WASHINGTON, July 24,
1861.
I spent last evening with Mr. Chase and his daughter. They
had a large number of wounded and tired soldiers sleeping in the house and had
fed more than a hundred during the day. They were all low-spirited at the
ill-success of our arms. I met there Bishop McIlvaine, Mr. Horton of Ohio, and
Governor Sprague of Rhode Island, who led his troops in the engagement of
Sunday, and who, from appearances is, I judge, the accepted suitor of Miss
Katie.
Meanwhile, I am forced to the conclusion that the
administration as a whole is weak and that it has undertaken a contract too
heavy to carry out. The South is not composed of cowards or fools or men
without money or means, and the North will find before they get through that
they are not so easily conquered as they had supposed. However I will not
discuss politics with you on paper.
SOURCE: Walter George Smith, Life and letters of Thomas
Kilby Smith, p. 171-2
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