, and was mustered into Company E, 28th New York Infantry, on May 22nd. He was mustered out of the service on June 2, 1863, at Albany, New York, when the regiment's term of service expired.