Howland Springs, Trumbull Co., O.,
September 5, 1862.
My Dear Corydon: — Your kind letter of the 25th ult. was
received a few days ago. I was exceedingly glad to hear from you. I have not
heard from you for a long time, only by way of your paper, a copy of which has
from time to time found its way into camp and reached me. I ought to have left
the field two months ago, but I had hoped to ward off disease, but for being
put on that miserable Court Martial, where I was shut up for near forty days in
a hot room, where I could get no exercise; and at last I broke down. It was doubted
by some whether I could live to get home. I lost forty-three pounds of flesh,
and was so weak that I had to lie on a couch in the court the last ten days of
my attendance. I had the jaundice very badly, and the chronic diarrhœa. I am getting better; indeed, I am nearly
free from disease, but I am very weak. I have come away here to a quiet
farmer's home, where there is a medicinal spring, and I could get rest away
from the school and the crowd of visitors.
I hope to be able to
take the field again in a few weeks. I have just received a telegram from
Secretary Stanton, ordering me to report at Washington in person for orders, as
soon as I am well enough. It is rumored that I am to have a larger command, but
what and where I do not know. The doctor says I will not be fit for duty before
the first of October, but I am very restive under this restraint, I assure you.
After so many months
of preparation, there now seems to be a hope of active work, and it is a great
trial to me to have to lie here and do nothing. Crete and Trot are with me, and
but for the war I should be very glad to enjoy their society once more. Trot is
twenty-six months old, and I have lived with her but eight months of that time.
On the 2nd inst. I
was nominated to Congress from this district. I had taken no part in the
canvass, and did not even attend the convention. It was a spontaneous act of
the people.
The Eclectic is
doing well. We have nearly two hundred students. I hope you may not fail in
your paper. Can I aid you in any way? Let me know. Give my love to Mary. Crete
joins me in love to you both. Let me hear from you again. Direct to Hiram, and
if I am gone it will be forwarded to me.
With much love, I
am, as of yore,
Your brother,
James.
SOURCE: Corydon Eustathius Fuller, Reminiscences of
James A. Garfield: With Notes Preliminary and Collateral, p. 330
No comments:
Post a Comment