Home Well I am still able to pen a few lines to you

Manings plantation
near Donaldsonvill L.A.
June 26th [18]64
Home
Well I am still able to pen a few lines to you[.]  I reseived yours of the 6th of June last Monday making the distence in 14 days and I also reseieved yours of the 30th of May last Thursday so you can see that it makes a goodeal of diference in the way that you direct them.  Well I think that I have reseived all your letters since we arrived at N.O And I want to know whether you have reseived mine[,] I have wrote every weeke  since we got to N.O[.]  Well I write so often that I hardly know wheat to write.  But you wanted to know who ower commanding oficers was[.]  Well this detachment is comandied [commanded] by Liet Colonel Wilkerson and he is the biggest coward that ever lived and we neede not be a fraid of a battle while he is in command for at the lest [least] sine [sign] of any rebes he orders us to saddle up and be redy to scaddle.  But the Colonel of this regiment has ben promoted Brigadier Generall so we have no Colonel now.
you wanted to know who was in Comand of this department but I canot tell you for we do not get any news here and do not know wheat is a going on out side of ower own regiment.  Well mother you wanted to know wheat I enlisted for but I canot tell you for I do not know myself but you know that I was all the time talking about enlisting and I could not be contented until I was bound fast to the U.S. servise.  But I never thaut [thought] that you would feele so bad as you did befor I enlisted but now I wish I was at home so you would not have me to freet about.  But it canot be so I want you should be perfectly contented and live for the little ones at home.  But never think that it was any thing that you have don that made me inlist.  You probley had reference to some things that I sead while I was at home but I presume that I sead agood [a good] many things that I did not mean[.]
Well last night I was on patrol from ower camp to white hall a distence of 8 miles down the river and we had to go their [there] and back twice so you can see that wee had a nice plesant ride.  Three men have that to do every night and ower duty is to pick up all suspishous [suspicious] persons and bring them into camp.  Well in fact we have very nice times here so far but it is getting quite warme here now.  The crops looke very nice and thriply and as I have sead before we live well for soldiers[.]  we have plenty of greene corne here now and can get all the new potatoes that we want for $1.00 a bushel.  Butter at 60 cents a pound.  Eggs for 50 cents a dozen.  And we have all the black berys that we want[.]  I wish that you had some of them at home.  But for all that[,] we can get every thing here that we want[.]  It does not taste much as it does at home for there is nothing that we get here that seems to agree with us.  James Cragon is well and all the rest of the boys from ower place[.]  Jim lookes a goodeal better here than he did at home and so does george Maning.  Well I guess that you canot get much sence [sense] out of my scriblings and I think that it is heard [hard] work for you to read them.  So I will close by asking you to take good cair of your self and write often to your son
J. R. S.
I have not reseived eny letter from Mrs chandler yet