Wheelock G. Veazey to Julia A. Veazey
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We are having the coldest storm I ever knew for the 10th June. I believe this is
the worst climate in the world. I have no news to write this time. How does
recruiting go on in N. H.? We are hard at work here overcoming the in- numerable
obstacles that always stand in the way of a victory. There is generally one or
two skirmmages somewhere along the line each day & some picket shooting,
otherwise all is quiet. I rains some portion of each day & often all day.
Mud & rain makes
us think more about home Soldiers must
appreciate home if any class can. It sometimes seems to me as tho no price could
pay for the comforts of home for a single day. How many times I have marched all
day through mud & rain & bivouacked at night with a single blanket under
a tree, wet hungry & cold & not allowed a fire. One must think of home
then. Yet there is something in the service that seems to pay for it all. The
continued moving & excitement, the thousand incidents that occur daily, the
joy over a victory & above all to us the thought of the great stakes at
issue in this contest. The letter is just brought in with the order of exercises
of Capt. A’s funeral obsequies
I am very glad he is buried at home.
I have hoped to hear the report of his death contradicted. What a loss to
Nashua, to every body in fact. Your Sunday dinners will have lost their sparkle
& your house a guest whose place will never be filled. The genial companion,
the honorable gentleman and the true friend were admirably blended in Captain
Ainsworth. He lived long enough for his fame, long enough to find his way to all
our hearts, long enough for everything pertaining to himself. Yet not long
enough for his friends, not long enough for his country. True men never do. We
have the memory of him and his kindness & his noble sacrifice for his
country left
to us, yes, and his example; all too little, in
comparison with himself. Yet a world of wealth to us, & highly worthy of our
emulation.. If I have his letters yet, they are in my trunk in Washington. I
have Dan for a clerk now & Henry is with me most of the time, both perfectly
safe tell Mother, & I am too busy to be shot. How does she like Nashua? Am
glad she is away from home for once. It will do her good. I shall be round to
see you in a few months. Keep up yr courage. Home will be all the better when we
do get it. Am perfectly well. I begin to think this campaign will end the war.
We will soon give the finishing stroke. God bless you my angel.
Yr devoted husband.W.