J. S. Walker's Thirty-Sixth Letter

No.2

Camp Deas, near Youngs Mill,

6^th November, 1861

My dear Wife:

                I did not write to you by Lieut. Mills, who went up yesterday, as I did not have time and wrote to David.  I was a little unwell yesterday, but kept to my tent and fasted and am quite myself today.  There is nothing in the monotony of camp life that can interest you in a letter, and I will save all for the long winter nights of another winter, if we are all spared to meet around it.  I hope the Lord is going to give great success to our arms in other places, that he will make bare his might and let loose the muds of Heaven to put the armada under the waves, and thus cause the wicked to acknowledge his might.  I also hope he will give us quite on the Peninsular, since I have no confidence in those who in authority do not acknowledge Him.  If we live for Him it matters little to us whether we live or die, since he directs, controls, and at last receives.  Let us pray earnestly to the end.

                Lieut. Willis will be a favourable opportunity for you to send my gloves, socks, etc.  I want you also to send me my over-shoes, thick boots, cravat, clothes brush.  I should also like a good cap or hat for the winter, which Bro. David can select for you.  As regards eatables, some pickles, smoked sausage, tongue, beef, etc., butter, eggs, etc.  I can buy nothing in the world to eat here but sweet potatoes, fresh beef and bacon, and I am tired of them.  I also want a gallon of whiskey, a gallon of brandy, fine for medicinal purposes and the stomach’s sake.  Put all up in a box for Lieut. Willis to bring down to me.  He will come down in about ten days, sayd 16^th of November, and if you leave the box at Geo. Bidgood’s with a letter he will get it and attend to it.  If you have sent nothing by express via Yorktown, do not do it now, but send to Grove Wharf by Steamer on James River on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, and we will have a wagon to get all packages for our Regiment.  Willis will be the safest chance for you to send by.  Direct your letters via Grove Warf to Capt. J. S. W., 15^th Regt. Va. Vols. and they will come more promptly.

                Kiss the children, love to all.

                                Yours very affectionately,

                                                Jno. S. Walker.

I have commenced numbering my letters.  I sent No. 1 a day or two ago.  You will find this No. 2.  If you will adopt the same plan we can tell whether our letters are all received, remember always to number them.

                We are now having a real thunder storm, lightening and the biggest hail I have seen for a long time, as big as partridge eggs. I hope the Lord’s hand is in it all and that he will scatter the fleet that would pour out our free blood on our own soil.  May the Lord have mercy upon them and then destroy them.

                                Yours very affectionately,

                                                Jno. S. Walker.

J. S. Walker's Thirty-third Letter

Camp Deas, near Youngs Mills,

28^th October, 1861

My very dear Wife:

                I have written you frequently during the past ten days, but fear you have not received my letters, as I understand the mail has been interrupted by the steamers getting out of order in James River. To the same cause I attribute the absence of letters from you. This is rather an out of the way place, being twelve miles from Yorktown, on a miserable road, and our mail arrangements are not the best. Ours is the advanced post, and are daily expecting an attack from the enemy, while I believe they watch with the same anxiety for an attack from us. Consequently, we do not and will not come together until one or the other advances. If accounts are to be credited, they have a large force at Old Point, but they do not come out. In the meantime, it is getting quite cold in our tents, with cold, damp earth floors, and it is doubtful whether we will build winter quarters at all, as being attacked by a superior force we would have to retire, but I think with a small outlay I can make myself very much more comfortable. To that end I must have a small stove, in which I can burn wood, and an old piece of carpet about ten feet square. I will lay plank floor to my tent and then put down the carpet and up the stove, and will be able to keep warm, however cold it may be. So tell Davis to send me the stove, and you send me a piece of old carpet or drugget – it can all be packed in a box and sent by express to Yorktown and I will get it. The express comes to Yorktown Tuesdays and Fridays.

                As soon as it gets cold enough, I want you to have me some good corn beef made, also some string sausages, smoked, some beef, tongue and butter. You can send as soon as you can get them. Let me know what they cost and I will make the officers’ mess pay their proportion. If David comes down, I would like if he would bring a valise for me, my trunk is too large for the transportation and I want to send it back with my summer clothes.

                There is nothing new. I have determined to give and endure to the end. My best lieutenant has been made Captain of another company, and Dr. Parker has sent his resignation. I will trust in the Lord and he will guide me alright.

                Kiss the dear children and give love to all friends.

                                                                Yours most affectionately,

                                                                               

                                                                                Jno. S. Walker

J.S. Walker's Thirty-Second Letter

Camp Near Youngs Mill,

15^th Regiment Va. Vols.,

15^th Oct. 1861.

