The order to move
has been countermanded for the present, and we will be on picket duty for a few
days. I wrote you yesterday, thinking it was Tuesday, and that Mr. Robinson
would leave to day; so I will continue the account of my trip from Columbia. I
left there on the 20th in company with Decca Stark, who was about to pay a
visit to Mrs. Jennie Preston Means. I found Stark Means at the depot in
Winsboro. He is looking very well and his wounds have nearly healed. I found
all those up-country villages a great deal larger and more prosperous looking
than I expected.
When I reached
Weldon I found Troutman there as quartermaster, and spent an hour or two with
him very pleasantly, talking over old college days. He has married Miss Napier
and seems to be in good circumstances. Miss Lou Neely has married Ed. McClure.
John Neely is dead. John McLemore, Lucius Gaston and Charlie Boyd (Capt), have
all been killed in battle. The sacrifice of a nation of hired Hessians will not
atone for the loss of such men as these. I took supper with Troutman, at the
commissary's residence, and had a first-rate meal. I reached Richmond on Friday
morning about 9 o'clock, and after paying a barber $2.50 for a shave and
shampoo I took a stroll over the city; called on Mrs. Wigfall, Mrs. Chestnut,
Miss Barnwell, etc., etc., and found all at home except Miss Nannie Norton,
whom I also called to see; and I also called on Miss Mary E. Fisher. Miss
Nannie was on a visit to Raleigh.
I had a letter from
Mrs. Julia Bachman to Miss Fisher. She asked me in and gave me a drink of
water, flavored with mint, which was very acceptable. Mrs. Carter, whom I met
at Mrs. Barnwell's, seemed very glad to hear from you and asked to be
remembered to you. Mr. Barnwell was quite sick. Mrs. Chestnut invited me to
dine and Willie Preston to meet me; he is a major of artillery. Jack Preston
has married Miss Huger. I delivered Mr. Carter's letter to Mr. Winston, but he
had no time to talk to me; he has a task for each day and not a moment to
spare. I spent more of my time sightseeing, but was especially interested in
the equestrian statue of Washington, which surmounts a plain shaft of marble,
with a granite base. There are also on the same monument statues of Jefferson,
Mason and Henry. This is in Capitol Square, which is beautifully shaded. The
Square is a great resort for all classes in leisure hours. Just at this point I
was called out to our company drill, which has given me an hour and a half of
good exercise. I must write a letter to some of the folks at Austin; so will
have to curtail this. Let me repeat, you must take good care of yourself and
not trouble about me. If you cannot manage any other way you must quit thinking
of me entirely, except enough to keep from forgetting me altogether. My little
picture of you copied from one in Columbia is charming, and is a source of
great pleasure to me. Tell the servants to behave well, and to obey you, or I
will haunt them. Talk to the children about me every day and tell Stark to
say his lessons regularly.
SOURCE: John Camden
West, A Texan in Search of a Fight: Being the Diary and Letters of a
Private Soldier in Hood’s Texas Brigade, pp. 65-8
No comments:
Post a Comment