Richmond Va.

Dec 12^th 1864.

 

Dear Jimmy.

                        Having a leisure moment this morning I propose to inflict you with a dose of my scribblings not hoping to interest you but affording a proof of my good will & love. I recall with pleasure your brief visit & regret we should have so little opportunity to exchange kindly greetings & pleasant converse—But sad days are upon us in place of the pleasant ones we use to have. I fear me those glorious gallops after fleet hounds on a breast high scent, those cozy rides "over the crop" when we examined with critical eye the neatness of the tillage & the afterclaps that warmed the stomach as well as the soul have a present indefinite postponement. The bloody war car has at last reached our own pleasant & quiet homesteads, so long exempt from its savages, & the indications seem to be of a long & protracted struggle. Lincoln's reelection & messages point very decidedly that way. He announces that the war will only cease when the South yields. We can better afford to die than be subjugated—so the end is a long way off. Meantime we are to do our duty as well as we know how & will avail ourselves of such little good things as are in our reach—one of these is the pleasant occasional commune with absent friends. We can now & then talk the matter over through the medium of the goose quill & arrive at such results in speculation as our mutual wisdom may suggest. In this City there is no gloom or despondency. The near presence of Lee's Army / is inspiring. No one believes that Grant can walk over them into Richmond—& so long as the main force of Yankeedom is employed to waste its strength against the earthworks here—so long will we be able to meet & overcome their feebler efforts in other portions of the Confederacy. And this is a striking truth—The terrible drain of men & treasure that has been going on for years to take this place & which today is at its greatest strain, must at last tell fatally even upon the apparently inexhaustible mine of Yankee wealth. Each State in turn has felt the weight of their blows, but the pressure has been twice relieved by Lee's threatening their own territories & Capitol. To day their greatest strength is concentrated to take this rebel stronghold & destroy Lee's Army, & they are comparatively powerless elsewhere. their successes are transitory & we have great cause of cheerfulness & hope. Could Sherman only be bagged, matters would look bright. There is little news here today of his movements. The last accounts represent him as moving on Savannah in three columns. I have little fear of his taking the city. We have had ample time to collect our forces. Dick Taylor, G.W. Smith & Hardee are there & I believe have ability enough to take care of our interests, but Joe Johnston's one brain would be worth them all. It takes the best man we have to cope with Sherman, who has no superior in his own country. I am truly sorry for the losses the people in the lower part of the country have met with. Many I fear are nearly ruined. I am extremely grateful that they missed me—from what I gather they must have been in two miles of my house. I hear there was a small party of them at John Shy's. Tom & D[?] Dickson & Turner you know / are quite near. Ask Cousin Lizzie if she doesn't think we ought always to love Mrs Baxter a hundred fold more for her brave unselfishness in caring for our interests. She sent Bud off with Dick Johnston—M^r Rhodes with some of the plunder—& remained alone on the place with the negroes only to support her & remained there when the yard was lit up with the light of the burning house of our neighbors. Joe & I had a sharp weakness for the old Lady before, but we feel we can never love her enough in the future. We had some little bad luck, the blue devils came up with my wagon & got a barrell of sugar some hams & midlings &, I hear, a bale of cloth, but we don't care a rat for that, nor two very fine mules they also got, only I wish the sugar had arsenic in it & the cloth was made of gun cotton which would blow them up. I feel quite sure Brand (one of the mules) killed the first scamp that tried to mount her. But we are grateful for our escape & don't mind the losses a fig. I was much gratified at the conduct of my negroes. All could have gone, but not one showed the least symptom of unfaithfulness. Pete has arrived safely, but was shabby enough not to come by to see me. he sent me word he was a few days behind time & was afraid he might be taken up. Greene came in yesterday & told how things went on during the panic—from him I learned how M^r Myles Harris & yourself conducted things the skedaddle of your stock &c. Greene doesn't seem to think he had a good time of it on furlough & proposes to try it over again quite soon, when he hopes to enjoy the society of his beloved Clara, unmolested by startling rumors or the fierce shouts of Yanke horsemen. 

 

I hear there was a lot of cotton burned at the same time with Judge Thomas's gin house—did it not belong to D^r Connell—it seems to me I heard him say he had a lot there. I am very sorry for in these times 'tis a terrible loss—but as it is better to laugh than to weep, give the Doctor my kindest regards & tell him if it will hope him any I'll give him an order on M^r Sherman for a couple of fine mules & a sugar barrell I loaned him. Love to M^rs C. & Jule. tell them Baxter is quite well. I have a note from him for Sallie that came in today. Green brought a note from Sam Wiley yesterday—he was well and will try to come in tomorrow to see us. We see D^r Moore quite often—he makes Mary inquire about all his Hancock friends. Please remember me to our Wiley kinsfolk, to John & M^r Edwards & all friends. Sallie has been quite sick sore throat & other ailments, but is now bright & well—sends a great deal of love to Cousin Lizzie & yourself. Now Jimmy I am not to be put off because your right hand is gone. Let Cousin Lizzie answer & whilst she writes you can smoke your pipe and send me all your ideas on matters & things in general. I would like to hear all the home news and particularly of the losses of friends. Indeed all you've got to say will interest me. Tell me of the fine races you have, how the wheat looks & that fine colt—you know I've lost one of those match mares—the finest one but not the best. She was with foal too by Jove. Love to Cousin Lizzie, tell her groundpea's don't grow in this country & I'm having a powerful dry time. tell John D to write me. Love to John Allen & Jenkins. Hoping for a good long letter I am very sincerely your friend                        W^m E Bird.

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