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Letter from Charles Powell (Richmond) to either Rebecca or Nina Powell (daughter)

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