Letter from Luther Bruen, Camp near Auburn, VA to Augusta Bruen, 1863-10-25
Camp near Auburn Sunday, Oct 25th My Dearest Wife: We left our camp yesterday afternoon about four o'clock. It had rained all night before and a great portion of the day, so that the roads were abominably wet & muddy. About half past seven we got into our present camp, and not withstanding the wet, we soon had a good fire, our shelter tent pitched and supper under way and every preparation made for pursuing a comfortable night. You will not find Auburn on the map unless you have a better one than any in camp. It is however somewhere near where the point where the Warrenton & Culpepper rail roads unite, perhaps five miles from the junction and equally distant from each road. This is a beautiful bright morning & instead of marching we are lying idle in camp. Why things are generally ordered in this way, I can not conceive. Your letter of the 19th, six days old came to hand this morning. I was very glad to get it tho' it was rather sad in its tone. You must try to keep cheerful. It will do you no good to fret over what, so far as we can now see is inevitable. Try to learn to take good and ill fortune with equanimity, not to be too much elated by the good, nor to much depressed by the ill. Above all, dont push ones anticipated bad fortune, for first it may never come, and second it may prove in the end to be the very lack of good fortune. We are still in a maze as to what we are to under take next. The Washington papers say Uncle Abe is determined to get us into a fight, but whether he will assume oxen trains operations immediately is very doubtful. If we do, it must be on a different line of operations. I doubt whether we shall even get to Richmond by this route. Since Burnside has cut Lee's communication in one direction, I think we should try to cut them in the *only* others. If we succeeded we should either isolate Lee in Virginia, or force him to abandon Virginia and take to the cotton states. This might be done by sending a bunch of this army to the south side of James River & marching on Petersburgh, leaving enough troops in the defences of Washington to make that area perfectly safe. This may not be feasible, but it seems to me quite as likely to help put down this rebellion as our constant marching and counter marching over Virginia mud roads. Writing you as often as I do, I can not have much to say, unless to describe the incidents of the march. Last evening Dick Lay rode by my side awhile. The *arent* has not occurred tho' *daily* expected. Maj. Prince is here with Dick's regt, the latter is acting as field officer and rides a horse. I am afraid I shall have to buy a horse as Maj Price is certain when horses I have ridden so far in my ambition to join the regt. It will cost me $250, a price I don't like to pay, tho it's horse is a very good one. I will write again to take my trunk back on. Perhaps you had better have inquiry made at the express office. There goes the General. So I shall not mail this letter until we get to another camp. Three P.M. We only changed camp this time & have now got into one which we hope to remain a few days at least, perhaps, a couple of weeks. I should #not be surprised if we remained here until the first of next month at any rate. No news to write so I'll say good bye & stay thine LBB#
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October 25, 1863
Bruen, Luther Barnett
Auburn, VA
4 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.6.242
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http://repository.wellesley.edu/mitchill/242
