Cross-written handwritten letter from Walhalla, 25 June
Book 1, Page 97 ·—
Transcription
A handwritten letter sheet, heavily cross-written. Heading at top right:
Walhalla 25 June
Original orientation body (writer addresses the recipient on their birthday and recounts Theodore’s recent visit and the death of Henry King):
Dear [Sis?]. This is your birth day. I trust [next?] day we shall be nearer to each other & with [each?] [other in our?] hearts. I am sorry you would not have [had?] [a few?] days with Theodore. He looks well — I saw one grey hair on the side of [insert: his] head — he said there [were?] a great many of them [insert: his] hair is becoming very thin on the top of his head. He did not get the letter he sent to warn us he was coming, but your Father saw in the Columbia paper that he was coming with Col. Hampton. He watched [there?] eagerly Sunday Night for the Omnibus — He came on Friday Night & left us on Monday 4 P.M. It was so strange that he should seem to come to Henry King in his last moments. Minister to his [bodily] comforts & have so [touching?] [insert: last] leave taking from him. Henry sent his love to us all & to say he thought & looked [to?] us in his last hour. The [Doc[t]s?] that Nell Kate Myself went to bid Mr King good-bye — we met Henry in his Father’s chamber & there & on his Father’s bed he died. Cam Evans was in the room over Mr King’s Library wounded in the hip & when Theodore left they had not yet been able to find the ball — & Dr Tennant was in another room in Mr King’s house. No passenger has come from Columbia since Friday & so our latest from [insert: there] Charleston [is?] [illegible] — it seems such a weary long time to pass through. Nell has written to Louisa & Myself to
[The letter continues in cross-writing — perpendicular to the original direction:]
[come up for?] Ella & the rest on the Platform at Orange-burg. The people had assembled hearing that Finnegan had to come up that day. When Theodore took of[f] his hat to them, Ella darted off to meet him & before he was stopped. He held his hand all the few minutes he talked with them. He earnestly [insert: now] gratified & wounded Theodore [from?]
Tom Glover is in Anderson […]
God bless & deliver all & soon from these waters & [older?] [illegible — text runs into the heading and the right edge of the sheet]
AI Notes
Heavily cross-written letter sheet headed ‘Walhalla 25 June’ (year not given). After cross-writing was deciphered in the perpendicular orientation, most of the page is now legible. The letter is to a family member on their 25 June birthday and gives an extended account of the death of Henry King — apparently shot or wounded along with Cam Evans and Dr Tennant — and of Theodore’s brief visit (Friday night → Monday afternoon) traveling with Col. Hampton. Mentions Tom Glover at Anderson, the Columbia papers, an omnibus from Charleston, and Nell’s letter to Louisa. Paper bears a ‘P&R’ embossed maker’s seal.
Cross-writing is unusually clear once read in its own orientation; the few remaining gaps occur where the perpendicular layers physically overstrike one another near the right margin. Date previously misread as ‘30 June’ is in fact ‘25 June’.