Letter from Luther Bruen, Nokesville, VA to Augusta Bruen, 1864-04-11
Nokesville April 11.64 My Dear Wife: The letter I wrote you on Saturday night and which should have been well on its way to Dayton is, I suppose still in the hands of the telegraph operator at the station. The long and heavy rains we have had lately raised the "runs" so much that several of the bridges on the railroad have been washed or so much injured as to be impassible. No trains ran yesterday and none today until about sunset. We rec'd no newspapers or mail yesterday or today, so that we feel that we are behind the age. If you do not learn that the bridges have been carried away you will naturally wonder why my letters are so slow. This letter shall therefore stand abreast of the other to explain why it has been so long on the way. My letter to Robert of which I wrote in the fellow-traveler of this has also been delayed, so that gentle man has had two more days to carry on than I intended. It's no use crying over spilt milk, however; I tried my best to keep him straight and if I have failed it is because the elements were against me. I think tho' that he had something else to think about and will be less on the rampage than be appeased to be at home and will perhaps do nothing until my letter reaches him. No officer here knows or suspects, I think, that I have ever turned my eyes in that direction; but if R. comes down here it will be very hard to keep him from blabbing. I shall take an early opportunity to tell him never to allude to it in any way, but he will require very close watching besides. Robbie's birthday was no doubt celebrated with *eclat*. It would have been very pleasant for me to have been present on the 5th and 8th; I shall make a strong effort to be present "next time." We have not moved yet and probably will not for a couple of weeks yet. I think I am much pleasanter in my little room here than I should be in a shelter tent on the ground, and so am in no hurry to make the exchange. Gen. Warren will be ready sooner than I am, I fancy. This army is not ready to move yet but the work of preparation is going on, and by the time the roads are tolerably decent, we shall be on the way to Richmond which interesting twin sister of Sodom and Gomorrah we propose to take this time, and no mistake! Won't you be glad to get a letter from me learning that date? I guess so! How do *Mark* Brady and Paymaster *Gaspar* get along? You have never said a word about them since I left home. Not long since I saw a *puffatory* notice of the young gentleman, but do not remember whether it was in a Dayton paper or not. I heard the result of the election some days before the paper came. It was exceedingly satisfactory and I hope many more just such will be recorded in the history of Dayton. The Copper heads have been getting fits all over the country this Spring and I hope they may never get anything else. Capt. Pease went away quite sick a week or ten days since. I do not think he intended to go farther than Philadelphia. The mail to-morrow ought to bring me a letter and I shall be disappointed if it does not, altho' your last is dated the 5th. It is about time I was writing another letter to Sella, can't you suggest a topic. Give my love to her and Frank and Robbie. Good bye darling. Thy Luther.
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April 11, 1864
Bruen, Luther Barnett
Nokesville, 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.6.304
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http://repository.wellesley.edu/mitchill/304
