Centreville, Va., Sept. 28, 1863.
My Dear Henry,
— I have heard from E. all sorts of pleasant tidings of you and ——. I did not,
of course, expect to hear from you again, though I should like to hear
from some one just how you are in body, and just when you expect to be
in saddle again. I saw —— and ——, a few days ago, and heard rather bad accounts
of you — something about inflammation. . . .
Did I tell you that I hoped to get a leave of absence
sometime about November 1st, and meant therein to come home, — and that's not
all, but meant also to be married? I don't believe I did tell you, for the
plan, though inchoate, was not in shape to bear telling. Now I think it will;
of course, I do not expect to get my leave, but I think I shall ask for it;
Halleck is such a splendid old veteran that I expect he will refuse. I shall
ask for twenty days, and shall try to be married in the first five (one of the
first five, Henry; it only takes one day) and I want you to be married on one
of the other five. E. and I would so much like to be at your wedding, old
fellow. . . . Of course, in these times,
weddings are what they should be, quiet, simple, and sacred. . . . My plan for the winter is headquarters
at Fairfax Court House, with E. for Commander-in-Chief. She is not such a
veteran as Halleck, but I think she can manage men better, in the field or
anywhere else.
SOURCE: Edward Waldo Emerson, Life and Letters of
Charles Russell Lowell, p. 307-8
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