Letter from Luther Bruen, Washington, DC to Augusta Bruen, 1861-03-19
Washington March 19, 1861
My dear little wife:
I received yours of the 15th this morning, also one from John Howard of the same date. _ Your letter to Mr. Schenck was all right; I am only afraid it will do us no good._ I trust you have received a good long letter from me this morning, & your Uncle John, too. _ I feel in better spirits this morning, than when I wrote last, tho' after all, I may have very little to encourage me. _ If the contest can be confirmed to Comly & your father, I think we shall win. _ We had a great snowstorm yesterday; it snowed a great part of the day and late into the night. This morning the sun shines however, is pure and Gracing, & makes me feel cheerful. But there is one draw-back, namely, the necessity of remaining here longer than I had designed. I have thought I should reach home by Saturday morning at the furthest. This I now think I shall not be able to do, tho' I most assuredly will if I can. I never was so sick of any place in my life now so anxious to get home; but were I to leave now, I fear all the sacrifice I have made in coming would be thrown away. So, painful as the necessity is for all of us, we shall have to submit to a still further separation. _ I long more than ever to be at home, and shall leave Washington as joyfully a boy come out of school._ If the P.O. matter rests entirely with Mr. S. I am afraid your father will not get. He evidently thinks he can no more political service out of him, while he has a prospect of being served by Comly and his political friends. There is no question but that he has been false to Mr F. or Comly. The latter thinks he is sure to get it. S gave him the letter he wrote to the Pres., in which his appointment was recommended on political grounds, while he declared his personal preference was for Mr F. The fact that he gave Comly his letter to take to the Pres. & that he suppressed all mention of this having recommended the appointment of Comly, to me, goes very far towards convincing me that he is trying to cheat one side or the other. When one *muder* takes that game, he generally deceives the side from which he has least to expect. When I first saw S. here, he told me that Comly looked very sad when he told him that his preference was for Mr F., and he certainly did mope around here very disconsolately, when I first came here. His spirits seem in some mysterious way to have been raised and he remains here in momentary expectation of receiving the nomination. Now how has this been brought about? Undoubtedly, by some assurance which he has received from S. It is possible that S. has a private understanding with the Pres.; but we have here only the poor consolation, that he means to cheat Comly & not us. That is a very frail *reed* to lean upon.
Relying upon S.'s active support we have not made our case as strong as it ought to be. When I left home I expected to receive a letter in Mr F's behalf from Horace Pause; but none has ever come. I wrote to John Howard to get it if he could & some others urge him not to delay, as the case may be taken up at any time. Get him to go to work at once & send a letter from every body who has any political standing or whose personal influence with Mr Chase amounts to anything. I have written to to Thomas Erving; I hope Mr F will write too if at home; and to any other of his old friends. He thought *Root* would not write for *serving*, but he did not withstanding he thinks so meanly of him. So it goes! Tell John Howard to get as many letters from business men as he can, they will tell, here, _ particluarly the letters of *finny*._ you must not expect me to do all the work here. I can only use the materials I have been supplied with from home.
You would no doubt be glad to have me fill this sheet; but my room is very cold and I want you to get it as soon as possible so I shall close here.
Love and kisses to all especially the dear little *bunnies*_ Good bye my dearest
Luther
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March 19, 1861
Bruen, Luther Barnett
Washington, DC
2 pages
United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865
Bruen, Luther Barnett -- Correspondence
Catharine Mitchill '31 Collection of Family Letters, Wellesley College Library, Special Collections
MSS.6.143
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http://repository.wellesley.edu/mitchill/143
