🔥 Sullivan ballou letter. Civil War Personal Letters. 2022-10-15

Sullivan Ballou’s Civil War letter embodies love: OUR HISTORY

Born March 28, 1829, in Smithfield, Rhode Island, Ballou was educated at Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts; Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island; and the National Law School in Ballston, New York. Sarah, my love for you is deathless, it seems to bind me to you with mighty cables that nothing but Omnipotence could break; and yet my love of Country comes over me like a strong wind and bears me irresistibly on with all these chains to the battlefield. These excerpts, comprising only about half of the letter, were included in the documentary. Consider, for instance, that the famous letter mentions or addresses God five times, whereas the others mention—and never directly address—God only three times: twice in the July 10 letter, once in the second July 14 letter. One was handed forward and thrust into the soft, mud-soaked soil. As I was leaving my wife and three small children, my emotions—and perhaps my literary skills—were heightened, skills which I tried to employ in my letters and tapes sent home. I have no misgivings about, or lack of confidence in, the cause in which I am engaged, and my courage does not halt or falter.

Letter to Sarah Ballou

Retrieved November 24, 2021. O Sarah, I wait for you there! Ballou was the product of a distinguished Huguenot family from Smithfield, R. The corpses were loaded into the wagons. Be careful, 'cause there's Dark Dwarves on the other side lvl 31-32. Is it very close to the skeleton with the rifle or a little ways away? I know how strongly American Civilization now leans upon the triumph of the Government, and how great a debt we owe to those who went before us through the blood and suffering of the Revolution. One hundred and sixty years ago, Major Sullivan Ballou of Rhode Island died of wounds sustained in the First Battle of Bull Run, Manassas, Virginia.

Civil War Personal Letters

But I cannot, I must watch you from the spirit land and hover near you, while you buffet the storms with your precious little freight, and wait with sad patience till we meet to part no more. Comment by Allakhazamisn't really a very easily found NPC. I know how strongly American civilization now leans upon the triumph of government, and how great a debt we owe to those who went before us through the blood and suffering of the Revolution, and I am willing, perfectly willing to lay down all my joys in this life to help maintain this government, and to pay that debt. Lest I should not be able to write you again, I feel impelled to write lines that may fall under your eye when I shall be no more. But, my dear wife, when I know that with my own joys I lay down nearly all of yours, and replace them in this life with cares and sorrows—when, after having eaten for long years the bitter fruit of orphanage myself, I must offer it as their only sustenance to my dear little children—is it weak or dishonorable, while the banner of my purpose floats calmly and proudly in the breeze, that my unbounded love for you, my darling wife and children, should struggle in fierce, though useless, contest with my love of country.

The Sullivan Ballou Letter Mystery

I have, I know, but few and small claims upon Divine Providence, but something whispers to me—perhaps it is the wafted prayer of my little Edgar—that I shall return to my loved ones unharmed. A letter that included the words in the famous July 14 letter would have of course consoled a grieving widow and offered a strong explanation for why her husband chose to go to war. Our movements may be of a few days duration and full of pleasure — and it may be one of severe conflict and death to me. Soldiers began to dig amid the thickets of huckleberry bushes, the still graveyard echoing with the sound of shovels as the men went about their morose task. Private Richardson, who had nursed Ballou in his last moments a week after the battle, concurred. How thoughtless and foolish I have often times been! The circumstantial evidence seemed to concur with what the little girl had told Sprague, and it seemed even more plausible when Greeley did not locate a human skull or teeth with the other remains.

Lessons on Love from Sullivan Ballou's Civil War Letters

I know how strongly American Civilization now leans upon the triumph of the Government, and how great a debt we owe to those who went before us through the blood and suffering of the Revolution. And how hard it is for me to give them up, and burn to ashes the hopes of future years, when, God willing, we might still have lived and loved together, and seen our boys grow up to honorable manhood around us. There is a big peice of stone and a dwarf underneath. The Ballou Papers at the Rhode Island Historical Society contain two letters to Sarah dated July 14, 1861, a few days before the regiment marched off to battle in Virginia. At that point, a 6-pounder solid shot, probably fired by a gun of the Lynchburg Artillery, tore off his right leg, killing his horse. It's near the north end of the bridge, between the two bridges.

Was Sullivan Ballou's Letter a Forgery?

She died aged 82 in 1917; she is buried next to her husband. Headquarters, Camp Clark Washington, D. In 1976, Civil War historian Edward Longacre discovered the Chicago Ballou letter. If I do not, my dear Sarah, never forget how much I love you, and when my last breath escapes me on the battlefield, it will whisper your name. Followed by most of the anxious but skeptical group, he accompanied the girl as she led them to a nearby hollow, where they found a heap of charred embers along the bank of the creek.

Sullivan Ballou’s Letter

Sullivan : Sullivan Ballou was killed a week later at the first Battle of Bull Run, July 21, 1861. Sarah, do not mourn me dead …for we shall meet again. And hard it is for me to give them up and burn to ashes the hopes of future years, when, God willing, we might still have lived and loved together, and seen our sons grown up to honorable manhood, around us. Ballou is ambitious, telling his wife that he desires a promotion. A horse soldier waded into the stream and recovered two shirts, one a silk and the other a striped calico, both buttoned at the collar and unbuttoned at the sleeves.

‘O Sarah!’ Did Sullivan Ballou’s Famed Letter Come From Another’s Pen?

The crumbling one, not the one you walk over. The actual truth in the case may never be known, as it is possible that those interviewed by the government simply stated what they thought would keep them out of trouble. The memories of the blissful moments I have spent with you come creeping over me, and I feel most gratified to God and to you that I have enjoyed them so long. I cannot describe to you my feelings on this calm summer night, when two thousand men are sleeping around me, many of them enjoying the last, perhaps, before that of death — and I, suspicious that Death is creeping behind me with his fatal dart, am communing with God, my country, and thee. Sarah do not mourn me dead; think I am gone and wait for thee, for we shall meet again … More Information: Sullivan Ballou was killed a week later at the First Battle of Bull Run, July 21, 1861. As for the article, I know that such research has to be done and sometimes it's a shame, as with the Lydia Bixby letter which a Lincoln may not have written, b most of Bixby's sons survived the war as at least one of them had deserted and another was a prisoner of war at the time the letter was written and c at least one women she knew claimed Bixby did not have 5 sons and d Bixby was apparently a Southern sympathizer and e she burned the letter. With the identity of the beheaded body now in question, the anxious group rushed back to the gravesite.