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My Dear Friend Marsh

Longworth and I expect to leave here day after tomorrow for England, and we shall probably be in Turin on the 4 July--but do not intend to stop there more than a few hours -- We shall do as you have advised--and come directly to your house --

We were all right glad to hear of Mrs Marshs safe arrival home & in her usual health --

The news from home--on the whole--looks as well as could reasonably be expected -- Some mishaps, and sad loss of life--but the feeling of the North is rapidly coming to the point--about slavery the cause of all our woes--just as the Italians have at last--and far more slowly come to the conclusion--that the Pope is the cause of most of their troubles --

The of Slavery--had become so mixed up with every interest in our Country--that to sort them out

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at once was not possible--such was the entanglement of fibres -- It was only by violence that disengagements could be effected--and by degrees--and so the Divine Power--in which I firmly believe--always works--Physically & morally -- At first the north was slow to move--did not want to move--and would not have stirred--but for the kick behind--at fort Sumpter -- Bulls Run was another kick on the same spot--and so it has gone on by steps--steadily to the approaching end which will be--the northern unanimous consent to the death of Slavery -- And when this happens--Slavery will be virtually dead --

I take it that every conservative soldier has left or will leave his southern sympathies upon the battle grounds--where it is natural that they should die--while a proper feeling of resentment rises from the blood stained field -- Our Armies are fast coming up to the proper pitch, in regard to "our Southern Bretheren" They now understand what pro Slavery means--and what is meant by those moderate Politicians at the north--who go for the letter of the Constitution while dealing with

Traitors -- The north is already tuned to a pretty high pitch--but has not yet got up to the gallows for such men as the Buchannans--Woods, and Taneys -- These men and their like--are still allowed to meddle in political affairs -- We shall stop their speech before we shall have done --

With kindest regards from us all I am every Sincerely Yours --

Florence June 30 1862 --

References in this letter:

(Nicholas) Longworth Powers, Hiram and Elizabeth Powers' second child, was born in Cincinnati in 1835 and died in 1924 in Florence after a long career there as a photographer.

Matthew 13:25.

The first significant engagement of the Civil War took place at a creek near Manassas Junction, Virginia, thirty miles west of Washington, D.C., when Confederate troops under General Pierre G. T. Beauregard defeated Union forces heading for Richmond.

Fernando Wood (1812-1881), a leading member of the Peace Democrats, was mayor of New York City 1861-62 and member of the House of Representatives 1862-65.

Roger Taney (1777-1864), Chief Justice of the Supreme Court 1863-64, wrote the Dred Scott decision (which ruled that a black had no right to sue a white man in federal court) in 1857 and consistently opposed Lincoln's policies during the Civil War.