|
"O, if this war was over, you and all the soldiers could
come home and stay home in peace." So read a letter from
home received by a soldier in Robert E. Lee’s army in 1863.
It was a typical sentiment expressed in letters sent to soldiers
of both the North and the South. Among the hardest burdens borne
by troops in this bloodiest of all American wars was the separation
from loved ones. Receiving a letter from home was a heart-stirring
event for war-weary troops yearning for the simple pleasures
of peace. News from the family, bits of gossip, words of encouragement
from parents and siblings, endearing sentiments from wives or
sweethearts - all provided welcome diversion from dull duties
and battlefield dangers. "Mother give me her little sheep,
and I will have the wool to make you some stockings," wrote
a young son to a soldier father in the Army of Northern Virginia.
"Mother says I am a good boy and smart too...." Such
poignant reminders of home could refresh tender memories in a
soldier, but could also rekindle the pain of separation. "There
ain’t a day, no hardly an hour, but what I am thinking of
you and the children," a dutiful Johnny Reb replied to the
wife he left behind. "I look at your photograph and fear
it is the last I shall see of you." For most soldiers, however,
the pleasures afforded by mail far outweighed the pain. Letters
were read and read again - repeatedly. "Please rite me agin
soon," one Southern soldier asked the folks back home, "for
I am mity sad and lonesom." In the lull between battles,
even amid the ruckus of a bustling nighttime camp, a letter from
home was a priceless treasure of hope. |