Centreville, July 25, 1863.
I don't at all fancy the duty here, — serving against
bushwhackers; it brings me in contact with too many citizens, — and sometimes
with mothers and children. The other night a fine looking young fellow stumbled
against our pickets and was captured, — it proved that he had been out to visit
his mother, — she came to bid him good-bye the next morning, a Quakerlike
looking old lady, very neat and quiet. She didn't appeal to us at all; she shed
a few tears over the son, repacked his bundle carefully, slipped a roll of
greenbacks into his hand, and then kissed him farewell. I was very much touched
by her. Yesterday we took a little fellow, only sixteen years old, — he had
joined one of these gangs to avoid the conscription, which is very sweeping; he
told us all he knew about the company to which he belonged, but he was such a
babe that it seemed to me mean to question him. The conscription now takes all
between eighteen and forty-five, and practically a good many both under and
over: I had the satisfaction the other day of arresting the Lieut.-Colonel who
had charge of the draft in this and the neighbouring counties, and hope I have
stopped it for a time. You see I'm :opposed to the draft” as unconstitutional.
SOURCE: Edward Waldo Emerson, Life and Letters of
Charles Russell Lowell, p. 283-4
No comments:
Post a Comment