Barrier thanks his parents for their kindness and generosity, sending him so many good things and keeping him supplied over the course of the war. He writes that he has recently received his trunk, which his mother filled with cakes and biscuits, and that he'll be sending it back, empty, to his family so that his mother might fill it with potatoes or other vegetables; Barrier says he cannot get them where he's currently stationed. He is a little self-conscious: "But you will think I am always begging for something." The weather is so severe (rain, snow, sleet) that military movements for the time are impossible. That said, the regiment's soldiers are in apparently good spirits and health. He inquires about William Woods Holden, who is, at this time, campaigning for governor of North Carolina, a prospect that disgusts Barrier, who believes Holden a traitor for maintaining that North Carolina should secede from the Confederacy. Barrier and the soldiers are for the incumbent governor, Zebulon B. Vance: "We had quite an enthusiastic Vance meeting in our reigment last week. We adopted some strong resolutions."