For the precious moments that I have passed in sweetest thoughts
suggested by your tender loving words written last Wednesday
morning I thank and bless you, my darling wife, from a heart overflow-
-ing with affection. I thirst for words to tell you dearest, what sen-
-sations of pure delight have thrilled my body & soul as I have drank
in the feelings you so delicately and touchingly portray, but I have
no language that will express what I wish to say. I was wri-
ting to you, when the precious letter came to me. During
the hours of that night I lay in a trance of joy. Yesterday and today
my heart has been full of tender thoughts of you, my own, precious
darling wife. I hoped this morning to receive the letter you
thought you would write Thursday: Our mail has come
in and the expected letter did not arrive. But the dear
one of Wednesday morning will furnish nourishing delicious food
for my hear till another arrives---
Yesterday morning my relation Col. S. S. Anderson, now adjutant
General for Gen Huger, called t see me. I returned
to his Head Quarters, and passed two or three hours
with him. I first met him last Saturday morning near
[page 2]
the battle field He was very much pleased to meet with
me: told me that his wife had mentioned you in her
last letter & spoken of your kindness to a sick lady
from Norfolk--whose name I forget--the Colonel
mentioned in conversation that Mrs General Field is now
staying in Farmville. She is the wife of the officer who
commanded the Camp of Instruction at Ashland, then
Colonel Field. I do not know his wife but he was
very kind and courteous to me when I was at Ashland
and I, therefore, request you to call on her and pay her
some attention. Colonel Anderson made me promise
to call and see him this morning, but I have de-
termined to pass an hour or more in writing to
you, my own true wife, & to delay the visit. It was
very gratifying to me to meet with a Kinsman in the
army who seemed, & not only seemed, but was evidently
so truly glad to meet with me. My heart warmed
to him and his did to me. We talked of you and
what delight it would be to us to visit Farm-
ville. Have you ever met with the Colonel? I
dont remember whether you have or not, and
[page 3]
I did not think to ask him. I told him that you had
mentioned his wife in one of your letters to me,
but did not say anything of the despairing tone in
which you reported her to talk.
I was much touched by your words that told me of that strong
tie of Christian Sympathy that binds us both to Our Saviour and
to each other. The links, my darling, in the chain that holds in
closest union our hearts are numerous and bright: tis sweet to
look on them and to ponder over them: our first acquaintance,
our courtship with its fond memories, our married life with its
tender remembrances, the birth of our children with the joy
they have brought to us, our days of pleasure and our
hours of sorrow all have knit our souls together. And
now, my darling, we, you and I, are children of the same Heavenly
Father and brother and sister of the son of God. Darling, you
must pray for me and watch with me lest my feet slip
in the path I have determined to tread. Aid & encourage
me, dearest, warn me of danger, and bear me up in
the Christian course. I feel that I have lived so
long in sin that it will be hard for me to live
as I ought the new life. I wish you could be by my
[page 4]
side, darling. But far as we are from each other our prayers
can ascend to the same God & will be listened to through the
the[sic] intercession of Our Saviour. United as husband and wife
may we not hope, my darling, that if separated for a brief space on
earth we may live together united as husband & wife through eternity.
Do you remember dearest, once I told you I could not bear the
thought of your marrying again if you should survive me? Have
you the same feeling with reference to me? I know Jesus has said
that in Heaven there is no
But if neither you nor I were to live in this relation so endearing
so full of joy to us both with any other may we not trust that in
a Heavenly home the same close union would be allowed us--I love
to think it may be so: that disunited for a time, Whichever lingers
on earth, may live devoutly & purely, cherishing the recollections
of our marriage in this world and consoling & sustaining the
bereaved heart by anticipations of a heavenly marriage.
Tis a delightful thought to me that God has made you and I for each
other, and has so ordered it that you are mine and mine alone, and I
am yours and yours only. In this thought, dearest, lie joys the greatest
and ;purest earth can afford to me. Often have I tried to tell you how
sweet you are to me-but no words can supress [sic] the joy, the ecstacy the bliss you
pour in rich profusion through all my being. Yes, darling, thou art mine, to love
to fondle, to kiss, to enjoy: thou art a priceless treasure to me, rich in beauty,
attractive in grace, beyond all computation in possession. Present or absent
in the warm embrace of your lovely arms, or in fond anticipation of the greeting
you have for me when next we meet, you are my joy, my delight, my own dear
wife. I praise God for the blessing. I thank Him for the mercy: and most devoutly
do I implore him to console my darling in her sorrows, to sustain her in her labours,
to bring her to my arms, & to bless us both and our dear children with eternal salvation.
Yr affectionate husband
John T. Thornton
John T. Thornton, lawyer, delegate to the Virginia Secession Convention, and Lieut. Colonel in the 3rd Virginia Cavalry.
MSS 4021
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