Roswell Farnham to [Mary Farnham]
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Your letter of Sunday the 9th. was duly rec'd. I am glad to hear of your continued good health & the improvement of Laura & Ruth.
You must not work too hard for I want you to be in good health & strength to
endure the journey out here should you be called here. We cannot tell whether we
are to stay or not - We are making prepartions about stopping & we are
talking of having our wives here. If we stay here you will certainly come. We
are getting timber together to build huts. I shall have me a very comfortable
house - that is warm & dry - but it will be very small & if you come you
must expect to put up with a great deal of discomfort.
I am almost
afraid to have you come for fear that you cannot stand it. After it gets muddy
there will be but little chance for you to stir out & you would be confined
to a little hut for two or three months. If you should be sick here I don't know
what you would do.. Still I want you to come & you must make arrangements to
do so.
Mrs. Blunt & Mrs. Vaughan are talking of coming. Are you going up to St. J.
to see Seymore? If you do you must see them. You should be ready to come, but
you must not be disappointed if affairs turn out so that you cannot come. I saw
Mrs. Dr. Lewis here yesterday. She has been up to Hagerstown to visit her
husband, but the army has advanced so that she has come back. Mrs. Fabyan, wife
of Lieut. Fabyan, who you will recollect was
married last fall, just
before coming out, was with her. They seemed to be in good spirits.
I thought I should be glad to see you here instead of them I dont dare think of home much for fear I shall be homesick or discontented. I have a good deal to do now as I am in command of the regiment & I have not much time to think of any thing but my business. A lot of the officers rode down to Mt. Vernon yesterday but I could not get away. It is a delightful ride, and I want to see the residence & tomb of Washington. I ride some now every day. That is one thing that keeps my health good now every day. That is one thing that keeps my health good My foot is getting better slowly. I am still lame but can get my boot on & dont limp much. It will soon get strong.
If you come you need not bring my dressing gown, but you had better bring
a straw tick. Mine is only single width & would hardly accomodate
two unless we laid pretty near together. You can also bring out a pillow tick
& case if you think you will need one. We can fill the tick with hay &
if you want you can also bring a pair of sheets. I shall not need any of these
things but thought you might like them. You had better bring some sort of a hood
- a pretty one - to wear about camp. Your rubber boots might not be amiss. You
might bring that large trunk & a box, so that if necessary in the spring you
could take my trunk home. For when we move I don't know as I can have a trunk.
But I am talking as tho' you were coming here soon, when we may be ordered away
from here in a week. The catalogue was from J. D. Clarke at St. Albans. He
probably stitched them.
I intended to write you a long letter this time but have been hindered all the evening so that it was nearly ten before I commenced this.
Your affectionate husbandRoswell Farnham