1862 March 4 Cavalry Camp near Leesburg

Camp near Leesburg
Mar. 4th. 1862

I have no letter from you again
to day my darling, and i begin to
feel very anxious about you,
the last letter I recd. from you was
the one written in Lynchburg
on your way home, and that is
a week ago to day. I have not
heard from you since you reached
home, Can it be that you are
sick? this question, even amid the
constant excitement of the past
few days, has been constantly
suggesting itself to me, and then
I have comforted myself, with the
hopes that a little quiet rest
at home would restore to you
your accustomed health and
strength, but I shall be misera=
ble about you until I hear from

[page 2]
you, little John, with Dinks
Williams and two or three other
men came in this evening, I
have just seen them. John
says he saw you in Lynchburg
on your way home, and that
you looked badly, and this has
still increased my anxiety about
you, I pray that I may hear
from you by tomorrow's mail,
I sent you a letter yesterday mor
ning, and another this morning
which I wrote last night, and
this I will send in the morning,
so I hope you will get some of
them at least, I have not heard
anything from Robert either,
and have no means of hearing
from him except through you,
I suppose you are constantly
advised of his condition,
we have just returned a little

[page 3]
while ago (about 10 o'clk) from
another excursion towards Lov=
ettsville to look after the Yank
ees, We carried eight companys
of the 17th Miss. Regt., one piece
of Artillery, and about 150 Cavalry
We were carried within two or
three miles of Lovettsville, riding
backwards and forwards, and stan
ding in the road the whole day,
We were called up this morning
before light and kept out until
late, and have returned with
out doing anything, and gaining
but little information, we heard
various rumors of, and some of
the enemy were seen, the
last report we heard was that
yesterday there was a Regt. of
Infantry, supposed to be about
800, 6 pieces of artillery and
two squadrons of cavalry at

[page 4]
a little place between Lovetts ville
and the Point of Rocks, where they
carried off a quantity of flour
and bacon from an old man
named Williams, they may
be in some considerable force
at Lovettsville, but the amt. of
it is very uncertain, my own
impression is that it is more
of a marauding party than
anything else, did I ever tell
you that Mrs Minor and Mrs
Jayne had paid me a visit at camp
one evening to enquire about you?
Mrs Jayne, as I have told you before,
has left Leesburg, I asked her
to go and stay with you awhile,
I thought it would be some com=
fort to you to have her with you,
she said it was probable she wd
do so, and I hope she will, I can't
tell anything certain about my
coming yet, I cant leave of course

[sideways in top margin of page 1]
whilst the enemy
is so near us,
but I do not be-
lieve we are
going to have
any fighting
of any conse=
quence about
here [?]
and as soon
as I can get
off with any
propriety I
shall make
every effort
to do so,
good night
my own
dear wife
may heaven's
blessings be
upon you
now and al-
ways, good
night to my
little dar=
lings--your
devoted husband
E.R.P.

Edwin R. Page, 1st Lt., 2nd Virginia Cavalry

MSS 8937