Military-Civil War, Tensas Parish, Louisiana 
A letter to his wife from Albert Bondurant, Tensas Cavalry 
Received from Mary Bondurant, Submitted by Edith Ziegler

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April 11th 1862
                                         Camp at Monterey Tenn

Dear Laura
     You will see by the flag at the head of this sheet that I have
been in a Lincoln Camp-One week ago yesterday we left Corinth to
meet the enemy and on Sunday engaged them on their own ground and at
night we occupied their tents & took supper from their stores-fared
sumptuously. On Monday we renewed the attack-we found during the
day that Buell had during the night landed large reinforcements and
at 3 o'clock Gen Beauregard withdrew his army after firing his last
gun-the first day was a brillant affair and I shall never forget the
scenes that I saw that day-the roar of battle was terrible & extended
for 4 miles-Military men say there never was such a hard contested
field on this continent before-The falling back however was a great
damper-by this we lost an immense amount of tents, army stores, etc-
We have about 3000 prisoners among them Gen Prentiss-On Tuesday evening
while covering the retreat of our army-Our Company about 100 of Col
Forrest's men & 100 Texas Rangers charged a company of cavalry & 3 
Regiments of infantry-the charge is considered a gallant one. We occ-
upied the Center and were in the hottest of the fire-7 of our men were
wounded & missing-2 missing-none wounded severely-You don't know any
of them--Captn Harrison has written their names etc. Horace and myself
are very well. It is thought now that the enemy are moving but no one
knows their destination-I fear that it is to some point on the Miss-
issippi River-as I have just heard that our troops had surrendered
Island No 10-During the fight on Sunday & Monday our regiment were
frequently exposed to the blue whistles & shell-I saw and was in a few
feet of Lt. Love of Captn Lenors Co.-when he was killed by a minnie-
ball-& never spoke-a spent ball struck me on the leg-but made no
impression-only smarted a little-We killed a great many of their men-
I think at least 6 to 1 of ours-I recd a letter from you while the
battle was raging-and tore it up-I recd two more 2 days since-dont be
alarmed about me-I am in fine health-and stand the racket very well-
it is pretty rough but if we can conquer will stand anything. Dont
think of coming up here it is the worst place you ever saw-and we 
will be on the move all the time-If you wish you can go to Jackson
and spend a few weeks until the excitement abates some-I am very
anxious to see you and the children-take good care of yourself-I
want you to look well when  come home-I am afraid that I will find 
your hair silvered over if you do not take things more quietly-Kiss
the children. Love to John-I was sorry to part with him-but anxious
for him to leave on your account- Keep up-All will be well yet I hope.


                 Your aff         
 
                            Albert