George R. Gear to Jerusha Gear, 2 September 1863
Memphis, Tenn. Sept. 2, 1863.
 
Dear Mother:
                        Your letter of Aug. 24 was received two or three days since, but as I had just written to Jerusha I thought I would delay answering for a day or two. I enclosed in my letter to Jerusha a check for $35 on the Co. Treasury, using the State Agency as a means of sending home my pay. Should my letter to Jerusha be lost, you will not need to wait for another check, but the money will be paid to you upon application at the Co. Treasurer's office as they have your name and the amount sent on their books.
 
            We are much better provided for now than we were when I wrote to you concerning our fare. We have all the pork / meat that we need, besides better rations in other respects. With the aid of a little money we can live as well now as there is any need of. I am afraid you stinted yourself to send me money. I do not wish you ever to do that. I want you to keep all that I sent home for your own use. I think I shall send back that last dollar you sent me; not in money exactly; but I will have my picture taken again and see if it cannot be improved. I will have one copy taken, and then if it is good, will have some copies taken from it at home. It will be much the cheapest way.
 
            I am nearly out of postage stamps, but you need not send me any, as I can procure plenty of them at the Post Office in the city.
 
            You speak about Eliza Plummer being at our house. I wish that / whenever any of the family may happen to come in your way you would treat them with all possible kindness and courtesy. I shall never forget the kind treatment that I received from them while teaching school. It was Their house was the most homelike place that I found. It was to Geo. Plumer's influence that I owed my success in obtaining the school in the first place, and through my acquaintance with him I was led to look at their house more particularly as my home. Especially after his death, I was treated as though actually one of the family.
 
            You ask if the Government does not furnish us sugar. It does. We have all that we need for our coffee. Otherwise I know not what I should do; for it requires a pretty good appetite and a pretty hard day's march for me to relish coffee without either sugar or milk. I have seen the time / however that it did taste good; but it was not when we were in camp though.
 
            There are again rumours of our removal. This time it is said that we are to be transferred to Bank's Department. I have learned however, long since, to pay very little heed to camp rumors. They generally have but very little foundation in fact. A chance remark, or a supposition dropped by some officer is picked up by some one, and away it goes, and ere it has traveled far it has reached dimensions that its author never dreamed of. We have been so often deceived, that we will no longer believe anything until we receive it officially. We even learn to mistrust actual sight of our eyes, and almost require to see a thing twice before giving credence to it
 
            I do not know whether you knew it or not, but that Cin. Gazette which you sent me contained a speech made by our Colonel—Edward F. Noyes. I read it aloud to a number of the boys in the Company, who were much pleased with it. You may rest assured that Vallandigham is not gaining any friends amongst us. In fact I have not heard a single man in our Company speak a word in favor of him for a long time.
                                   
But I must close.
                       
Write soon to
Your Son                                                                    
George
 
Fuller is our Brigade Commander yet.
9132
DATABASE CONTENT
(9132)DL1570.046133Letters1863-09-02

Tags: Copperheads, Death (Home Front), Elections, Family, Food, Home, Mail, Money, Newspapers, Politics, Reading, Rumors, School/Education, Supplies, United States Government

People - Records: 2

  • (3310) [writer] ~ Gear, George Rufus
  • (3359) [recipient] ~ Gear, Jerusha ~ Sage, Jerusha

Places - Records: 1

  • (136) [origination] ~ Memphis, Shelby County, Tennessee

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SOURCES

George R. Gear to Jerusha Gear, 2 September 1863, DL1570.046, Nau Collection