1861 July 23 Yorktown [Virginia]

My dear Mary

I have been for some time
reproaching myself for neglecting you so
long and endeavouring to find a decent
excuse for it. At first I was overwhelmed
with the work and had hardly strength
enough to drag one foot after another.
During this time I felt that what I
could do in the shape of letter writing
was due to my wife, and accordingly
I have written to her every other day, if
not oftener, except when so situated
as to be unable to write. But for some
time past I have had more leisure
and strength and must confess that
there was no sufficient reason for
my omission to write except the inherent
depravity of the Randolph nature

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which renders it averse to letter writing.

Your letter came just as ^'we' had
received the tidings of our victory at
Manassas and were making the welkin
ring with shouts and the roar of our
big guns Today we are somewhat
sobered down and begin to fear that
it may not after all be so complete
as it is reported ^'to be' and we ^'are now' trembling
for our friends. Garlick, I hear, Tom
and possibly Bennet were in the action &
the regiment of the first is said to be
badly cut up. Any thoughts are on
them perpetually and I shall not be
easy until I see the list of the killed
and wounded. I endeavour to comfort
myself be [sic] recollecting how small the
chance ^'is' of any particular individual
being hurt, and that of the small
proportion hit five in ten are
wounded only.

Should it unfortunately be otherwise
they have gone in the fulfillment

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of one of the highest and noblest duties
that man can discharge, the protection
of his home against fire, sword and
rapine. Oh Mary, if you could see as I
have seen, a district of country desolated
by war you would not wonder that
men are willing to die in defence of their
country.

The region around Hampton is one of the
sweetest you ever saw. Thick, well
peopled, well cultivated, every
where showing comfort and even taste.
There are great numbers of snug little
houses, with pretty yards and
gardens about them. These are now
abandoned, many of them plundered,
and some burnt. Some are left as if
the families have merely gone on a visit
to a neighbour and expected to return
in a few hours. But wo be unto them
if either army takes up their quarters
near. the enemy plunder the houses

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break up the furniture and have even been
known to tear up childrens clothing. Our
side if the Zouaves be present especially,
swoop down upon the ducks & chickens.

Many of our corps, ^'however' behave admirably towards
the country people and none better than
my own Howitzer Batalion. At Bethel, for
several days before the fight, the First North
Carolina Regiment and my batallion
bivouacked in the woods around the
Church, numbers of pigs were running
about and even annoying us, but not
one was touched altho provisions were
scarce. When two Zouaves went down
the pigs disappeared not in a mysterious
manner.

Two snug little homesteads in front of our
batteries were demolished during the fight.
One belonged to a widow woman named
Mitchell who had been very kind to our men
and only left her house a day or so before the
fight. The enemy occupied with sharpshooters
and I had to burn it with shells. Even the fence
near it was burnt. The other house served to
secure the enemy from our view and it was
riddled with cannon shot. I went into it after
the battle and found the [?] piece of furniture of the establishment
a large mahogany side board with its portly

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[?] smashed to atoms by a shot from a [?] cannon which killed

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a man behind the house. He was lying in the little yard almost touching the house
and near him at the door of the smoke house lay a Zouave resplendent in red
trousers and fancy work killed by a cannon shot which struck him full in

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the breast. These are
the scenes that render
invasions so terrible.
God grant that our
state may be spared
from their long
continuance and
especially that you
in Albemarle may never
[word missing] the smoke of an
enemys camp. Give
my best love to all
my dear Mary. I am
cheered beyond
measure by our
proposed visit to my
wife. She ought not
be alone in these
fearful time. god
bless you I will write
again very soon.
G[eorge] W[ythe] Randolph.

George Wythe Randolph, 1818-1867, youngest grandson of Thomas Jefferson, University of Virginia alumnus and lawyer traveled to Washington in April of 1861 on a failed mission to persuade Abraham Lincoln to turn over Federal forts in the South to the Confederacy. When Virginia seceded he became a major in the Confederate Army and in the above letter describes the battle of Big Bethel. The following spring he became Confederate Secretary of War.

He refers to the presumed safety of three other members of the extended Monticello family, including Robert Garlick Hill Kean, 1828-1898, and Bennett Taylor, 1836-1898.

MSS 1397