Memphis Tenn Aug 12 62

 

                                                            Aug 12^th 1862                         Dear companion as dinner is over i will write another letter it is so that that i am badly broken out by cooking over the fire so i dodge under the shade of my tent that is propt up to admit fresh air, and sit and write and read some and sleep from 3 to 4 hours each nite. there is not much war near here

 

O Woman whose form and whose soul

Are the spell and the lite of each path we [torn]

Whether suned in the tropics or child at the pole

If woman be there, there is hapyness too

 

yes woman tis to thee to thee i write

Sweet emblem of the true and the blest

Tis for the that i do and will fite

O ma i some day with thee rest

 

O may i ever be true to companion

And children so near and dear to me

And injoy a long and happy union

When those again on earth i see

 

Gods will be done, dear and affectionate Ruth

You know he doth all things well

And lets us continue in the ways of truth

And escape that place called hell

 

in the path of rectitude

of the just and the good

O may our lots be cast

that we may be blesst at last (in heaven [faded] /

 

Now dearest wife and children keep of good chear for all will be well yes i will be with you as soon as tis gods will this earth at best is but a desert drear but in heaven there [faded] is rest. well i must get supper but i guess i will just make some coffee and fry some saw belly and in the morning i will boil some potatoes and cook some rice. we all have plenty of sugar and lots of beans we live well here we to Memphis we have drawn lots of clothes and new tents i will send some clothes to you pleas keep them for me Children be kind to Mother She i know is kind to you and i trust will ever be yes i know she will be kind O if i was only there to share the troubles and ills and console you in hours [torn] and try to comfort and try to do a parents duty yes a parrents duty to a child is verry [faded] but i can try to do a farthers part and husbands part. O Ruth i am ever yours with respect John G Scoville to R S

SOURCES