Southern Confederacy [Atlanta, Ga], August 16, 1861
Camp Davis, Lynchburg, Va.,
Aug. 13th, 1861.
Dear Confederacy: …
What a spirit animates all the people here! They even shed tears on our arrival, cheered us all the way; and when they heard we were from Georgia, all along the line of railroads at every station the people flocked and gave us the best their stentorian lungs could afford. Every house had a flag; everybody had a flag, and the ladies had their dresses made like flags, with the red and the blue predominant. I began to think that secession flags was one of the produces of the soil, or of spontaneous growth. The girls would talk to the boys, and the boys would talk to the girls, and with no parlor reserve either; but they would utter sentiments of the heart, and coming, as they did, from pretty, pouting lips, and beautiful women to say them, no wonder the boys (some of them) lost their hearts, and will leave them with the Virginia lassies, instead of those of dear old Georgia. Well, no matter, our women and children are all we are fighting for in this war, and if future generations will reap the benefit and thank us for it, ’tis all we claim. . . .
T. D. W.