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15 September 1862
Powell Papers – 65 P875, Box III, Folder 2
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Richmond Sep 15/62
My dear darling daughter
In my last letter I sent you what
I considered the most reliable intelligence from our dear Char
ley. It was such as to lead us to hope that God had mani
fested his goodness to us, in preserving our dear boy through
the perils of the battlefield. I had indeed heard a ru
mour which laid a heavy weight upon my spirits, although
I did not fully credit it, that our dear boy had done
all he could for his country & obtained his discharge
to heaven. The intelligence contradicting it seems
however so much more to be relied upon that it had al-
most ceased to disturb me. That you might not be elated by
too confident hopes, I reminded you of the dan
gers of the service in which he was engaged, the
uncertainty of intelligence from the battlefield &
the vicissitudes of war. My dear darling daughter is
Gods mercy less because it comes to us not in
the form in which we with our imperfect com
prehension would desire it to come? Shall we not
lay our judgement in meek subjection to his Infi
nite wisdom & submit our blind mistaken wish
es to His Holy Will in all things? Shall we doubt
the love which is so abundantly exhibited in
the operation of his Providence & the dispen
tions of his Grace? Oh no let us in his strength
for which we fervently pray say in all sinceri
ty "His Will be done" & recognizing his love in our
[2]
chastisement feel "It is best for him. It is best
for us all." God only knows the full extent of
the evil to come from which he has been saved
in his quick passage from the storm of the
battlefield to the peace of Heaven – He had
none of the burning thirst, the protracted agony
of a mortal wound. He has been saved from
the hot exhausting march, perhaps from the
racking pains of wasting disease which
might have awaited him in the distant
Hospital of what is to us a foreign land
Is it not best for us? If we rightly recognize God's
loving purpose in this our affliction, while they
can not come to us, we shall be helped on
our way to a blessed reunion with our loved
ones in Heaven. We shall no longer await with
such torturing anxiety the news from the bat
tle field. No after humiliation no further sub
jection to sin can sully the bright memories of our
patriot hero boys. And now my darling daughter
while you must give to our dear Charley the tribute of
grief which is due to him let it be for your Father
your Mother & sisters sake a regulated subdued
not an ingenuous grief. I have had a painful
apprehension that separated you ___ from the
rest. You would allow this affliction to rest too hea
vily upon you. Give me the solace when you write
to me of the appearance that is is not so – I can have no greater com
fort than to know that you bear your sorrow with
Christian hope & fortitude. Let us emulate the Exam
ples of our heroic boys by bearing bravely the sorrows which
this war in defense of our country has laid upon us.
I should like to be by your side & kiss your tears away. I
am not well & think of seeking recovery by a visit to you.
Is there any chance of my being able to exchange my profit
less & exhausting office for a school in an agreeable family
near to you. I sometimes wish I could do so. I send you a copy of
Captain Braxton's letter – God bless & sustain you my darling
let me hear from you soon – Yr devotedly loving Father
CLPowell