1865 Letter from John Couch to A. (Adam?) Watenbarger - page 1
The Couch Letters
Letter of Oct. 18, 1865 from John Couch to 
his brother-in-law A. (Adam?) Watenbarger
Page 1
All of the letters on the following pages, along with the family Bible in which they have been tucked away for over a century, are currently in the possession of my cousin, Mary (Couch) Doss, great-granddaughter of John and Elizabeth (Smith) Couch. 
I cannot overstate my gratitude to Mary for scanning these and sharing them with me...
This letter was written by John Couch III (my great-great-grandfather) to his 
brother-in-law A. Watenbarger (this may be Adam Wattenbarger, who was 
actually the brother-in-law of John's wife, Elizabeth Smith Couch).  This letter 
was written on October 18, 1865 from Memphis, Tennessee. As you can see, 
the letter is in remarkably good condition, for being over 135 years old. 
Here is my transcription, with spelling and punctuation corrections, 
as best as I can make out - curly brackets  { } indicate my best guess 
or totally unreadable words:

"Memphis, Tenn.
Oct. 18, 1865

Mr. A. Watenbarger,

I take my pen in hand to let you all know that I am still on the land among the living and in tolerable  health, thanks be to God for his great mercy and kind blessings.  I have {not for nothing} to write - only to let you know the whereabouts I am.  If I could see you I could tell you a {yarn?} but it is too tedious to say anything about it on paper. I can’t tell anything about Samuel since last Oct.  He was well at that time.  I want you to write to me as soon as you get this letter and let me know all about my family and let them know about me."

Cont'd on back (page 2)