This collection consists of a single, three-page letter written by Samuel D. Foster, a Union soldier during the American Civil War, to William Johnston and family. Writing from the medical inspector's office at Louisville, Kentucky on August 17, 1864, Foster is apparently responding to an inquiry from the Johnstons regarding a soldier named John (almost certainly Corporal John W. Johnston of Company H, 89th Ohio Infantry). In relaying news of John, Foster describes conditions at the prisoner-of-war camp at Danville, Virginia from which he had been released on April 23. Foster notes the poor quality of the prisoners' rations, including very fat, badly cured, and unwashed bacon; unwashed black beans; and inferior, poorly ground, and unsifted cornbread. He describes the guards as "generally very blasphemous & insulting." Foster writes that when he left the prison, John's health was good but that since his release, the remaining prisoners at Danville have been sent to Americus, Georgia, undoubtedly referring to the Andersonville prison.