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[1]


[Marginalia – Handwritten at top of newspaper article]

send you this because
[?] [?] [good?] letter [M S W?]

COMMUNICATIONS.

FROM THE CENTRAL PRESBYTERIAN

A Son of Consolation

Dear Brother Brown – The following
letter from one of the officers of our army
to his family breathes such a noble Christian
spirit and expresses views so just and so
[...?] of consolation in these times of trial,
that I felt unwilling to have its influence
confined to the little circle for whom it was
intended, while there are so many wives,
mothers, sisters and children who in the ab-
sence of their loved ones need just such
[.?..]ering words.  It was written, you will
see just after the fall of Fort Donelson,
and has only just come into my hands.  Its
words are as timely however now as then.
A PASTOR.

Camp -------, Feb. 20th 1862.
My beloved wife, - I know you are fill
[with?] gloom and dismay at the sad intelli-
intelligence from Fort Donelson.  My heart is
filled with deep sympathy for you all, and
I write mainly to tell you how it yearns over
[?] all in your troubles, surrounded as you
are by others whose fears and despondency
[only?] help to magnify your own.  I wish I
could be with you to do what I could to sus-
[tain?] [your?] [?] strength.  Yet as this
is not be, I must do what I can by writing.
[...ed?] not cloak the truth.  The news is cer-
tainly sad enough in itself.  But I see in it
[...h?] to inspire hope, and to stimulate us all
[?] determination that we will cheerfully
do all that God calls us to do, and patiently
[...r?] all that he deems it best we should
[...r?].  It is now manifest that our country’s
independence cannot be won without such
determination on the part of all her sons
and daughters.  The ordeal may be hard
enough to pass through, but I have confi-
dence in God’s power, and willingness to
[?] our people all the needed grace. Be-
[...ese?] defeated it was very clear that our
[...e?] did not realize their real condition.
[Our?] soldiers in the field were too anxious
[?] home, and those at home were too
[...ing?] to leave it.  This hesitation and
[...ardness?] about engaging in our future
[...gles?] were becoming the worst phase
[of our?] national condition.  Each man was in-
[...g?] the fond hope that he might be
[?], and this his neighbor might be the
[one to?] go.  These reverses were needed to
[?] these delusions.  They will, as you
[...on?] see, accomplish this result.  A
[?] army organized upon the only proper
[?] will at once be put in the field, and
sooner or later drive back the insolent
[...s?] of our homes.  You may say that
[?] all in the future, and my never be,
[?], but such is not my faith.  God will
answer prayers.  He will help those who
help themselves.  It is clear that we will
[?], if we are resolved to be free.  Let
[?] nerve our souls.  Let us put our con-
[?] in God, and do the only thing that
[...y?] our confidence to be sincere – let
[...r?] duty.

[You?] may ask, “But, dear husband, what
duty?  What can this household of
women,, and still feebler children do?”?
[?] this, to which you are clearly call-
[ing?] can bear your burdens cheerfully,
[?] hopefully leaning trustfully on
[?] gives grace and strength and peace.
[...ghs?] be hushed.  Banish all fears.
[...uer?] hold on Jesus.  Breath in [t...?]
[?] of his Spirit.  Glory in his [...?]
[...ng?] fellowship.  [Cea...?]
[?] against yourself [...?]


