March 24, 1862
Dear Sister
I received your letter some time since, but
with the exception of a long letter I wrote Pa, have been unable to write
to any one since. the interval has been one of continual hurry, bustle,
movement, & has been marked by some moves which I suppose have
astonished all you good folks as much as they have many here. I have
been constantly on the go for the last three weeks, part of the time on
horseback & part of the time on the Cars. I had just arrived from Richmond
with funds when our move was made, & was immediately ordered with
my charge to the rear to await instructions. It was just one week
before I was enabled to deliver up my burden & shift the responsibility
which was very weighty, both burden & responsibility, the former being
a remarkably large & well stuffed black carpetbag and the latter being
to the extent of upwards of one million. I have been accused of being
fond of dressing, but had you seen me during this time with such a
large Carpet Bag & perceived the fact, which was obvious to all, that
my linen remained unchanged, (for I had nothing but what I had on)
you would have decided that I was the most slovenly mortal you
had ever known. In fact I don’t believe I have had on more
than two clean shirts since the first of the month, the baggage
going by one mode of conveyance & we by another, and the meetings
between us being “few & far between,” but correspondingly affectionate.
My strongest hope is that when Summer comes we may be quartered n
as pleasant a country as we now occupy--I can look out at the
window now & see the Rapidan within a few hundred yards,
suggestive of delicious bathing & swimming during the summer--
[page 2]
and a few miles further on are the mountains, with their tops still
covered with snow, altho’ the air is mild & pleasant down here even
without a fire. Our office is located here, but the army is
not here. Genl. Johnston allows us reporters within his lines &
consequently no one outside knows what is going on here, we are
are[sic] all however very confident & have the most implicit reliance
Country & has never suffered defeat yet. On the day that we left
Manassas our company of the M’d Regt. had a brush on picket with
quite a large force of the enemys cavalry--We lost two men Killed &
six taken prisoners, you have probably heard this very much magnified--
but such are the facts. The Company was Louis Smiths, who unfortunately
was in Richmond on furlough. I have not seen him since but suspect
he was in a terrible state when he discovered that again he was not
with his Comp’y under fire. You know he was sick on the 21st July--
He has an Irish Co: they behaved very gallantly & Killed about twenty
of the enemy---This loss, if you even heard of the skirmish, was doubtless
entirely ignored by the enemy. Are you as credulous as ever? If so
you must despond very much just now. We hear all sorts of rumors
here of affairs in Washington; even heard the other day that McClellan
was disposed. My incredulity is however is as strong as it ever was,
& I never give such reports a second thought. This is enough
however of matters political, a subject upon which I rarely, if
ever, touch in my letters home, & don’t know what has induced
me to dwell as long upon it as I have. Speaking of the
contents of letters home tho’, I forgot that you never receive any
of mine & therefore can’t be expected to know what they generally
contain or do not contain. What would I not give for the
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certainty that the home circle will read these lines? Not that
they contain anything interesting or even gratifying to curiosity
but then I know it would give you all a great deal of pleasure, for
I judge you by myself, and I can not tell you how much pleasure
the reception of letters from home affords us both. The incident
which I mourn most in connection with our removal from Manassas
is the loss of the Centreville mail. The letter which Mr Smith brought
me from Pa was in that mail & is consequently in the hands of the
Yankees, I trust it will not consign him to Fort Warren. I met
Smith in Richmond two or three days after his arrival & was very sorry
to hear that the had mailed the letter, as I knew it must be directed
to Centreville, from which place our office had been removed for
nearly a month, but Pa had not of course heard of it. I would
have sent a courier there for it but when I returned every thing was
on the move & it was too late. I have never ceased to regret the loss
but hope it will not Prevent Pa from writing again. The best plan
is to direct to the girls in Richmond & let them forward to us.
I shall send this to them to be forwarded to you, I never hear of an
opportunity here--We are only about five miles from Miss Nannie,
I intend going over to see her as soon as I get time, and the roads
get better. Some Sunday I will try to get leave of absence & ride over.
