Dear Diary,

I want to go home!  I'm tired of the Army - this constant guard 
duty, picket duty, skirmishing, and to no use.  The real fighting 
seems to be in Virginia and Missouri, and I'm stuck here in Paducah, 
KY.  We lost another one at Balls Bluff, in Virginia, on back in 
October.  Another real disaster, from the newspaper accounts.

The Rebs have formed a provisional government over in Russellville, 
and actually voted Kentucky into the Confederacy on the 13th of 
December.  And here I sit.

Actually, I'm just homesick.  Today we'd have all the family together,
and after church would all sit down to a big dinner and exchange
presents.  Instead, I've got guard duty again - third time this week -
and by Christmas dinner will be salt pork, hardtack, and what passes 
for coffee.

I did get a Christmas present of sorts from home last week - a new
shirt and three pair of socks.  That gives me three shirts now - one
good one and two "Army issue".  As for socks, I wear them out as fast 
as I get them, what with all the marching.  Mail is pitifully slow, 
and that's all a soldier lives for.  I don't think I've gotten more 
than one letter every fortnight since I've been in the Army - and I'm 
faring better than most.  It's really sad to see the boys cluster a
round the First Sergeant for Mail Call, then see them go away with 
tears in their eyes when they don't get a letter.  I know the feeling 
all too well. 

We really haven't had a pitched battle.  There have been some down
around Bowling Green, and the Rebs are supposed to be building some
forts on the Cumberland and Tennessee Rivers.  Henry and Donelson, I
here they've called them.  Not that the generals have consulted me, 
but I expect we'll be moving on them sometime after the first of the 
year.  It doesn't make a lot of sense to keep us up here sitting 
around when there's fighting to be done down in Tennessee.

Hopefully, this new year will see the end to this rebellion, and I 
can spend the next Christmas with my family.

At any rate, Merry Christmas, Diary!