Centreville, July 28.
I am very sorry that I did not more than half bid Rob
good-bye that Tuesday. It is a little thing, but I wish it had been otherwise.
It is pleasant to feel sure, without knowing any particulars, that his regiment
has done well, — we all feel perfectly sure of it. I hope he knew it, too. I do
wish I could be with you quietly, without disturbing any one: I thought I could
write after getting letters, but I do not feel like it: it seems as if this
time ought to belong wholly to Rob, — and you would like to tell me so much
about him, — it would comfort you so much, for everything about him is pleasant
to remember, as you say. Give my love to your mother; — it is a very great
comfort to know that his life had such a perfect ending. I see now that the
best Colonel of the best black regiment had to die, it was a sacrifice we owed,
— and how could it have been paid more gloriously?
SOURCE: Edward Waldo Emerson, Life and Letters of
Charles Russell Lowell, p. 288-9
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