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units:4th_wisconsin_primary_sources [2020/02/28 12:42]
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units:4th_wisconsin_primary_sources [2020/02/28 12:44]
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 GEORGE GEORGE
-  
  
 //George Walter Durgin'​s Civil War Letters, 1861-1864// //George Walter Durgin'​s Civil War Letters, 1861-1864//
  
 ---- ----
 +Letter of Daniel Maxson to his Cousin
  
 +Relay House near Baltimore, Maryland
 +September 23d 1861
  
 +My Dear Cousin Hattie,
 +
 +You may be assured that I was greatly pleased at the reception of your good letter the other day. True, I have but little leisure, but I will take a few moments to talk with you.
 +
 +You spoke of my bereavements. Oh my cousin! Sod has taken away my darlings. I tread alone the weary walks of life. My noble, talented affectionate wife and my beautiful baby are sleeping under the violets and they will come to me no more. Oh, it is so lonely, lonely without them. Harriet, you have seen trials. You have been afflicted with disease. Your aspirations have had their wings clipped. You know what trial is. But may God in his infinite mercy save you from standing by the grave which has closed over your household jewels—your earthly darlings. Such is my prayer.
 +
 +Through the blessing of God, I have in some degree bowed to the terrible blow and I can say, "thy will be done" though my heart is crying for my loved ones. The exciting scenes of war furnish occupation for my thoughts so that my loss does not weigh as heavily on me as when at home.
 +
 +I am now with my regiment again at the Relay House. Darwin has doubtless told you of my whereabouts. I had much rather be here handling a musket than driving the goose quill at Fort McHenry.
 +
 +My health will not endure confinement. If ever I regain it at all, it must be now. General Dix gave me leave of absence for a week and I went down to Washington and staid several days and saw the "pomp and circumstance of glorious war." The basement of the Capitol is used for an everlasting bakery. More than 200,000 loaves of bread are baked daily for the great army in and around Washington. The splendid Patent Office Building is used for a hospital for the sick and wounded. The fine grounds around the Washington Monument are used as a yard for thousands of cattle which today and tomorrow are not forever. In short, Washington presents the appearance of a beleaguered city.
 +
 +I went (by the kindness of Lieutenant King of Wis.) over the chain bridge into Virginia and staid with the Wisconsin 5th and 2nd all night. I slept on the further side of the furthest advanced regiment of our forces. I never saw a more splendid night than the one I spent in Virginia. The moon hung glistening in a cloudless sky and her beams fell on countless white tents, stretching away as far as the eye could reach, on gleaming bayonets, on huge cannon, on impregnable fortifications which bind the highlands west of the Potomac together as with a mighty chain. The rebels can never break through them to storm our Capitol. Neither can we go "​forward to Richmond"​ through the terrible batteries of the enemy till we have drawn off a part of their great forces by demonstrations on the coast. Such I think is the plan of the government. We have a hard road to travel to conquer this rebellion. I believe I shall live to see it die and with it, the damnable institution which is the cause of it. But I do seriously fear that the present administration will fail to meet God’s purposes and that He will be obliged to depose them and raise up others who dare do His will.
 +
 +Fremont alone has met the question and handled it as God would have it handled and government will probably remove him for it. Seward is a mighty humbug and Lincoln is his willing tool. Neither of them meet the crisis like men, nor Christians, but like politicians who dare not say their souls are their own.
 +
 +I am tired, cousin, and must stop, Please write me again. Direct to Baltimore, Maryland.
 +
 +Care of Captain Roundy, Co. F, 4th Regt. Wis. Vols.
 +
 +My love to Ira and the child. — Daniel
 +
 +https://​sparedcreative21.art.blog/​2020/​02/​26/​1861-daniel-burdick-maxson-to-cousin-hattie/?​fbclid=IwAR3lFCoYYTMgesTDznXTnCe5GN9xJ0SxOXeTjTxISGcjjM-b0GHakzblEvQ
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units/4th_wisconsin_primary_sources.txt · Last modified: 2020/02/28 12:44 by admin