Camp BrIghtwood, A. M., June 20, 1863.
I look for a general action soon, — and shall not be surprised
if Lee has Washington by August 1st. Don't think me gloomy, — I should regard
the loss of Washington as the greatest gain of the war.
I don't wonder Rob feels badly about this burning and
plundering, — it is too bad. In stead of improving the negro character and
educating him for a civilized independence, we are re-developing all his savage
instincts. I hope when the Fifty-Fifth goes down there, they may be able to
make a change in negro warfare. Such a gentle fellow as Rob must be peculiarly
disturbed about it.1
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1 One company of the Fifty-Fourth Massachusetts
Regiment had been part of a force under Colonel Montgomery, an old Kansas
fighter, which had burned the village of Darien, Georgia. See Colonel Lowell's
letter of June 26, to Hon. William Whiting of Massachusetts.
SOURCE: Edward Waldo Emerson, Life and Letters of
Charles Russell Lowell, p. 261-2
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