[..........................................]
jot or little of his awful law that has not
been fulfilled in your behalf, by the Lamb
of God?  If not, then boldly take the flow-
ing cup of salvation and rejoice that it is
your’s to drink as fully as your broken heart
can need or desire.  Sing the proud song of
the prophet, so often quoted by our pastor,
“Although the fig tree shall not blossom,
nor fruit be in the vines; the labor of the
olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no
meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold,
and there shall be no herd in the stalls; yet
will I rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the
God of my salvation.”?  Do this and though
just before, like that prophet you may have
trembled and your lips quivered, and yon
bones have been filled with rottenness, now,
like him, you will say, “the Lord God is
my strength, and he will make my feet like
hind’s feet, and he will make me to walk
upon mine high places.”?  Oh, my precious
wife, oh, my dearest mother, sisters all, and
blessed children, how unspeakable is the
peace that God giveth to his adopted and
redeemed ones! Why go we mourning all
our days?  May we not take all there is in
God our Father, Jesus Christ the Prophet,
Priest and King of his people, and in the
Holy Ghost, ordained to comfort, to succor
and to sanctify us?  With all this in us, and
on our side, we have cause for joy which no
disasters can interrupt or destroy.  For my
part, only let the prayers I have offered,
and that so many have kindly offered for
me be answered, that grace may be minis-
tered to help me and to make [italicized ] me do my
duty, and I will fear no evil.  I thank God
that he did not permit me to heed the ad-
vice of those who thought it needless for me
to enter the army.  I am glad to be here,
and will gladly go wherever my country may
call me to go.  I will face all dangers. –
even die, to secure that dear country from
the evils of subjugation.  But I rejoice still
more that in my weakness, I may lay hold
on Almighty strength, and in my gloomiest
hours may look up to God as my Father –
to Heaven as my rest, my home, my endur-
ing position.  How blessed too, the reflec-
tion that wife, mother, sisters and all nearest
to me are partakers of the same glorious
hope, sharers in the same salvation, and all
wending their way to the same peaceful and
joyous abode.   God has given us all we have.
He calls us to suffer and to struggle, that
we may keep a part of his gifts.  It is our
duty therefore to suffer willingly, and to
struggle bravely.  Let us do so the more
willingly, the more bravely, since for what
is dearer, more precious than all else, Jesus
has suffered and struggled with a willing-
ness and courage which were designed to
be our example and pattern.  May God
bless you all, and minister to your souls
such consolations, and fill you with such peace
and such joy, as will make you always peace-
ful and happy! May Jesus the loving, ten-
der hearted sympathizer, dwell in you richly
by his Spirit, and hold constant intercourse
with your souls.

Since writing the above I have received
yours and I see that my fears as to your
despondency are realized, and that every
bosom in my dearest home is filled with ap-
prehensions and alarms. . . . But, dear-
est, you are indulging needless fears. . . .
You will soon see the beneficial results of
these disasters.  You will see the public
mind, heretofore wrapped in false security,
arousing to a sense of our danger, and to
the importance of doing our duty.  This was
most needed.  How could that end have been
secured otherwise than as God has seen fit


to secure it?  The North may have superior
numbers, but then we have numbers suffi-
cient – abundant to secure our deliverance
and independence, God helping us. He will
help us, He is chastening us now and most
mercifully leading us by the best way.  So
don’t be alarmed.  Look to Him, who is our
rock and strong tower.  Let not your heart
be troubled.  You believe in God; believe
also in the blessed Jesus, his Son, and our
Saviour.  He is King.  He will rule wisely.
He rules for our good. . . .

All of our mess take the same views of
the Tennessee disaster, that I do, and are
all in good spirits.  I beg you will not believe
my favorable views conjured up for your
special benefit.  Such is not the fact.  I have
written you an unfeigned expression of my
heart’s deepest convictions. . . .
Your own loving husband.




[2]

CENTRAL
13  RICHMOND, VA.,

Hark!  ten thousand harps and voices.
Just as I am – without one plea.
O, happy day that fixed my choice.
My faith looks up to Thee.
Awake, my soul, stretch every nerve.
My times are in thy hands.
A charge to keep I have.
Around the throne of God in heaven.


FOR THE CENTRAL PRESBYTERIAN.


Read this [handwritten]

Conflicting Prayers

Quite recently I was conversing on the
state of the country with an aged disciple,
whose piety is unquestionable, and beyond
that degree to which most have attained of
whom I know anything personally.

She had read the papers, that a day
of fasting and prayer had been observed in
the North, for the purpose of supplicating
the blessing of God [‘blessing of God’ italicized] upon the armies pre-
paring to march against us.

Though she had been an “original se-
essionist,”? yet said she, “I have charity
enough to believe there are as pious people
in the North as any we have amongst us,
and whose faith, tears, and prayers may
be just as acceptable to God as ours, for He
is no respecter of [p...ous?].  There is noth-
ing that has occurred in the war which dis-
turbs and perplexes me more than this op-
position [‘opposition’ italicized] of prayers and supplications be-
tween the truly pious North and South.”?

