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Mt. Pleasant April 14th 1862
My Dear Sister,
We received a letter from Brother Nat last friday & I had set today to answer it & to write to you too & yesterday I received a nice good letter from you so I will write to you & tell you about him & write to him & tell him about you. He writes in very good spirits says he is very well fixed lacks nothing but you & the children. He was to guard that night with Doc but their standing guard is very light nothing to Broth er Dick's duties. He only wrote a short letter to let us know where he was & how he was fixed & I expect he has written it all to you. I went saturday to see Mollie & hear from Brother Dick as we heard there had been some skirmishing on the Peninsular. She got a letter last thursday but it had been on the way a week. He wrote very cheerfully said there had been no firing of guns up to the time that he wrote but that our picketts had been driven in two or three times. He writes real love letters to Mollie, he has written to know where Bro Nat is so that he may go to see him when he gets time. Mollie looked very cheerful & well & the children are very well, Minnie is not as pretty as she was, but is still very pretty she runs about & talks a few words. [Emmie?] has got to be prettier than Minnie now. I carried her some flowers & as soon as I gave them to her she said. "I will send Papa some flowers." She talks a great deal & mighty sweet. Maria & I went to our society. We are fixing a box to send to the hospital at Hugenot Springs. Maria has started up a collection for the Gun boat Richmond. I got up one for Chaplain & have raised $175 & have been out very little. Ma has been so unwell that I hardly ever leave her all day now. She has been more unwell than she has been since you were married she is rather better now but is still very feeble & easily [thrown?] out. Sister Sue is very busy in her garden she says I must tell you that she never had so much to do in her life making home spun for summer & winter & spinning warp & filling. We are not able to get any bale cotton here now. Her peas are almost ready to bloom but the other vegetables are backward. She has a great many flowers & some beautiful rare ones, blooming now. Frankie is getting right fat & is a right good sweet pretty child now. She grows very fast & crows & plays a great deal. I don't know what we would do without her these war times. Sister Sue has 129 chickens 7 goslings & 9 little ducks & 8 turkeys setting. She says tell you that she is going to hold you & Aunt Nancy to that bar gain of coming over next summer says tell Aunt Nancy that Frankie is just like Uncle Sam was & that she must come & see her. She says she wants to write to you very much but can't find time. I would like very much to make you a visit & bring you back with me & will do it if Ma is well enough for me to leave her. I was so glad to hear such good news from Jimmie. If this war should be the means of [Biverlys?] conversion too. Aunt Nancy will be thankful for it all eternity. Mr. Peck preached at Briery yesterday an excellent sermon. Mr. Whorey will come back next month. I know the Troop will be sorry to give him up they all love him very much. We are go ing to have a weekly prayer meeting at Mt. Pleasant & the neighbors are going to meet next court & invite the refugees to come to the country as it will be cheaper than boarding in Farmville or at the College. Mrs. Stone Wall Jackson is living at Dr. Dabney's. Brother went to see her & said he liked her very much. Sister Maria Bet & John Venable were here not long ago to see Ma. John belongs to Jackson's division. Brother has been up too. Sister Kate & Brother Will & all well Brother Will got a substitute. Cousin Fannie Flournoy is staying at the Co Ho to be convenient to Dr. Watkins. Her health has given away very
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much since the boys were taken prisoners at Donaldson. She got a letter from Nat He is at Chicago. Nat & Morton are not together. Cousin Polly was here last week Her Nat is hired to two Farmville gentle men who are stationed at Norfolk. He writes to her very often. He saw all of the fight between the Virginia & the blockaders Cum berland & Congress I have a heap to tell you that I cant't write. Your Own Loving Sister, Pattie Ma & Sister Sue & all join me in love to you & all at your Pa's I want to see the children so much Frankie is called like Charles kiss the little darlings for me. Ma says she wishes Mr. [Hines?] would go down & preach for the boys sometimes. The Troop write that they are mighty hungry & we can't send boxes now there is such a number of Troops there. Capt Thornton hadn't been able to change his clothes for three weeks but Bro D. wrote that it hadn't been so long since he had changed his but he didn't know how long it would be as they had left their baggage behind. I reckon you have heard that Cousin Margaret had a little girl. Jacob Morton is at home & looks badly but is well again.
