This collection contains three letters from George A. Spencer, a private in Company I, 7th Rhode Island Infantry during the American Civil War, written from Rhode Island, Maryland, and Kentucky. In the first letter, addressed to his mother from Camp Bliss [Rhode Island] on August 21, 1862, Spencer asks his mother to bring him a Smith & Wesson "Severn Shooter and A box of cartriges," then reports on a soldier being punished: "[T]here is a man here to day with his head through the head of A barrel he was put there for getting drunk." He includes a small sketch of the man and barrel. Apparently waiting to be exchanged at Camp Parole (Annapolis, Maryland) on February 2, 1863, Spencer again writes to his mother, listing his recent purchases (a vest, portfolio, handkerchief, painkillers, and molasses), then inquires of acquaintances at home and relays news of individuals in his company. Writing to his parents from Point Isabel, Kentucky on February 9, 1864, Spencer reports that he has been working on Sloan's Hill, building a corduroy road, then relays some camp rumors about the regiment's future, and expresses pessimism about a recent Congressional act: "I guess that law that congress passed about sending clothing to Soldiers by Mail will be Laid on the table same [as] the bill to raise the Soldiers pay was that was laid on the table and then throwed under the table and then kicked out of doors ..." The letters are accompanied by three stamped envelopes.