For the benefit of this Christian lady,
and others who may be perplexed as she is,
I wish to print a few thoughts suggested
by her difficulty.  In reaching a proper
conclusion, I think we ought not to compare
the character [italicized] of the persons who pray for
the Northern or Southern armies, and lay
much stress upon the contrast, even if it
would be in our favor.

The true solution of the difficulty, I ap-
prehend, is found in the facts [italicized] which set forth
the relative position of the parties who pray.
They are these.  The Southern people, af-
ter many years of patient endurance, al-
most inconsistent with self-respect, felt that
the relationship existing between them and
the North was burdensome, and would be
inevitably injurious to a very serious de-
gree.  They were satisfied by the best of
reasons that a peaceable and constitutional
method of sundering this relationship, was
in their power, by right.  In withdrawing,
no malicious desire was cherished to injure
the North, no measures were used positive-
ly injurious, nothing was done, but what
was regarded essentially needful to self-
preservation.  But notwithstanding every-
think done, consistent with justice and
honor, to have the separation effected in a
peaceable way, all was unavailing.  The
Federal Congress voted down compromise
-a general convention of all the States
was virtually defeated – and while Virginia
was holding forth the olive branch, her
overtures of peace were indignantly spurn-
ed, and she was peremptorily ordered to
draw the sword against her sister States.
Our offence then was a desire to be separa-
ted from those with whom we could not live
in peace, and fraternal harmony, and to
have a government whose interests would
be identified with our own, to have rulers
set over use, whose popularity would be in
proportion to their love for us, and not in
[     ?     ] to their hatred and abuse of us,
[         ?              ] relations.  For this of-
[          ?         ] strength of the North has
[             ?          ] our subjugation: our

homes are to be desecrated, property con-
fiscated to pay the Federal debt, and our
States reduced to territorial bondage.

These are the simple facts; and in view
of them we can see for what each party
prays.  Northern Christians appeal to God
for aid to crush and oppress a people strug-
gling for their rights; while Southern
Christians appeal to him for deliverance
from invasion, and the oppression now pre=
pared for us.  Kneeling as Southern Chris-
tians do, beneath their own vine and fig
tree, praying for the defence of their homes
and families, they can ask, and most reason-
ably expect the aid of their Heavenly
Father   P.T. W.

“I Could not Go Without Jesus.”?

Captain Richardson, of the Sailors’ Home,
was recently speaking of a pious sailor, one
of their boarders, who spends much time in
trying to do good to his brother seamen in
their boarding-houses and other places.
One morning he noticed him coming out of
his room, and going forth into the streets.
Shortly after he returned to his chamber;
and after remaining there some time, he
again came down to go out.  Capt. Rich-
ardson, having observed something peculiar
in his manner, inquired after the reason of
his movements.  He replied, “After I got
out I found Jesus was not with me; I could
not go without Jesus; so I went back to my
closet to find him.  Now he is with me, and
I can go.”?  How simple and beautiful the
lesson!  How important the truth contained
in the Christian philosophy of this humble
sailor.

Christian preacher!  Do you feel that Je-
sus is with you when you issue from you
study to enter the pulpit, or to visit your
parishioners at their homes? If not, do you
feel that you cannot go without him?
“Without me ye can do nothing.”?
“If thy presence go not with me, carry
[?]s not up hence.”?

Sabbath school teacher!  How is it with
you when you go to meet your class?  Is it
ever said after such meetings with them, or
with each other, “Did not our heart burn
within us while he talked with us by the
way, and while he opened to us the Scrip-
tures?”?

Oh for more of this child-like faith in
Jesus!  The church may yet again learn
much from pious sailors, as from the fisher=
men of Galilee of old.

