Winchester, December 1, 1861. I have received your last letter, and am sorry that you write so despondently of the future. It would be sad, indeed, for me to think that day would ever come when the dear wife and little ones whose happiness and comfort have been the chief aim of my life, should [...]
Winchester, November 24, 1861. I have read over again this morning your two last letters, and whilst they inspire a feeling of happiness that there is a dear wife at home whose love I prize and cherish more than anything else on earth, yet they make me feel sad that she is unhappy. I think, [...]
Camp near Winchester, November 17, 1861. Soldiering for the past week has been a hard business. For two or three days we had cold rains, and the balance of the time very severe winds. The wind is perhaps more severe than the rain, as it makes our outdoor fires very uncomfortable, it being doubtful whether [...]
Winchester, November 10, 1861. I owe you a letter to-night, and will pay the debt with a very short one. We got here about sunset from Strasburg, after a tiresome day’s march, and have been occupied up to this time, nine o ‘clock, in pitching our tents and getting some supper. The latter we were [...]
Centreville, Va., November 3, 1861. The Frenchman and the wheat crop give you a peck of trouble, but you have the gratification of knowing you are not alone in your misery. We have occasionally some little of it here. Night before last and yesterday, for instance, we had a storm of wind and rain which [...]
Centreville, Va., October 20, 1861. Letters prompted by an affectionate anxiety for my fate, bringing intelligence that wife and children are happy in the enjoyment of every necessary comfort at home, furnish in their perusal the happiest moments of the strange life I am leading. Such interchanges of letters are a poor substitute for the [...]
Camp near Fairfax C. H., October 13, 1861. I have received your last letter, and will devote an hour of this quiet Sabbath to giving you one in return for it. I am very sorry to hear that, having spared your team so long, they have called for it at last. I had hope they [...]
Camp near Fairfax C. H., October 6, 1861. Your letter of October 1st was received on yesterday, and I am very much gratified at the cheerful feeling which it manifests. It shows, too, that you are giving a very commendable attention to the business under your charge, and give promise, if the war lasts, of [...]
Camp near Fairfax C. H., September 28, 1861. I will close a delightful Sunday evening in answering your last letter, received a few days since. I heartily sympathize with you, Love, and our dear little Matthew in your wish for my return. My absence does not press more heavily upon your heart than upon my [...]
Camp near Fairfax C. H., September 22, 1861. I am indebted to you for much pleasure afforded by your sweet letter of 16th inst. I know, Love, my presence is sadly missed at home, but not more than in my lonely tent I miss my dear wife and her fond caress. I am sure, too, [...]
Fairfax C. H., September 16, 1861. I did not write my regular Sunday letter to you on yesterday. As usual, after breakfast I left the camp on duty, and did not return until dinner, when, very tired, I slept a couple of hours. Very soon I got orders to leave again for a ride of [...]
Camp Harmon, September 8, 1861. I will devote to a letter to my loving little wife at home part of this quiet Sunday evening. Sinner as I am, I like to see something to mark the difference between Sunday and week-day. We have no drills on Sunday, and generally two or three sermons in different [...]
Camp Harmon, September 1,1861. I wish very much this war was over, and I could be with you again at our home. There you remember, Love, you used to read, last December, to me of the stirring events in South Carolina; but we never dreamed that such a struggle would result as that in which [...]
Letter To The Editor Of The Lexington “Gazette.” Camp Harmon, August 24, 1861. I do not merit the compliment paid me in a paragraph contained in a recent number of your paper, which gives me the position of leading a portion of the 4th Va. and 7th Geo. in the charge upon the enemy’s batteries. [...]
Camp Harmon, Manassas, August 18, 1861. I promised in my letter of last Sunday to write to you every Sunday, and I will to-day, but I ought not, as you have not answered my last. I find abundance of employment in my new position, but I like it all the better on this account. The [...]
Camp Harmon, August –, 1861. I had a chance to show my gallantry last week. I was directed one night to pass a Mr. Pendleton and his party through, our line of sentinels. I reached the party about ten o’clock, and found the party consisting of an old gentleman driving the carriage, and in it [...]
The following is taken from the Lexington “Gazette,” dated August 8,1861: ”It is due to our worthy fellow-citizen, Mr. E. F. Paxton, or rather it is due to the county of Rockbridge, to claim credit for Mr. Paxton’s conduct, which he has been too modest to claim for himself. A correspondent of one of the [...]
Centreville, August 7, 1861. I have received from Gen. Jackson the appointment to act as his aid, and wish you to send my uniform coat and pants by Rollin, Kahle or some one of our men, whichever comes first. Switzer is just leaving, and I have not time to write more.
Manassas, August 3,1861. I reached here last night after spending a day in Staunton. When I reached there I found the militia of Rockbridge, and some of the officers insisted upon my remaining a day to aid them in raising the necessary number of volunteers (270) to have the others disbanded and sent home. I [...]
Manassas, July 26, 1861. I wrote a short note to you on Tuesday, advising you of my escape from the battle of Sunday in safety. Matters are now quiet, and no prospect, I think, of another engagement very soon. When I think of the past, and the peril through which it has been my fortune [...]
Manassas, July 23, 1861. My Darling: We spent Sunday last in the sacred work of achieving our nationality and independence. The work was nobly done, and it was the happiest day of my life, our wedding-day not excepted. I think the fight is over forever. I received a ball through my shirt-sleeves, slightly bruising my [...]
Near Winchester, July 8, 1861. The last week has been one of patient waiting for a fight. On Monday, the 1st inst., I was ordered by Col. Jackson to go to Martinsburg and burn some engines, at which I was engaged until Tuesday morning, when I received an order to join my company, accompanied with [...]
Camp Stephens, near Martinsburg, June 30, 1861. I wrote to you last Monday, and immediately was ordered off on another expedition, in which I have been engaged the greater part of the past week. I was in charge of a small force engaged in destroying a bridge some ten miles from our camp on the [...]
Winchester, June 15, 1861. On Tuesday last we marched on foot from Harper’s Ferry to Shepherdstown, thence seven miles farther up the Potomac. There we remained a day and a half, when we were ordered to this place, on foot again, and reached here, forty miles, in a day and a half. How long we [...]
Harper’s Ferry, June 5, 1861. I received your sweet letter of the 1st inst. on yesterday, and the return of Mr. McClure gives me the opportunity of sending you a line in return for it. When McClure came here to see his son, a member of our company, I offered him my hand, which he [...]