fairfax Station, January 1, 1863.
Dear ____, — It is
needless for me to say anything to you of my feelings when I heard of Joe's
death. He and Theodore are two more of the best ones sacrificed. So far, among
our friends, the best and dearest seem to have been picked out and isn't it
fearful to think of the families on both sides who have had similar losses for
the last two years? This life gradually makes us feel that, so far as a man
himself is concerned, he may as well die now as a few years hence; but I never
see one killed without thinking of the people he leaves at home: that is the
sad part of it.
I had to get up at
twelve o'clock last night, to make the rounds, and as the New Year came in, I
wondered what the next twelve months would bring forth. What a day, and what a
year this is going to be in the history of the world, if the
Emancipation Proclamation is really what we hope it is. At any rate, it
must be an eventful one for our country, even if nothing decisive takes place.
SOURCE: Thomas Wentworth Higginson, Editor, Harvard
Memorial Biographies, Volume 2, p. 200-1
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