Saturday, November 22, 2014

George William Curtis to Miss Norton, June 11, 1862

June 11, '62.

Everything is so soft and ample and rich in form and color during this month! Yet I regret the rain that makes the freshness, on account of Mac and his boys before Richmond. What a pity that we have not a hundred thousand more men, so that everything might be as sure as speedy! And what a tremendous contest! I go back to Persia and Greece and Carthage and Rome to find its parallels. The Rebels are as united and sullen and desperate as I always knew they must be. They hate us with ferocity. The task before us is greater than any people ever was called upon to accomplish. Great nations have conquered and subjugated others, but we have to conquer and assimilate half of ourselves.

SOURCE: Edward Cary, George William Curtis, p. 154-5

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