Enterprise Miss          

Nov 20^th /63

 

My Dear Mother,

                                    Your letter sent by—was rec'd yesterday, and I am gratified to know that still all are well. I had but a few days before rec'd a letter from Pa dated Sept 24^th from which I feared that affairs at his plantation were not getting on well, and that he was in bad health. I hope you will impress on him the necessity of preserving his health & avoiding as much as possible every fatigue & exposure. The country financially is bankrupt and also all citizens, save such as have [torn] conscientious scruples in their manner of re[torn] or making, and property of any description is scarcely worth the labor necessary to preserve it. If we reach the end of this war with health physically and morally, I for one will consider myself extremely fortunate. The moral condition of the country here is becoming truly alarming. There can scarcely be said to be any security for either person or property, and I fear that if the war lasts many years longer, the bowie-knife and pistol will be the order of the day.

 

In regard to your future movement, you and Pa are of course most competent to judge and I trust whatever may be decided on will / prove to be for the best.

 

            I left Aunt Emily on the 30^th of October. She was getting along very well at that time. All the children were in good health, and all of them are very promising particularly M—n He is certainly one of the most handsome and intelligent boys I ever saw and if there is any thing in looks he will make a man of whom his parents may well be proud. Poor little L. is just the picture my imagination would draw of an orphan. Her general health is not very good—She is one of the most sensible little girls you ever saw. Aunt E. says her head is 30 years old—but unfortunately she has combined the unhappy traits in the characters of both parents, and gives them a great deal of trouble, appearing unconscious of the fact that she had better cultivate friends than make enemies. In regard to comforts &c they are very pleasantly situated, but unfortunately Uncle W seems to have the faculty of getting into difficulty wherever he goes, in consequence of which Aunt E is kept in constant anxiety for fear some fatal accident might occur. He has besides other difficulties been so imprudent as to make himself unpopular with the Medical Director of the Dep't and he is in constant dread of being ordered from hospital to field service, which would decrease his wages $100. a month besides seperating him from his family Uncle J. is at Abingdon Va. & was not in the / Battle of Chickamauga. When last heard from some month ago he and family were well.

 

Aunt M & family have moved to Florida but I do not know their present Post office. Sam will be here in a few days and I will then ascertain. I have not yet been exchanged and it seems to be indefinitely postponed. I am consequently quietly awaiting the developements of time with as much patience as I can command, my stock however is pretty near exhausted and I can scarcely claim to have settled the conflict which is going within me in regard to my future movements. Unfortunately all my desires point one way and my ideas of duty another, and it requires no little [torn] follow the dictates of my conscience [torn] My recent troubles came at a very unpropitious time, but I am happy to know that I did not allow my anger to move me in opposition to my duty. My situation here is anything but pleasant, having no one in whom I can place implicit faith. Society here is such as has no charms for me—even if I was inclined to be sociable, and it is with pleasure that I observe the setting sun, trusting that the day of reunion with those I love is not far distant. Since I last saw you I have travelled over a great deal of country, have observed manners customs and actions, and have tried to study human nature. I am sorry I have to say in consequence that / my opinion of mankind has been very much diminished. I am proud to know that in an equal degree my love for my family has been increased and I earnestly long for the day when I can with head erect meet you all again and part no more.

 

Aunt R. was here to day and I could scarcely have been more agreeably surprised. She has given me considerable encouragement, and I only regret she left so soon. In fact I can hardly realize that she has been here & gone, for when I learned she was coming I had hoped she intended remaining some time. It is seldom that I meet with a friend here who I know would take an interest in my welfare and listen with attention to my troubles.

 

My health has improved rapidly in the last two weeks and I hope I will have no further difficulties

 

Give yourself no uneasiness on my account, for in every action I will try to be guided rather by reason than passion or prejudice

                                                                                   

My Love to Pa Aunt K. and all at home,          believe me

                                                                                               

Yrafftson

                                                                                                                       

Nov 21^st

P.S. Since I have written the above I have rec'd a letter from Uncle W. stating he would send his family to Memphis immediately. He has been ordered to the field, the result of a difficulty between him & the Med-Director, & consequently he can not support his family in the Sunny South. Uncle W expects to resign as soon as possible. They will come by way of Byhalia & Okolona in wagon Aunt E. was very kind to me while in Newnan & Dr is one of the most clever men I ever knew. I hope you will offer them every possible assistance. They [torn]

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