My dear Wife:

                I have not written to you for several days, but wrote to David all my troubles and asked his advice, what my course should be. I have prayed over it and come to the conclusion to sink self and bear my ills to the end, trusting alone in the Lord and seeking his deliverance, aid and strength, and He can make man’s folly praise him. There has just been an order issued by Gen. Magruder that he will not allow leave of absence to officers or furlough to men until 1^st January, so it may be that I will not get home before 1^st February, if then, and tho I expect to have to live in my tent till at least 15^th December, I am now with the buffalo robe proof against the cold and can keep warm with the clothing I have. Gen. Magruder seems to apprehend an attack of the enemy at any time in large force, tho I think he is mistaken, but it is our duty to be prepared and to expect them whether they come or not. I wish as a people we could recognize the chastisement of the Lord in this war, then might we hope for speedy termination, recognizing Him in all things. Christians should renew their strength and wrestle with the Lord, not only for victory over our enemies but as a nation over sin. I think if I do not get a leave of absence to come to see you all, I will make arrangements about the middle of November for you and the children to come to Williamsburg, where I can meet you and speed a week or ten days together. I do not know what my happen in the meantime, so do not count upon this arrangement with any certainty. If made, you can have a very pleasant trip by steamer down the River James to Grove Warf and then by stage or hack eight miles to Williamsburg, where I can get pleasant board in a private family or boarding house for you all.

                As there is no system about getting boxes from Yorktown yet, I will not expect you to send me anything till the weather gets cooler and I advise you. I wish you would ask David to see Snydor and see if he can get a tent stove for burning wood, with ten or twelve feet of pipe and one or two elbows and if it can be packed in a barrel so as to come securely. If so and I am likely as it now appears to remain in my tent for six or eight weeks, I shall get him to send me one, as it will contribute greatly to my comfort in cold wet weather. I told David to tell you by all means to have the gas put in the small room. It has occurred to me that as there is no saying how long this war may last and everything is now very high and will so continue during the war and I have now no business to contribute to pay the expenses particularly of a number of servants, that it might be a very favourable time to sell out my furniture at a very satisfactory price. Our Congress is to meet in Richmond in a short time and the city will be crowded, many wealthy Southern men attend, and many officers are there who desire to live in their own homes, and who would probably pay a good price for the furniture if it is in good order, in order to get the house, which no doubt would rent for $300 more than I pay for it. If I could get about cost for the furniture, it would relieve me of one of my youthful follies, give me $3,000 or $4,000 cash, which I could invest profitably, and the balance buy new good enough furniture for my means. I could also send David Butler and family south and put them on a plantation, while Nelly, Milly, Betsy and Francis, with George would be all that we could possibly need. Of course, I am looking to getting a good price for my furniture and home, such an opportunity may not present itself, and I do not wish you to speak of it to anyone but Davis, to who I wish you would refer it and ask his advice, and let me hear from you all. If the war continues, as the North seems absolutely determined it shall until they subjugate us, then my occupation is gone in tobacco and I must look to something else to support my family during its continuance.

                I have been merely thinking about these things, have not set my mind upon them. Tell Luly Father was so glad to get her nice letter and know from it that she is a good girl, and I hope she is a good example to her younger brother and sister, and that they are all good, say there lessons and think about and pray for their father.

                Give my love to all friends, and direct your letters to Capt. John S. Walker, Co. B, 15^th Regt. Va. Vols., near Yorktown.

               

                                                                Yours most affectionately,

                                                                                Jno. S. Walker

J. S. Walker's Thirty-First Letter

Camp Deas, Youngs Mills,

9^th Oct., 1861

My dear Wife:

                I have just returned from 24 hours duty with my company on Picket at our infantry outpost. I had rather a bad day as regards weather, being rainy and cold, which is unpleasant without shelter. I am thankful to say that I am real well notwithstanding it all. I take the best care I can of myself and trust the Lord to shield me from disease as well as my enemies.

                Your last letter sympathizing with me in my cloudy experience comes very opportunely, for I am beset behind and before. My troubles are not only of an earthly character, but I feel that my earthly ills augment my spiritual – in other words that I am not content with my present position and cannot see that the Lord so orders or allows it, but that I am responsible for continuing it myself. Col. August is not fit to command and I am satisfied his Regiment suffers in consequence.  Col. Stuart has left, Peyton has left, and here I am without a field officer in whom I have confidence, and I am almost persuaded it is my duty to resign and go home to my family, for tho late in October, damp, cold weather, we have not yet prepared or commenced to prepare for winter quarters. Our situation is a very unseasonable one, for if we remain during this October season in our tents, our men on damp ground, they will either be in their graves or the hospital for the winter. If I could get my Company transferred to another Regiment, I would do so, but that cannot be done. I must either transfer myself or resign.

                I thank God that while these things trouble me, as they should on account of my own health and my family’s dependence on me, yet I have every confidence in His ability to perform His part and even to bring out of this apparent evil good to me both in this life and the next. I am rereading Headly Vicars*, which I hope will help me to be content under the difficulties by which I am surrounded.

                I will write you more fully tomorrow. I am in haste now and I have to give this to a man who goes up tomorrow.

                Kiss the dear children and give love to all friends.

                                               

                                                                Yours most affectionately,

                                               

                                                                                Jno. S. Walker

* This perhaps refers to the Memorials of Captain Hedley Vicars by Catherine March. Hedley Vicars was an Evangelical preacher and British Army officer who was killed during the Crimean War.