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                                Rectory 3 Aug. 1863  Monday

                                              

      My beloved wife,

                      On Friday evening in Danville I recd.     

your last letter not more than two hours after I had written

to Bob, supposing that you would have departed for Staunton

before a letter could reach you.  It was too late to write

then by mail & I had therefore to put it off until

I came here.  I came over on Saturday morning & shall

return to Danville tomorrow, thence  next day, by way of

Junction, up thro' Bedford to Wytheville & back.  Whether

I shall be back in Danville before you reach there I

cannot now say.   I have very little time now to

write & therefore will at once give my idea of your route

here.  You had better certainly [underlined] (unless you accidentally [underlined]

find a conveyance from Lynchburg here, or can get one

for $40. ^[or $45 at most] which I don't expect)  go  from Lynchburg to

Burkville (the Junction)  and come from there up the rail road

to Danville thence by stage here. The cars leave Lynchbg  to

Burkville at about  4. ocl. in afternoon, arrive at Burk-

-ville at midnight, where you will stay until sometime next day


[2]

when the cars will pass by for Danville.  I don't know when the canal

boat will reach Lynchburg, but you had better leave there [crossed out] ^Lynchburg on a Tuesday [underlined]

or Thursday  [underlined] aftn   (not Saturday ["not Saturday" underlined],  because that would keep you at

Burkville all day Sunday).  Leaving Lynchburg on a Tuesday [underlined] or

Thursday [underlined], you will get to Danville on Wednesday [underlined] or Friday [underlined] even-

-ing, where you will take the stage on a Thursday [underlined] or Saturday [underlined]

morning- or perhaps some time in the night-(the stage from Danville

here runs only 3 times a week).  You had better make your calcu-

-lation and write  at once to Mr. Wilmer that he may speak

here [underlined] for seats for you & Bob from [underlined] Danville on a certain Thursday [underlined]

or Saturday [underlined].   Bob can pay for the seats when you get to Danville.

[Start underline] Recollect that Bob must get some certificate from Gen, Smith

to keep with him until he gets back to Lexington, to avoid possible

delay by enrolling officers. [End underline]   In my letter to Bob I sent a request to

Gen. Smith for permission to come with you about the end [underlined] of August:

I presume that on your recommendation Gen.  S.  will easily consider

the request good for an earlier date.  Why did Miss Lizzie Nelson

come all the way from the South?  Could she not have staid there?

I am compelled [underlined] to request you not [underlined] to remit your usual exuberant

kindness to induce  you to ask here to spend any time with you.  I cannot help it

but I cannot [underlined]- cannot [underlined]- undergo the least care now of any beyond my

own-circumstances force me to be selfish.  My mind is as much strained

as I have ever had it, and I cannot support an additional bother.  Poor Mrs.

John Gilmer has lost her brother  Col. Tazewell Patton,  who died in hospital near

Baltimore.  Nothing more heard, as yet, from others of your friends about here.