Letter written by Henry N. Shepard from Rolla, Missouri to his friend Henry D. Marsh on January 27, 1862

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James Gates, Cpn. (Gates, James (Captain))

The Star Spangled Banner.
RollaMo (Missouri) (Rolla, Missouri)   Jan 27 '62
Dear Friend Marsh (March, Henry D.) ,

Your welcome
letter was received in due
time. Since receiving it we
have, as you see by the date of
this, changed our location.
On the 14th we once more received
marching orders. All was,
as you may imagine, bustle
and confusion. There were some
however made wise by frequent
follies thought they would wait
the turn of events, and were
not so much excited on the

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PAGE IMAGE subject as others. Various were the
surmises respecting our destination
some supposing that it would
be down the river, others that we
would go to Rolla (Rolla, Missouri) &c &c
Thus matters went on till the 21st, when we received orders
to have our knapsacks packed
ready to start on five minutes
notice. Our destination was generally
understood to be Rolla (Rolla, Missouri) .
the train was made ready
and about half past eleven
last Tuesday night we were ordered
to fall in line with
everything on. We got on board
the cars and were soon on
the move. We passed the night
very comfortably with the exception
of a cold water bath

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PAGE IMAGE at one of the stations where the
engine stopped ot water, It suddenly
started up and we received
a portion of the contents
of the hose in our car.
About 5 AM we
arrived in this place. We remained
in the cars till daylight and
were then marched to the quarters
of the Iowa Fourth (4th Regiment, Iowa) where
we were treated to an excellent
breakfast. After breakfast we marched
to our camp ground about
a mile from town. Our tents
arrived soon after and we are
now once more living in tents.
Our tents are the common
army tent for six men. This
morning we received the Sibley
tent instead which will accomodate

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PAGE IMAGE 18 men, There is
also a stove furnished with the
tent. Tomorrow we start
for Springfield, Illinois (Springfield) to cut off
Price (Price) . Other regiments have
gone on before us, and altogether
we shall be quite a
formidable body. We are under
the command of Gen Curtis (Curtis, Samuel Ryan (General)) ,
and it is said are to
form his body guard. The
route from here to Springfield (Springfield, Illinois)
is through a rough and broken
country intersected with innumerable
streams which have to
be forded. So here goes for
a life of hardship. Perhaps
our correspondence may be interrupted
but do not fail to write often

Your Friend Henry H Shepard (Shepard, Henry H.)

Direct to Co A (Company A) 9th Reg Iowa (9th Regiment, Iowa)
Vols (9th Regiment, Iowa, Company A)  St LouisMo (Missouri) (St. Louis, Missouri)