Kanawah Falls – 5 Nov, 1862

Gauley, Fayette Co, VA,  
Nov the  5^th 1862
Dear Mary,
I have not heard from you since the 23^rd of Oct.  I am well and am enjoying myself as well as ever I have done since I have been in the Army.  I wrote a letter to you last Sabbath in a barn near Charleston.  Monday morning we moved up to this place 6 miles distant.  This is the place where Floyd caused Cox to retreat, or rather Cox caused Siber and Lightburn to retreat and burn the extensive commissary depot and all it contained amounting in all to nigh $100,000 worth.  Such signs of wholesale destruction I never could have thought of.  There was two large buildings containing clothing, tents and provisions in immense quantities, also 5,000 stand of arms. And here was destroyed 300 wagons, a great many of them were burned.  Some were cut down.  Some were thrown into the river and a great many were thrown over a cliff of rocks on the Fayetteville road and smashed to pieces.  These and fragments of other articles are strewed around here over acres of land in confused heaps of burned and charred masses.  

One of the greatest curiosities of this place is the falls of the Kanawha.  The whole river here pours over a precipice of rock 20 feet high.  This is the head of steamboat navigation at any time, but at present they only come to Charleston, 5 miles below.

At this place the river runs almost a due south course.  We are camped on the East or S.E. side of the river right directly at the foot of Cotton Mt. towering up to a height of at least 1000 feet above us.    Yesterday in company with 4 others we started up it.  At a height of about 300 feet we came to a bench on which Floyd had his batteries planted.  It was a well selected spot for him as it appears our guns drove him but little injury.  But the trees around and above the battery were completely riddled with ball and shell.  As we proceeded further up in the rear of the battery we saw more visible signs of shelling.  The ground was in places completely covered with limbs and brush cut from trees by our shell in that engagement showing plainly that our guns completely overshot their battery.  Still further up we found the grave of a rebel soldier – his feet sticking out of the ground.  Some of our boys took sticks and pried him out of the ground.  The flesh had all decayed.  Still further up were to be seen numbers of spots where shell had struck the ground tearing great holes by their explosions.  Others penetrated the mountain slope leaving a round hole but did not explode.  Many of these we dug out and brought into camp.

We proceeded on up climbing from bush to bush until we came to the top of the highest peak nigh us.  Here we could see as far as the eye could see and nothing could we see but peak after peak in every direction.  Not a sign of a human habitation could we see.  Saw a few down in the vicinity of our camp.  From here we started down in a Northwest direction.  We soon came onto a more gradual descent and here we found the greatest patch of pawpaws I ever saw.  The bushes were from 20 to 30 feet high – the leaves still green.  And I never saw bushes fuller of pawpaws in my life and of a better quality than anything I ever saw in Ohio.  And another peculiarity they have is the best ones are to be found on the bushes.  We returned to camp just at dusk after a tramp of half a day.