Letter from Orlando L. French to Lydia French

[written upside down] be very purtientus and make the 75th Ills very plain in your directions, then they will reach me if nothing more is put on [/written upside down] In Camp two miles south of Marfreesboro Tenn Jan 9th 1863

Dearest Lydia, - Once more I seat myself to write you a few words, I have but little that is new to write about, as you will no doubt be made acquainted with our condition here, by James Hastings better than I can tell you in a letter, - he left here to day and I sent a small letter by him but it was such a very poor appology for a letter that I am ashamed of it, but I felt too near sick to write a word, - You can get the particulars of the battle from him ^^better than I can write it for he was on the ground at the time, I have been pretty near sick for the last four days, I have taken a severe cold and my teeth had a general time interating but I feel better to night, We have a very fine camping ground in a fine grove, with a small river running near by, and the opinion is that we will remain here for four or five weeks to reorganize the army, and, best of all to pay us off, which will relieve us very much, as every body in the regiment has been straped for the last two months

There is some of the finest country between here and Nashville, that there is in the world, and some very beautiful mansions, they are all built after one plan of finaly all of the houses between here and Louisville, are in the main alike, they are long and rather narrow with the chimneys on each end, on the outside running to the ground, and generaly built of stone. - They always front side to the road with a door in the middle, ones which there is invariably a piazza, around which there are adornments to suit the owners taste as size of his purse. - All the realy good houses here are built of brick, but there are a great many near Nashville that have much great additions to this general plan, and have produced some truly magnificent buildings. - one on particular, belonging to Colonel Acklin, about two miles from the city upon which there is said to have been expended in the house and furnishing and fitting up the grounds Ten Millions of dollars, - it is an awful big yarn to believe until you have examined the whole of it, I have had only a passing glance at it, but it is described as being a perfect wonder - The ground that is fitted up as the immediate enclosure of the house contains eighty acres, The state Lunatic asylum is about six miles this side of Nashville on the Murfreesboro

pike and as we came along by it, I rode out to it, in company with several others, it stands a half mile back from the road, a very large, plain brick building, but put up with good proportions, and good taste, - The grounds were laid out very pretty, but the bathing house and the artificial lake fed by a spring nearby, were arranged in such a beautiful & systematic manner as to elicit our admiration, but most of all, and by far the most beautiful as well as [novel?] sight I ever saw, was a little circular pond, perhaps twenty feet in diameter, surrounded by a wall, rough jagged, & picturesque, varying in heighth from eighteen inches to ten feet built of stone containing fossilated remains and specimens of petrifactions, - the stones have been selected, in the main, for their odd shapes, many of them resembling, a head of some animal, and in one case, a large stone on the highest part of the wall bore a striking resemblance to a man, and all these stone containing the fossil remains of some animals, birds, insects, or fish, - while the rest were still more interesting as being the most beautiful specimens of petrifactions I ever saw, and the greater part of these specimens were built into cave in the center, and among the rest I saw petrified fish, birds, serpents, - one of the latter that was eight feet long, and almost perfect, - and what was still more wonderful there was a negros head

in perfect shape yet turned to a stone Asside from all this, yet connected with it was a little cave formed of the same kind of material and the whole arranged in such a picturesque manner as to present a remarkable and very pretty picture, - These specimens were all collected in this state, and are very perfect - I broke a small piece from a large specimen of honey comb, in remembrance of the place and occasion, I come in contact with a great many curious, men and things & sights, that a description of would perhaps be interesting, but I have a good deal of other matters to think of, and it seems to take too many words to get them into anything of a readable form, to suit my complaint, which is the same one that has always troubled Post, - I have no real labor to perform, other than the supervision of this department, and I am getting so tired, - that is constitutionaly tired, that I am hardly in a fit condition, even to write a letter, and I am affraid, that I shall never be worth a cent to work again, - it realy worries me, - but my hopes are, that I shall so thoroughly understand the art of systematic, legalized, stealing as to render it unnecessary for me again to perform manuel labor, - we will hope for this, while we continue to labor faithfully & manfully in the noble cause of getting all we can and keeping all we get - But I must to bed so good night and happy dreams to you, while I crawl into my bunk of blankets & straw