8
August 1861. From Mary.
Dear Tom,
I take my pen in hand this morning to write to you a few lines, as the mail stage will
come soon.
We are well at present but hear that you are laid up in the Staunton hospital with
measles¹. We finally learned about it from letters Sam wrote home. Not one letter came
from you for about three weeks, and we were sick with worry. I forced myself to
search the newspaper casualty list after Manassas, while my hands trembled so I
could barely read the type.
What a relief not to find you there! But then your name was never mentioned in any
letter that came to the neighborhood, and it was not until day before yesterday we got
the news. Ma was especially uneasy. You know she always expects the unspeakable. I
suppose you thought it best not to let us know, but please promise never to do that
again. Truth is always better than uncertainty². But enough of the measles—I hope that
you’re soon finished with them for good. I reckon when Tish had them, and Ma and Pa
expected us to come down with them next, you never dreamed that you’d catch them
as a soldier. Ma says if your eyes are sore from the measles and it impedes³ writing,
send a message home by someone else.
Shortly after, she shared the most grievous news.
Tom, the very worst things are happening to folks around here. It seems like every
day someone in the neighborhood takes sick and dies. The Roysters’ little Tilly,
Robert, Edward, and Sam were all four taken by the pox last week. Ma called on Mrs.
Royster to offer solace⁴ for the death of her four little ones, then came home and wept
for hours. The substitute minister at New Jerusalem says he has never preached as
many final services for children and old folks, at least two a week. He says he thinks
as many perish at home as on the battlefield. There are so many new tombstones in the
graveyard⁵, Mr. Bailey, the stonecutter, says he can hardly keep up with demand.
And do you remember Mrs. Whidbey? Both her baby boy and husband died shortly
after she returned from Frystown, where she nursed her youngest sister Polly

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