I am however just going into another batch of Quarterly returns, & don’t
know when I will have a moments leisure again. Major has placed
that portion of his business under my charge, and it required very
continuous labor. I have an office in
has, I think, been a tobacco manufactory & Michel (one of the clerks)
& I sleep in the loft just under the rafters, where the wasps already
begin to give signs of advancing spring. A slight contrast, is it
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not to the sumptuous apartment I left in N. Eutaw St.? This system
of life however agrees with me admirably--I have had but one
cold this winter & that I caught on my first visit to Centreville
last November, by sleeping in a tent on the wet ground Willie
quarters with the Major whenever he goes. They have a room in a house
near here--The last place we were quartered in was a young
ladies institute & when we left Michel pressed (polite for bagged)
two pillows & as he thought, two sheets. In his hurry however he
got a counterpane in place of one sheet. He & I are therefore very
comfortable between a sheet and a counterpane, a luxury I have not
enjoyed since I have been with the army. My sheets have always
been a very fine pair of blankets that I purchased in Charlottesville
& for which I paid the extravagant price of $13.--If we ever get
home again we will none of us know the value of money, such
extraordinary prices are paid here for everything. I wish very much
Ma could find an opportunity to send me some of my summer
clothes, otherwise I shall be obliged to pay Richmond prices for
everything I wear this summer. In every letter that I have
received for some time I have been roundly abused for not
having written home and I think it is about time I had set
myself right before the family on that subject. My time for writing
is necessarily limited, but I have never suffered a month to go
by without writing and have some times written twice or oftener
in a month--my letters have always been long ones because
having so few chances to write I have generally put in as much
as possible. I am very sorry they should have miscarried, as I
know how terrible it must be for Ma & Pa to be cut off from all
their children particularly as they have always made such
[page 5]
companions of them, and I promise you I never shall
allow a month to go by without writing, when I have
the time & opportunity will write oftener. Your delightful
letter, Sister, was a great treat to me altho’ it has been
so long unanswered. It seems rather late to mention Christ-
mas doings, but your description of the children’s enjoyment was so
graphic that I could almost hear them scream. How I do want
to see them & talk to them again. Tell Tutu I hope to come
“home again back again” very soon. I want to see Cary street & hear
Nelly scream once more very much. And if the prayers of a down-
trodden & oppressed people avail anything surely Maryland must soon
be freed from her tyrants. Everyone here hopes soon to see a
“Maryland Line” worthy of the name & fame of their ancestors. It is
thought by military men that five regiments can be raised, and
every one acknowledges that better men than the Marylanders now
in the service cannot be found. I am sure if they ever have the
chance it will not be their fault if the prayers of the women &
children are not speedily answered, and our homes once more
opened to us & our families once more united in peace & love.
Willie Nicholas & Louis Smith read a portion of your letter &
when they saw the anxiety of a gentleman you mentioned, to
be in Dixie, they both exclaimed that they wanted to see him
more than anyone else in Maryland. I want to see all at
Sudbrook & you may rest assured that I will come there first
when “we march triumphant into Maryland.” How natural was
the scene you described of Saturday morning at home--Syd
straggling down about ten or eleven o’clock & Pa not yet up, Ma
who has been up about five hours has nearly finished a letter
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to the girls. The whole scene passed like a Panorama before
my eyes & yet I could not sit down at the table while Pa eat
his breakfast & indulge in a quiet family confab. We cant
appreciate these blessings until we are deprived of them, and
then, oh, how we do miss them! Take a picture of our breakfasts
here--Say we get down at eight o’clock & find the people have
begun to crowd on us & work commences; in about half an hour
a negro boy comes in & gives a nod which is understood only
by the initiated, & in a few minutes the crowd discovers that
the clerks have all managed to slip them & get out. Clerks then
enter eating room amid a miscellaneous crowd of A\Qr. Ms. Agts.,
horse-drovers & friendly loafers of the military stripe, & the break-
fast flies. As soon as it has flown clerks reenter the office where
the crowd has become clamorous & amid some snapping & snarling
the work of the day commences. Heretofore the sight of a
woman was so rare that everyone would run to the window
to look, & all were pronounced pretty or beautiful, but we
have lately been in several small villages & are becoming
more fastidious. In this place there is a large female
school & being distant from the seat of war it is still carried
on; it is across the river from our office, but we see the girls
walking about in droves on the other side, and if we only
had time might employ it very pleasantly, for there must
be some pretty ones among them who would like to get
up flirtatious. When I was in Richmond about the
first of the month I actually went to a hop at the American
Hotel. It was a very primitive affair. I attended in my
ordinary Manassas rig & with a pair of boots about three inches
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thick . I found a young lady from Petersburg who was a very
good dancer & we danced nearly all the evening & had quite
a good time considering. I was invited the same evening
to a small party at Col. Pegram’s but declined on account of
not having my dykes--I read a letter the other day to one of
the 1st Md. boys from Miss Sophie a. of Balt, which was full
of nothing but gossip and which was very acceptable as most
of it was entirely new to me. Speaking of gossip--I was told
the other day by a cousin of Miss Sue Voss that she was married
to Bob Elder. Is it so? I can hardly believe it. I expect
every one who can do so, will be married before this war is
over, if it ever should be over. Do you know that Willie is
now rapidly approaching the age of twenty four & that in a
few
a few days ago, discovered & showed me half a dozen perfectly
gray hairs from the top of my head. I expect this war will
put Willie & myself off until we get to be like Willie Carr
& the Smiths. do tell Pa not to let the loss of his letter dis-
courage him, but to honor me immediately with another,
which I promise him to answer directly to the exclusion of
all my other correspondents. Give much love to Ma & Pa--
Tell Ma her familiar handwriting is very scarce in my
portfolio, & I hope she will mend her pen & her ways at once.
Syd seems to have turned out to be very worthless since I
withdrew my managing hand from him. Tell him to write
me word how the girls are getting on. Give my love to
Mr. Mc & tell him that the girls are talking of going home,
should they do so he need no longer fear the pumping process
[page 8]
as neither Willie nor I are adept at the art. Love to
Minny tell her I have an entire set of socks perfectly
worthless for want of a stitch or darn in time--
Good-bye--write to us whenever you can
dear Sister, and we will always try to reply some
time or other. Yours most affectionately
J. B. C.
John B. Cary
MSS 1415
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