1861 August 21 Centerville [Virginia]

My dearest wife

I got off from duty to day & went down
to the Camp of the Goochland troop--I saw dear Richard
& he rode back with me nearly to this place. He is
very well & sends much love to you all--I thought
John Hampton would have wrung my hand off. The
poor fellow seems very anxious to see all at home
& sent all kinds of messages to you & your Father
& the children--William Fleming was there--As he
came on from home he lost his trunk & with it your
letter for me--which consequently I have not received
and it seems a long time since I heard from you.
they sent me a big box of edibles from home a
few days ago & some very interesting letters from
Mother Sally & Fanny--The latter gave me a very
interesting account of the marriage among he[r] dolls--
Mother said you had not written to her, Pink. I
was no little surprised to hear this as it has been
a constant request of mine that you should write
to her as often as possible--I hope there is some mis-
take about it, for I am lothe[sic] to believe you would
neglect so plain a duty. Mother spoke of you
in the most affectionate terms & expressed an earnest
wish that you might soon return home where she
cannot stay without you. She was with Sister, who

[page 2]
who had so far recovered her health as to be able
to attend meals in the dining room. Remember
my dearest it is my earnest desire that you soon
return to our home--Get the children comfortably
fixed & then go up to comfort our parents. I shall
soon visit you there for work is not very pressing
just now and I can go down one day remain one
& return to my post the next. I might even remain
longer perhaps--I have been here nearly a fortnight
now & at the expiration of each month I expect to
pay my darling a visit until our little one is born
when I shall remain with you some time. My thoughts
are always with you my precious wife & I pray
to our good Lord for you[r] safety and health, both
bodily & spiritual--Pray yourself dearest for charity,
that charity which I have so often sought to infuse
into your hearts; Charity for all human beings--for
with it comes peace-- Pray too for my, my Blessing,
for there are many things in my associations
here, calculated to keep me far from the Lord--
May His Grace & mercy strengthen me--

We are living very well at Head Quarters now. A
box comes in from somewhere almost every day.
Tomatoes & potatoes cold bread &c have been very abun
-dant. Mother sent me two fine boiled hams which
have been very much relished--There has been a

[page 3]
box from Bremo, one from Belmead, one from Hanover
one from Charlottesville & one from Mobile Alabama. My
man John has made himself very useful & popular
by his accomplishments in the Kitchen.

I heard thro' my letters from home that Aunt Polly was
worse again. I suppose the old lady cant last long.
I am very glad now I went to see her.

I wish I could have you here with me sometimes. This
is a most lonely country naturally, juts level enough
to be agreeable & just rolling enough to be picturesque,
while along the western horizon rolls the vast mass
of the Blue ridge mountains--The villages of white
tents where the regiments encamp & which are dotted
about every where around, add no little to the beauty
of the scene--I did wish for you so much on Tuesday
evening--It had been cloudy all day and the sun
was just beginning to look thro' the thin clouds pre-
senting that peculiar appearance which the negroes
call 'drawing water.' I was out witnessing the drill
of our regiments--In a piece of rising ground
which commands a view of the whole country & which
was perfectly bare of tree or shrub the armed men
went thro' all the evolutions of the line with admir-
able precision, their bayonets glancing in the Sun
light, the whole appearing where I was standing to
move in relief against the blue mountains - with the

[page 4]
vast expanse of singularly beautiful sky above them.
I cannot describe it to you, but as it struck
me very forcibly, I could not help thinking how
you would have enjoyed it. Up towards Fairrax
C.H. the country is even more beautiful than it
is here--You can see a firtile valley at one place
stretching away for miles & no less than nine
regiments encamped on its firtile bosom. But
a soldier soon forgets to look at these things
& perhaps if it had not been for you I should
never have noticed them. I might as well in fact, have
left my agricultural eyes at home, for I have
not seen a laborer in the fields since here I have been
about Centerville more than half the fences are gone
Nothing but a few cornfields remain, which were
probably planted before the war began. Not a plow
forrow to be seen--anwhere-- Hogs & cattle running
at large, houses deserted by all but soldiers. Capt.
Harrison told me yesterday of an elegant house
at the little village of Fall's Church which had been
deserted by its yankee owner just after the battle
the family leaving with nothing but their clothes on their
backs--and everything in kitchen parlor & chambers to be rifled
by the soldiery--The very hos were sleeping in the Paralor
& the soldiers had dirtied up every thing--Such is war!
May the Lord keep it far from our quiet homes--

Good bye now my own precious beloved wife. Tak
care of you dear self if only for the sake of

Your ever devoted Husband

P.B. Cabell

Philip Barraud Cabell, 1836-1904, nephew of General Philip St. George Cocke and grandson of General John Harwell Cocke ,was one of the few antebellum students at the University of Virginia to obtain a master's degree. After the war he was a professor at Urbana University in Ohio, and later a minister of a Swedenborgian church in Wilmington Delaware. His wife Julia Calvert Bolling Cabell known as "Pinkie", had been a popular Virginia belle before her marriage six months previously


MSS 38-111