This collection contains a letter written by Henry Howland, quartermaster for the 51st Illinois Infantry while aboard the the steamer D. G. Taylor on the Mississippi River during the American Civil War. Writing on April 17, 1862 to his mother in Chicago, Howland makes general comments about his health, then notes that his division had captured 5,000 Confederates near Tiptonville, Tennessee. He then describes General Paine as "a most excellent man and a very fine officer," notes his division's position, and describes the fleet on which the troops embarked to journey southward on the Mississippi from New Madrid, Missouri. The army, Howland writes, is under orders to "proceed up the Tennessee to aid our troops at Pittsburg." He anticipates a journey of three to four days, followed by "one of the hardest fought battles that has yet been fought," and expresses his readiness to die in battle. He then relates a few anecdotes about his young son, including one in which the boy prayed, "Please God send some big Bears to eat the Rebels up." Howland concludes by stating the hopelessness of receiving a furlough and the likelihood of a lengthy war.