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| Letter to
Department Headquarters Knoxville
May 24th, 1863
Ever Dear Wife.
Sabbath evening has
come again and well nigh passed
reminding me that my ever pres-
ent and increasing desire to be
with you is vain, and that I must
still employ that means of commun-
ication left us, and which, were
we deprived of it, we would con-
sider an inestimable privilege.
Many in our army are separated
entirely from their homes and
months pass without a word of
cheer to hearts perhaps as depend-
ant upon each other as ours.
I frequently meet those whose
homes are in those portions of
the Confederacy in the hands of the
enemy who tell me that six months
or a year has passed since the
heard from wife or sweetheart or
parent. I sincerely pray that we
may not be brought to this, and
will endeavor to enjoy the blessing
permitted without murmuring that
it is not greater. My Darling is |
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PAGE 2:
now free from school 1and
may
spend her time as pleases her. It seems
to me dearest that your hesitancy
about going out is a little prema-
ture. You speak of wearing dresses
which you could not wear a year
ago; 2 surely
there can be no great
alteration for the better. You know
my old foible. I hope darling,
you will not shut yourself up in
that little room so small and
close. You will need some exer-
cise, and need have no fears
of Dr. You know how Mrs. B.
did, she sat in our room frequent-
ly throughout the interval. 3
Nor, if
you have opportunity need you hes-
itate to visit at Maj. Feagin’s. They
are all friends there, and no one
to put you to the blush. I ardent-
ly wish, My Darling, that I could
be with you to relieve you of
any dependance upon others for
society, but still no prospect opens.
My hopes for peace have, since
the beginning of the war, had
a foundation in the united in-
fluence of victory on our parts |
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PAGE 3:
and resolution on the part of our
foe. In the former, the Lord has been
as constant to us in the bestowal,
as was for our good. True the
news from Mississippi has been
unfavorable for a few days, but
today we again have the shout
of victory and the revival of the
hope that all may yet be well
in that quarter. In the latter a
steady progress has been made
from the first, and is now ap-
proaching a crisis which it will
be impossible for any assumed
of Lincoln to withstand.
We must bear in mind that the
revolution which subverted the
Constitution and drove us upon
our undoubted right of secession,
was thirty years in progress.
The whole whole body politic had
become diseased, and bleeding
was the only remedy which would
produce any effect. Every other way
tried only to prove more conclusive
by threat the influence of reason
and right had ceased to act.
We need not look then for a change
so speedily as we might desire, but |
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as in the practice of physic, the
influence of bloodletting is imme-
diate, so no more active means
of restoring the normal tone of
society could be employed.
At least, I judge so from the
fact that the Great Restorer
of Nations has employed this
seems almost exclusively since
the earliest history. If we are
successful in Mississippi a battle
will soon be fought in middle
Tenn. which will precipitate
revolution at the North and lead
to an early peace. If we are not
successful there in Miss. the ef-
fect will be to prolong the war
indefinitely. Never the less, the object
for which we have left. Our homes
will be attained though through
still greater suffering.
Such are my thoughts at present
in regard to the prospect of peace.
While I hope, I fear it will not,
come in time to enable me to
spend much of the summer with
you. Had we not been blessed with
nobler prospect doubtless you would
be about to start on a trip to Knox-
ville. Capt. and Mrs. Sommerville are |
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PAGE 5:
quite anxious to have you come
and spend a few weeks at least
where the heats of summer are tem-
pered by an occasional mountain
breeze; but though I told the Capt.
why it may not be, I hardly thought
it but to tell his wife. I rode out to
their boarding place a few days ago
and had another very pleasant call.
But such calls are unsatisfying;
they only serve to remind me how
how great a blessing is mine but not
to enjoy... I have felt my ab-
sence from you more during a
few weeks passed that at anytime
before, unless it be when I have
been about to start to see you. Per-
haps it is because I know what
must be the natural want of a wife
situated as you are and my sym-
pathies are the more fully aroused.
I am glad darling that in con-
trasting the present with five years
ago when surrounded by all the
sweet influences of home, you
can say that you are happier
now. Were it otherwise I should
much self condemnation not
unmitigated however, by the fact |
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PAGE 6:
that had peace continued to smile
upon us I might have made
you much happier than I have
been able as it is. I hope, when
peace shall come and I shall have
secured a home for you which
it will be our united pleasure
to beautify within by graces, and
without by toils, to be able to
multiply your happy hours, and
make all tears of the past seem
to you but as a string of pearls
employed to adorn the neck of
youth...I believe that I answer-
ed the business portion of your letter
in my last. I have not yet got
my money changes so as to send
that but will probably do so by
the middle of the week when
I write again. All moves on
smoothly here now, two of our
old clerks have gone so that
instead of sending me away
there is more likelihood of
calling in another. Take good
care of your health darling and
do not fail to take some exercise
to wear off school with. May
God bless you and hear our uni-
ted prayers for peace and the return of
your Frank. |
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