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My Dear Friend Marsh

Your letter has made us quite happy. We know now, that we shall have you here for a time--and in order that there may be no hurry or confusion about the bust--perhaps coming in would be better than now--for I must finish Louisa's bust while she remains with us, and another--already commenced--of Mr Douglass who will return here from Rome in about 3 weeks --

It is not likely that I shall have any other work of the kind on hand after the first week in may -- But if this should make any difference not convenient to you--then come at once--say for ten days at most--for the bust--and as much longer for our pleasure as possible --

I am glad to hear of the success of your book already out, and that another is forth-coming -- Succeed in England, and your fame and fortune will be secured -- Say what we will about England--she is still--in a great degree--our -- We seek to be--

and love to be well from that quarter. Perhaps it is because there is something silvery and golden in the view --

I am on tiptoe for the next news from home--great events must now come -- It is the crisis--the next month at most--must decide the contest -- I am very ticklish about Island No 10--about the Merrimac and Monitor--and those other of the Rebels--which may come out of other ports--and destroy our wooden ships -- We may hear--that the Monitor has gone into Norfolk! What is to prevent? She might surprize the Merimac--at anchor--while repairing--and play hob--with every thing in the port --

Pray write me at once--and let me know what you will do--and with our united best wishes--believe me yours ever

Florence

April 7 1862 --

References in this letter:

Louisa Powers (1838-1929), Powers' eldest daughter, sat for her father in 1862 at the time of her marriage to A.B. Ibbotson. The marble replica was made from the plaster original in 1866 and shipped to the sitter's home in Sheffield, England. It is now in the Chrysler Museum, Norfolk, Va.

Powers, as a gesture of friendship to Caroline Crane Marsh (1816-1901) and her husband, George Perkins Marsh, American ambassador to Italy, had her sit for a bust in June 1862. The marble replica made from the plaster cast, presented to the Marshes in late 1864 or early 1865, is now in the Fleming Museum of the University of Vermont.

Marsh's Lectures on the English Language, a revision of lectures he had delivered at Columbia University in the winter of 1858-1859, was published in 1860; revised editions appeared in 1861,1872, and 1885.

Marsh's The Origin and History of the English Language, and of the Early Literature It Embodies, was published in 1862; a revised edition appeared in 1885.

Union forces under Major General John Pope captured heavily fortified Island No. 10 in the Mississippi River near New Madrid, Missouri, on April 7, 1862.

The Confederate ironclad CSS Virginia (the salvaged and refitted Union steam frigate USS Merrimac) was launched at Norfolk, Virginia, on March 5, 1862, and three days later sank two wooden Union frigates at Hampton Roads in Chesapeake Bay. The next day an engagement between the Virginia and the Union ironclad Monitor ended inconclusively. In May the Virginia was scuttled to prevent its falling into enemy hands, and in December the Monitor was lost at sea off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina. Other ironclads built by both sides served intermittently in naval engagements during the course of the Civil War.