HOW CURED A BAD HABIT. – We once
knew a good man who lived more than three
miles from the house of God, and was often
tempted by the “signs of the sky,”? to stay
at home with his family on the Sabbath; he
sometimes yielded to the temptation, not
without an occasional twinge of conscience,
at length the resolved that he would never
absent himself from God’s house on account
of the weather, unless it was so bad as to
prevent his going to the village where it
stood, for the addition of a dollar to his
purse.  “Never,”? said he, toward the close
of his life – “never, after making this reso-
lution, did any Sabbath occur so hot or so
cold, so windy or stormy, that I could not
attend, with my brethren, the public wor-
ship of God.”?  This man lived to be eighty
years of age, had a family of thirteen sons
and daughters, all of them as regular at-
tendants as himself at the village church;
two of them became ministers of the Gos-
pel; all of them gave themselves to the Lord
in their early days; and their descendants


[3]

Camp 6 miles from Richmond [Virginia]
May 27th 1862

My dear wife –

We are still at the same place from which I sent
my last letter (yesterday) To give you some idea of how things are
managed I will tell how our Brigade has spent the last few days.
Saturday in the rain we were ordered to keep in readiness to march at
a moments notice – We buckled on our [acc...?] & were
drawn out in line & remained under arms an hours &
a half – in a hard rain – were then dismissed &
ordered to dry out & cook three days rations – Sunday
we were again drawn out, & marched some four
miles down the road then rested & drawn out in line
of battle through the woods, then comed back about
a mile & rested again then marched down the road
again then up to where [we now are?] [and then ...?]
in line of battle across the woods again & ordered
to be ready at a moments notice – after a short time
we were culled out & advised to go to sleep early as we
would have to march tomorrow (this) morning at light.
This morning it was raining hard yet they waked us up
at 3 o.c[lock], & drew us out in [line?] as if to march.
Were kept standing for two or three hours & then marched
down the road a mile through the mud – then ordered
back  back [struck-through] to our present place – which is the out-
skirts of a large marsh, with mud & water all around
& about us.  In the mean time we have no tents – but
manage to sleep dry & warm by such devices & in-
vention as we never dreamed of before.  Our boys

[Marginalia at top of letter]

I neglected to send the letter which I spoke of in my last –
I send it now – tell the girls to [write?], but I cant promise
an ans[w]er until I become more settled – I have letters from
Millie & William [Scott?] to Doc on the same subject, have opened
them both – wouldn’t M. like to see them.


[Postmarked envelope]

Mrs. Nannie V. Watkins
Care Jos[eph] B. Daniel
Townesville
N[orth] C[arolina]

send by Sass[afras] Fork [North Carolina] mail


[4]

have so far kept well & stood it well – and we four
who still remain manage by doubling blankets to sleep com-
fortably every night.  I think it is more healthy than in crowded
tents.  There will be some hard fighting around Richmond,
but I think from all I can learn the lightest fighting
will be on the road on which we are stationed.  The
enemy seem to be making greater effort s on the turn-
pikes & railroads – we are stationed on a country
road which is too bad for them to bring up their ar-
         (May 28th Wednesday)
tillery without risk ^ Col[onel] Goode sent an order for
three of our artillery company to join him in Rich-
mond yesterday, but as it was addressed to our Capt[ain],
instead of to Gen[eral] [Robert Emmett] Rodes, the Gen[eral] refused to let us
go.  We still hope the change will soon be made.
We are now forced to do our own cooking as we left
King in the old camp to take care of our things.  We
make the dough up & roll it in long rolls & wrap it
around our ramrods & hold it to the fire until it is
done. – it makes rather better bread than Henry did – though
after to-day we will be fed on [ship?]-cockery which I
like very much, & then we will not be compelled to cook.

Give my love to all – and especially to the negroes – tell them
to try and do what they know to be right & they will
certainly get on well – tell Smiley his letter gave me
more information about my farm than any I have
gotten & he must write again. Oh, Darling, if I could
but make you a short visit, if it was only for a day,
or a few hours, I feel though that I can trust you all
to God & that he will again bring us together to be happy
again, if he sees that it is best for us.  Kiss the chil-
dren for me.  Your devoted husband N[athaniel] V. W[atkins]


[Marginalia at top of page]

write as often as you can sending directly to C[larks]ville [North Carolina] or Townesville
when you can – You must expect short & hastily written letters
                                                    & time
now for a time as my facilities   for writing  are scarce –