Andrew Buck Letter 1864

              Culpepper Va Tues May 3, 1864
Brother Amphictyons

					Pleasant May is here and 'all is quiet.' To us it seems like a stillness coming just before an angry storm, a stillness [thus?] more dreaded than the battle itself. The present reminds me of the 12th and 13th of last July when the two armies lay within rifle shot of each other on loyal soil, to all appearances gathering up for the first conflict on the Potomac. Nature itself seemed hushed in silence. The soldiery, exhausted with marching and battling welcomed the days for rest. The council of war was held and a decision given [Sat.] the enemy should be left alone. To day from a hill near our camps tents we can see the camps of that same enemy whose members it is rumored count 80,000 strong. Perhaps it is well that he is there,  that he was not annihilated while on his rash invasion to Loyalty. We must remember that the way to our honorable peace