Camp Near Fairfax StationJany 22nd 1863My Darling Wife

Page 1

I rec’d yr letter with Lute’s yesterday How curious love affairs work. Tell Lute that there is nothing like the Army to make a man of one, & I that Aurthor will come out all right and their love scratching will turn into love patting & they will both be all the better for their troubles. And to apply to Alfred as a parent & me as a brother experienced in all love matters & we will try to carry her through safely. We moved to this camp Tuesday. That night it rained & has ever since & we are well in the mud. The men are busy

stockading their tents. We left a splendid camp but will have another here soon. It would look well for me to say my baby. Who ever heard of a man having a baby. Are you sure you will have one? Do you grow any? Wonder where our home will be. If we fail to put down this rebellion I shall leave the country. I begin to fear for the result owing to fire in our near politically. I always thought the demo- critic party were bent on the destruction of the Government & they’r last demonstrations confirm me in that opinion The motto of that party has been “success” without any regard to the means to bring it about or of the concequences

Page 3

that must follow to the nation. The Republican party has adopted their tactics too much. The old Whig party was the only one we ever had that could make any pretensions to manhood. If I had my choice I would hang that new Governor of New Jersey before I would Jeff Davis. Politically he is a schemer, a falsifier an assassin who has made a lunge at the backs of 25 or 30,000 New Jersey men in the army. I wish President Lincoln had the backbone & the brains to rise equal to the occasion now. What a hero he might become. He is frightened to death about the next Congress, that it will not sustain him, but go in for peace. If the Congress dont suit him, let him transfer

Page 4

them to the Old Capital prison & let them legislate there to their hearts content. These are no trifling times. Nothing but a strong hand can extricate us. Let the President sustain the army & it will sustain him. Feed it & pay it & give it the leaders they want & the President is safe. Bayonets are the best reliance in revo- lutionary times. A little vigor and a few successes would soon close the mouth of these traitors at home. Regards to all

Yr affect. husband Wheelock.