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[begin inverted text] did Will receive the letter I sent that had my comission in. I would like to know about them. [inverted text end] [Jan. ? 1863] here we had a good view of the place If the enemy had been a mind to they could of made us skedadle for we were in range of the guns. They have even got the streets fortified we could only see one cannon with the naked eye, but with a spy glass we could see plenty of them. We saw them fixing up a gun boat called the Vixburg but as we have battries below and a gun boat above it will do them no good for we are now in possesun of the river as well as they are they are on one side we on the other. They wont let us run boats & we wont let them. It will be some time before we attack the place if we ever do. If the canal only prove all right so we can run the gun boats through we will soon have the rive open we can see the Rebs. drilling at Vicksburg. I hope before long