This collection consists of a single letter written by "Cousin Charley" and addressed to "Cousin Mary." Dated May 7, 1865, the letter was written from the camp of the 109th New York Infantry near Georgetown, D. C. The unidentified soldier writes of having recently rejoined his regiment, the battlefied losses of Company A, the prospects of mustering out, and of the public's perception of soldiers: "I suppose some of the people up there are very sorry to think the war is so near over & that the soldiers are soon to return home[.] I see that some of them have the ida [sic] that the soldiers are a lot of drunken, demoralized, degraded beings & are unfit to be admited [sic] into civilized society." He also writes at length of the weather and spring blooms, then concludes by mentioning that he had stopped in Washington to view the remains of Abraham Lincoln and by sharing his opinion of John Wilkes Booth. The letter is accompanied by a stamped envelope addressed to Mary Ashley, Speedsville, Tompkins Co., New York.