An article that appeared in the Waterville (N.Y.) Times, October 11, 1861: LETTER WRITING IN THE ARMY.--A cor- respondent of The Boston Journal says: "There never was an army like this for cor- respondence. Go through the camp at any time, at any hour of the day, and you will see hundreds of soldiers--when off duty-- writing letters. It is a picturesque sight. Some lie at full length upon the ground, be- neath the shade trees, with a book or knap- sack for a table, with pen and ink--though often only a pencil writing news to their friends. Some sit upright against the trunks of trees; some lean forward with their hands upon their knees, and some with much paintaking, stand up and write. The average number of letters received for the soldiers at the Washington post office is forty-five thousand per day, and an equal number are mailed--naking an aggregate of ninety thousand envelopes and sheets of paper per day. Of course the sale of en- velopes is immense. One dealer informs me this morning that the sale of envelopes averaged fifty thousand per day. Yesterday he sold one hundred thousand for Gen. Bank's division."