Brigadier-General Rutherford B. Hayes to Sardis Birchard, March 2, 1865

CUMBERLAND, MARYLAND, March 2, 1865.

DEAR UNCLE:— It is a rainy, dismal day. General Hancock is in command of this Department. Sheridan has collected all his cavalry, and it is on a big raid to cut and slash the railroads west of Richmond, or to capture Gordonsville, or something of the sort. I doubt whether we see any more battles. I shall consider myself discharged as soon as my four years are up and Richmond taken. I shall be surprised if the latter does not occur first.

Great preparations are making for the inauguration. If nothing disastrous happens to our armies, it will be the greatest thing of the sort that ever has been witnessed in the country. Write often.

Sincerely,

R. B. HAYES.

S. BIRCHARD.

SOURCE: Charles Richard Williams, editor, Diary and Letters of Rutherford Birchard Hayes, Volume 2, p. 562-3