Letter dated Wednesday July 7th 1862, page 3
Book 1, Page 107 ·1862
Transcription
A handwritten letter, page 3 of multiple, in the same hand and dark ink as the preceding scans. The page is fully covered top to bottom with a dense cursive. A small editorial caret near the opening line inserts the word Emma above the line; a second caret further down inserts the word out.
[Continuation from previous page.]
to walk with her [caret insertion: ^Emma], Lervey’s [uncertain] Fanny Wigfall & Mary Smith — She is quite well — Tell Eliza her letter was a real treasure to Kate — I would not undertake to say how often it has been read over — Father left very unexpectedly on Thursday for Charleston saying he would be away a week. He got some letters on business on Wednesday & left Thursday — I cant tell what he went for as he did not say anything, & I never ask questions it seems to annoy him so much, but I rather think he got uneasy without great cause. I dont know what to say about Father — I think sometimes he is better, but at others he seems much the same. Perhaps we will show the improvement more when he has been here longer — The noise of the children in the house seems to worry him very much but I think he is much less nervous about it than he used to be — The days are all exactly alike up here so if I tell you about one day you can just imagine us all the rest of the time — Breakfast about half past seven to eight — then sew read or write till dinner about 3, then the same thing till tea about half past eight — Kate visits Miss Cox & Miss Bonneau & Fanny Wigfall & herself stroll about the house trying to extract amusement [caret insertion: ^out] of whatever is going. They manage to talk a great deal of nonsense & laugh abundantly over it — Since writing the first part of my letter the mail came bringing letters from all our homes. A note part in pencil part in ink from Toby dated 29th just to give Father a clear sketch of the work done up to that time — I will not copy it as it is so very short & the papers will have given you much fuller accounts since — He says “our private & special mishap was Connie’s severe wound, half way between ankle & knee joint, fracturing both bones & involving the probable amputation of his lower limb. He bore it manfully & cheerfully — I have seen him twice since” — Uncle Eddie wrote Mother a short note enclosing a Telegram from Toby July 2d
AI Notes
Page 3 of the multi-page handwritten letter dated Wednesday July 7th 1862. Continues from the previous scan and runs onto the next. Describes Kate’s friends, Eliza’s treasured letter, Father’s unexpected trip to Charleston, his fragile nerves around the children’s noise, the daily routine (breakfast about half past seven, dinner about 3, tea about half past eight), and a note in pencil and ink from Toby dated 29th (June) reporting that Connie’s wound, half way between ankle and knee joint, fractured both bones and involved ‘the probable amputation of his lower limb’ — though Connie bore it manfully and cheerfully. The page closes with a reference to a short note from Uncle Eddie to Mother enclosing a telegram from Toby dated July 2d. A small caret-correction inserts the name ‘Emma’ above the line at the start of the page.
Letter continues on next page.
The quoted Toby note of 29 June describes a casualty of the Seven Days fighting around Richmond: a comminuted fracture of both bones below the knee — the standard war wound of the era, and one for which amputation was the standard treatment given the limits of pre-antiseptic surgery. The “29th” note and the family’s news anxiety are typical of the long lag between battle and reliable casualty reporting in the second summer of the war.