Letter from William Henry Seward to Frances Miller Seward, June 30, 1863
Dublin Core
Title
Letter from William Henry Seward to Frances Miller Seward, June 30, 1863
Subject
Cushman, Charlotte Saunders, 1816-1876
Cushman, Emma Crow, 1839-1920
Political Affairs
Social Events--Travels
Description
Date
1863-06-30
Type
Reference
Letter Item Type Metadata
Text
My dearest Frances
It would not be wise for you to borrow much trouble from the military movements of the hour which even here are imperfectly understood and which must be infinitely unintelligible though to you through the cross lights of the Press. The enemy is Maryland and Pennsylvania – Our army is now in his front there. Probably there will be a battle. The enemy advance so far into our country shows a courage which ought to have sown grounds of confidence. We do not know what that ground is. On our side are advantages which seem sufficient to ensure success. We must wait for results – mean time the alarms and disturbances which are taking place around us here are of no significance. Many are founded by unscrupulous stragglers and sentry parties, who disappear as soon as they execute a party of the same sort sent out from our side. On Sunday we rode up to the Fort, found William with all his men at their guns, awaiting the assault of the rebels who had just seized the wagon train, Eight miles above the fort. Of course they didn’t come and by this time they had returned to their hiding places. Miss Cushman and her niece (Mrs. Cushman) are yet with us and I hope are enjoying their visit. The Cabinet and the military here are calm and undisturbed. We are hoping to hear of definite results in the West. Your own
Henry
It would not be wise for you to borrow much trouble from the military movements of the hour which even here are imperfectly understood and which must be infinitely unintelligible though to you through the cross lights of the Press. The enemy is Maryland and Pennsylvania – Our army is now in his front there. Probably there will be a battle. The enemy advance so far into our country shows a courage which ought to have sown grounds of confidence. We do not know what that ground is. On our side are advantages which seem sufficient to ensure success. We must wait for results – mean time the alarms and disturbances which are taking place around us here are of no significance. Many are founded by unscrupulous stragglers and sentry parties, who disappear as soon as they execute a party of the same sort sent out from our side. On Sunday we rode up to the Fort, found William with all his men at their guns, awaiting the assault of the rebels who had just seized the wagon train, Eight miles above the fort. Of course they didn’t come and by this time they had returned to their hiding places. Miss Cushman and her niece (Mrs. Cushman) are yet with us and I hope are enjoying their visit. The Cabinet and the military here are calm and undisturbed. We are hoping to hear of definite results in the West. Your own
Henry
Location
Washington DC, US
Geocode (Latitude)
38.8949855
Geocode (Longitude)
-77.0365708
Provenance
Seward Family Digital Archive, https://sewardproject.org/18631018FWS_FMS1
Social Bookmarking
Geolocation
Collection
Citation
“Letter from William Henry Seward to Frances Miller Seward, June 30, 1863,” Archival Gossip Collection, accessed July 3, 2024, https://archivalgossip.com/collection/items/show/479.