Pendleton, Alexander S. (1840-1864) to Rose
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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC00835 Author/Creator: Pendleton, Alexander S. (1840-1864) Place Written: Winchester, Virginia Type: Autograph letter signed Date: 9 December 1861 Pagination: 4 p. ; 26 x 20 cm. Order a Copy
Writes to his sister. Discusses personal news, a skirmish, and General Rosecrans at Cumberland. Requests she send him a song. Written on blue paper.
[Draft Created by Crowdsourcing]
Winchester, Virginia
Dec. 9th 1861
My Dear Rose
Sitting in the office this lovely Monday evening I can do no better than try & by the aid of a single tallow candle follow the lines so dimly traced upon this sheet of paper. I am the more impelled to this by the fact that I owe the whole household a grudge for not sending my nice cloth coat & kid gloves by Middleton or Jno. Alexander. Do recollect that I am not by most partial friends considered handsome, and must therefore assist nature as far as possible by the accessories of dress. And I am my very dearly beloved sister Rose trying to make an impression upon two very pretty young ladies Miss Laura L. Burwell, and Miss Millicent Powell, which latter donzel has furthermore declared her deliberate purpose of making the worthy Lieutenant captive to her charms. So you see I am impelled by every motive of patriotism and honor to get my nicest coat and be armed to resist attacks. Speaking of young ladies, the Misses Burwell sing divinely, and I
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want you to send me that beautiful song, of which I only remember the pleasantness of hearing it, and the fact that I declared neither of you sing the air, but that one sang second & the other tenor-But I find that by writing and thinking of it I recall it perfectly-"My Gondola's waiting below, Love!"-Do send it, for the music rings so sweetly still in my ears, that I want to hear it again, and I think that if Miss Lal Burwell shall succeed in singing it as well as I have heard it at home, I shall yield myself a willing captive to her charms.
I got your letter this morning, & have to thank you for it, and beg pardon for my inattention to your request. I comply with it in this. I am glad to hear Ned Lee is better, and hope he will continue to improve. But I do think it will assuredly be suicidal for him to attempt to come back shortly to the hardships & exposure of camp [strikeout]. By the way, I was much amused when I went the other day to ascertain the rates of board at The Union Hotel. Miss Breeden appeared and inquired for [whom] I wanted board. I answered Major Lee & his wife.
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Major Lee of what regiment? The 33d Virginia-Where from? Shepherdstown. Ah! You mean Mr. Edmund J. Lee. No! A son of his. Oh! yes Eddy Lee-certainly we will be most happy to have Eddy-Eddy is a nice fellow-&c &c very much to my Edification-
I shall be delighted when he & Sister Sue reach here; it will make this place almost like home to me. We here at Head Quarters are looking for an agreeable addition to our society in the person of Mrs. Jackson. George Junkin went for her yesterday, but she failed to arrive. I presume she will here tonight (10th) For you must know I begun my letter, & wrote two pages last night, when I was stopped to attend to some movements of troops, which kept me busy until 11. I then retired, and am now writing before breakfast-at least I was so doing, but George announced breakfast, and I am finishing my sentence after a repast of buckwheat cake with my pipe in my mouth.
Our force here has been somewhat enlarged by the arrival of Col. Taliafarro's brigade-consisting of his regiment-23d Virginia-Fulkerson's 37th Va. Rust's 3d Arkansas & Ramsay's 1st Georgia and we are looking for more shortly. We will have need of them for Rosecranz is at Cumberland
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with 5000 men, & nearer therefore to Romney than we are, as he has the B & O. R.R. to within 18 miles of R. However we do not anticipate an attack. The only excitement we have had was an expedition sent off to break up Dam No. 4 on the Potomac. The information given the General was erroneous, and he consequently did not send a large enough force to accomplish his purpose. The only harm done was the killing of three or four Yankees & the wounding three of our men. One of Capt. McLaughlin's men M [Clintock] had his leg broken by a ball from an Enfield Rifle-
There is nothing of interest except the weather, which nature seems to have mistaken for spring-
Love to one & all.
Yr. fond brother
A. S. Pendleton
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