[letter of John B. Cary begun on the 26th continues]
Saturday, Mch 29 1862 I was obliged to stop here & have not been able to
resume since. I have however in the meantime received from the girls a large
package containing your letter of Feb 23 & Sister’s of Feb 2. Great treats they
were I assure you. Willie received them night before last–he & Major B__
were up nearly all night & handed them to me in the morning. I had
to leave immediately with Major for Orange C.H. and did not have a
chance to read them until very late last night–It was half past two
when I retired. I suppose you have heard from the girls of Willie’s good
fortune. Upon Major’s recommendation he has received a commission as
Captain in the Qr. M’s Dept. He deserves it well & I know no officer in
[page 4]
the Dept. more capable of discharging the duties or more faithful in
giving his entire time. Major B could not do without him possibly–
He always says so & tells every one so. In fact he tells everyone he
knows that Cary is the best & smartest man he ever knew in hislife.
Willie will require forty thousand dollars bond, which Major has
arranged for him. An old gentleman from Petersburg, who has taken
a fancy to both of us, has offered to be one of the bond, & another
from Jefferson Co Va has offered to be the other–both strangers upon
whom Willie has no claim in the world, but both friends of Major’s
Willie has not yet rec’d the commission, as it is always two or three weeks
after its issue before the person is notified, but Burton Harrison, who is
Prest Davis’ private secretary, informed the girls of the fact, and Willie is
already dubbed in the office “Capt. Cary.” Your letter to Jenny & late de-
velopment here have persuaded me that the girls had better return home as soon
as possible. I am very much afraid sister H. will do something foolish
after she gets there–which will consign her to confinement with Mrs Norris
for after the life she has led here it will be very hard to settle down quietly
at home. And altho’ you may get every assurance from Dix, that will not
cover the future, but only the past. Should they return home they will have
to be very careful how they mix in any schemes having in view the good of
Confederates for of course they will be strictly watched–certainly they have
given as much cause as poor Mrs Norris ever did. We will both write to
them (if one of us does not see them soon) upon the subject of their return–
Fortunately they have never been obliged to call upon Maury or anyone else
for assistance, as Willie & I have always been able to provide them with what
ever they have needed. Sister Hetty had better go to Europe with Sister in
the spring–That would be a splendid way of disposing of her–Jenny will
be quiet enough. The idea strikes me every now & then, of what in the
world is the use of writing all this, they will never see it at home–
but sheer desperation, disgust & dont-careishness drive my pen along, to
gether with the thought that the more letters I write the greater chance of your receiving one-& they might as well be all long ones for I cannot tell which of
them will turn up. It is a consolation for me to write & imagine you all
to be reading it at home took tho’ you never may–Oh! my long letters that
have gone down, I mourn them continually, particularly those written firs
& giving my first impressions, which were very full & I know would have
proved interesting. But what’s the use crying over spilt milk?
We are now in quite a civilized part of the country–the Army was never
here very long & there are a good many fences & outhouses still left standing.
Jost across the river from us lives Mrs. Taliaferro who has a beautiful place
& three young, pretty & charming daughters, besides two or three refugee friends
of the feminine gender staying there. Mr Mitchell ( a very splendid fellow: one
of my co-laborers & a nephew of Gen. Johnson) Rogers (another co-laborer) & Willie
Robinson (staying with us for a day or two on his way to join the Regt.) & myself,
decided that said young ladies should not be left to waste their sweetness
on the desert air, and that we would “dawn” upon them as Connie would
[page 5]
say. We accordingly diked our best & crossed the river & went in. The
ladies were very agreeable–we had singing & various kinds of fun &
finally left about one o’clock. I could scarcely believe my senses when
I found myself leaning over the Piano listening to one of the ladies
sing–it seemed so much like old times in Balto. with well dressed
women & a well furnished room & all the elegancies of life around
me once more. It made me wish for an evening at home with
all the pretty girls there singing, dancing, & happy once more. When
will such times ever return? We passed however a very pleasant
evening & will I think repeat the dose as soon as possible. I wish
we were going to stay here for some time, as I think a very nice little
flirtation might be gotten up over there without much trouble. I am
afraid, however, we will soon take to our horses again. One consolation
is that we have the best lot of horseflesh I have ever seen got together
before. It would do Mr. Mc good to see them–some thoroughbreds
& blooded stock and we always have a good time when riding
about driving up negroes & stock &c. I suppose the Yankees say they
got immense supplies at Manassas, but you need not believe a
word they say. I can assure you they didn’t even get a blade of grass.
We even took some bottles & demi-johns, which we could not bring
away & broke them up in a pile, determined that no Yankee should
ever keep his supplies in them. Major is too good a Qr. Mr. to lose
his supplies–we bro off nearly everything & burnt up our buildings,
blew up our bridges. The country had previously been entirely
stripped of forage & provisions so that they could not have gotten
anything at all. dont despond, Dear Ma about our cause, they have
no one who can compete with Genl. Johnston as a General, that has
[page 6]
been clearly demonstrated long ago. We will not have many more
defeats to chronicle I am very sure. It is probable we may
leave here in a few days if not to-morrow, all orders come very
suddenly–where we go is entirely unknown except to Genl Johnston.
I am so sorry to hear of Pa’s sickness, I hope ere this he has entirely
recovered. I wrote him a long letter about the first of this month
Did he ever receive it? I suppose not. confound the Yankees–
I would lie to kill 8 or 10–about one for each of my letters lost.
Did anyone ever have such bad luck before. Is it not enough
to make one “cuss & spit”–the flag of truce business has stopped
so far as letters are concerned,or I would even condescend to
try that. I have y not yet been able to go to see Mis Nannie, tho’
she is only five or six miles from here. I expect when the girls
return she will return with them. The girls in their letter to me
yesterday said they intended returning home very soon, of course we
will see them before they go. I wish they only went before to
announce our coming–Excuse this rambling disconnected
letter, it is the best I can produce–& good enough for a Yankee
I expect one to read it. I wish it would blast him if he
does. Give my love to all at Sudbrook–& to Pa & Syd–
Minny & all at home–Good bye, your devoted son
J.B.C.
Please send the enclosed letter to Miss Ida.
[letter will continue on March 31]
MSS 1174