It is the next morning since I began this letter. I have
been having a long talk with General Banks at his headquarters. The General
does not seem to know exactly when we move from here, but it is clear
that our division will not remain hero for the winter. It is astonishing how
this army life philosophizes a man. I think a few years of it would make one “impervious
to the storms of outrageous fortune.” Colonel Andrews is in a very pleasant
house, and is rapidly getting well. You would be amused to see me drill my
battalion. It only shows we never can tell what we can do. When I voted for
Abraham Lincoln a year ago, I did not suppose I was electing myself into a damp
wheat-field with a regiment on my hands; but that is, apparently, what I voted
for. I only wish all the wheat-fields in the neighborhood bore the same
harvest.
SOURCE: Elizabeth Amelia Dwight, Editor, Life and
Letters of Wilder Dwight: Lieut.-Col. Second Mass. Inf. Vols., p. 141
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