HEADQUARTERS ARMIES Of ThE UNITED STATES,
Nov. 27, 1864.
My Dear Wife:
My last was dated from headquarters at camp. I am now
sojourning for a day or two in the city of Washington, arranging my business with
some of the departments. I shall head towards the West before long, and have
the pleasure of greeting you all on my way to the field. It is a good while,
weeks, since I have had a line or intimation of any kind from home, but I steel
my heart to anything approaching anxiety, maintain a firm faith that Providence
will order all things as is best for us all and bide with confidence his
decree. My health is better a good deal than when I left home, and though from
time to time I am caught up by the old trouble, I think, on the whole, I am
steadily on the mend. There is no doubt as to the chronic nature of the disease
that will remain with me during the rest of my life, but some years of
usefulness may yet be spared me. My visit to the headquarters of General Grant
was very agreeable and of very considerable advantage to me.
I have no lack of courtesy wherever I go, and here in
Washington feel compelled to lie perdu and preserve a strict incognito,
lest I suffer from the kindness of my friends.
I enclose a rosebud gathered on the banks of the James, in
the close vicinity of the contending armies; it was literally the last rose of
the summer then, for that night a heavy frost fell, and my plucking saved it
from a black death; it still maintains its hues, though I have carried it in my
pocket for a week, and I hope will not be quite withered ere it reach your
hand.
SOURCE: Walter George Smith, Life and letters of
Thomas Kilby Smith, p. 370-1
No comments:
Post a Comment