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                           To General Wistar
                              Wmsburg Feb 2nd/64

General

       We earnestly, tearfully,

prayerfully entreat that you will remove from us, the requirement of taking the oath.

        It is not the treasure that

"moth & rust doth corrupt," our agonized hear[t]s rebel at leaving, for in this sense, all that was most valuable, has been long since taken away, but we cannot without bitterest, deepest anguish, leave the homes of our childhood, the scenes of our youth, those grassy mounds _ & oh! Holy Dust, we can not give thee up; all that is left to some bereaved hearts of what made life precious.

         In your dying hour, that

hour which must come alike to all, the Good, the Wise, the Great as well as to the lowly; this thought will come, that you exercised the noblest gift & perogative of a soldier clemency. For this remembrance will come & help to light that dark valey through which we all must pass.

         Taking the oath may be to

us a temptation to assist the Confede rates; for Satan is aware of the

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weak points & human nature, & like an experienced General knows when & where to attack; & it is a truth well known to all, that when imperatively forbidden to pursue a line of conduct, that path we are most eager to follow.

          The Confederates in Wmsburg are

as to numbers a mere handful & will never give information to the enemy.

           Now General, please grant

our request, & when the present has become the past; the record of the war is written; & your name entwin ed with [with] the history of your country; that name shall go down in all time, all lands, all lan- guages inseperably connected with a kind act, & surely a generous deed is the most grateful tribute, we can offer to Heaven.

            The Precious Saviour who

died for us all, has given unto the Divine Evangel, contained in the fifth Beatitude, Blessed are the Merciful, for they shall obtain mercy!

                Sally M. Galt

   Reply of General Wistar

Let Miss Galt be undisturbed & all those like her J. Wistar Yorktown Feb 3rd/64