Camp Brownlow, April 13, 1862

Apr. 30, 1862, The Marysville Tribune (40th Ohio, Piketon, Buchanan)
Letter from a Soldier in the 40th Regiment – The following letter from G. P. Robinson to his father, A. R. Robinson of Darby Township, has been handed us for publication. It will be found to contain some items of interest.

Camp Brownlow, Piketon, Pike Co. Ky – April 13th, 1862}
Dear Friends, Seated up high in my bunk this morning with my blanket rolled up for a desk to write upon. I will endeavor to pen you a line to inform you of my health, circumstances, and enjoyments. We are still encamped at Piketon, and are all in good health, and enjoying the comforts of a soldier in the highest degree. The weather has been very pleasant for the past two weeks, but now is disagreeable – having been rainy and wet for two or three days. No boats have been up for two or three weeks, but we are looking for one now. The river has been up pretty high, but it now passable for boats. We have not heard of any news whatsoever during the interval. We have been without news longer than we have been longer for four months before.
I like our camping ground very well. We are well fixed, have good bunks to sleep in and plenty of good blankets to keep us warm; and as for the eatables we have plenty. Our cooking I will out against anything in camp. John Clark is our cook and has been in the business for a little over a month. We each give him 75 cents a month. He can beat most of the women in Kentucky cooking; he can bake as good biscuits as anybody. I will tell you what we get to eat. We draw pork, beans, hominy, potatoes, hash beef (once a week) corn meal, flour, & c. it is now better than two months since we came to this place, and I am not tired of it yet. We have a very handsome parade ground. Our camp is on the right-hand side of the stream, the river running to the left. Piketon is just above our camp about three or four hundred yards. It is about the size of Milford. Back of our camp there is a level piece of land which we use for drill grounds. The are about fifty or a hundred acres in this level, in which is situated the town, our camp, & c., and the whole surrounded by large hills or mountains on all side