Martinsburg Va. April the first A D 1863

Martinsburg Va. April the first A D 1863

Mr. William Dunbardear Cousin, it is with pleasure that i take my pen in hand to inform you how i amprospering i am well and hearty at present and i sincerely hope that these few imperfect lines may find you and the rest of the family enjoying good health We are still at Martinsburg and i expect if nothing happen we will stay here for sometime the weather has been very disagreeable for soldiering for the last month but i hope it will soon get warm for i am tired of winter and the mud, there is no other troops here except this regiment and therefore we have to go on guard every other day. the health of our Regiment i am happy to say is improving very fast i wrote a letter to aunt Rachel at the time i wrote i wasent very well but i got well in a couple of days afterwards i only had a bad cold i was very sorry that i told aunt that i was sick for i know that she would be uneasy about me but you can now tell her that i am enjoying the best of health. i hope you are getting along first rate on the old farm i should like very much to see you and Wesley and the rest of the family how i would like to get home awhile this summer and have a few days to pass with you but this cant be at present but i hope the war will be over next summer and then all the soldiers can return to their homes and kind friends they have left behind. i believe i have written all the news i shall have to close for the present but ever remain your true friend David Close to his cousin William Dunbar give my best respects and love to Uncle and Aunt and Wesley and the childrenDavid Close of company D 126th Regiment O V I

I have wandered far from home, far away from loved ones dear Yes far away from them i roam i wish that they were here but they cannot come to me no to them i must return if i would their faces see those for whom my heart doth yearn My home is in the distant west on the hills both deep and wild where i roved when a child.