Head Quarters 3rd Divs 3rd Corps
May 18th 1863

Mr. Bennett Sir
I write you a few lines to _____ for to let you know how I am (and also for an inquiry about my folks) I am well and hope these lines will find you and all the folks the same. To day I have been to the Hospital of our Corps. And several others the Boys look better and feel better than I expected. The wounded have not all been brought _____ the river yet they are fetching them every day. Such a Battle I never saw nor heard of it was beyond describing but _____ a small idea _____ you have the reports and we have the real. The Boys are in good Health and good cheer and also have good confidence in Old Jo Hooker and our Corps have great-confidence in Sickles but we lost one Good General was Gen Whipple of our division our Corps lost two Maj-Gen Berry _____ Whipple.
Berry commanded the Second Division; The Weather is fine and warm. The inquiry is what our Folks is a doing and also the particulars of everything that is going on,

Write a good Long Letter
Answer soon
Yours with Respect
Stephen A Baley

Give my respects to all Friends + Relation
By Stephen A. Baley

Stephen Andrew Baley was born in Troupsburg, N.Y., on Sept. 13, 1839, the son of Thomas W. and Jane (Bishop) Baley. He enlisted, age 22, at Troupsburg in Sept. 1861, and was mustered in as Second Sergeant, Company H, 86th Regiment, New York Infantry. After three years he reenlisted as a Veteran Volunteer. Baley was wounded in action at the battle of Po River, Va., on May 10, 1864. He was promoted to the rank of First Sergeant on Aug. 6, 1864, and to the rank of First Lieutenant on Dec. 23, 1864. He was wounded in action at the battle of Fort Stedman, near Petersburg, Va., on March 25, 1865, and died of his wounds at Decamp General Hospital on David’s Island in New York Harbor on April 8, 1865. He is buried at the Young Hickory Cemetery in Troupsburg. S. A. Baley Post 351, Grand Army of the Republic, in Troupsburg, was named after him. The post was chartered on March 12, 1883.

According to David Young Bluffton, the recipient of the above letter was probably Norman Nathaniel Bennett, from the Young Hickory neighborhood of Troupsburg, N.Y. (where the Baley family also lived).