.MTY1MQ.MjY4OA

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    Williamsburg,

        July 22 1861




    My Dear Sir
        I have this
moment received your kind letter.
This being the season of
[repose?] and [grief?] in general in
Williamsburg, is during the present
summer just the [reverse?] For few
of our citizens have left town on ac
count of the greater apparent security,
and every vacant house is now oc-
cupied by refugees from below.
And the influx of soldiers backwards
& forwards has been constant. Mrs Gabriel
[Williamson?] has left town, as is usual
with her at this period of the year;

I hear however that it is doubtful whether
she will return again. Cousin Sarah
Saunders will, she thinks, join her
mother in Florida. She is now however
staying with us. Mary [Copland?], a
young lady from Richmond, and
a relative, is also with us. They and
Sally are well, as is also the case
with Gabriella Galt. The [Rests?] are
in their usual health and condition.
Dr. Williamson & family are well. He
is a most ardent recessionist, and
should there be any fighting in the
neighbourhood [sic], he will certainly engage
in it.
    Not having taken any part in this
war, in a military way, I can perhaps
[speak?] in a tone less influenced by prejudice,
as to the conflict at Bethel--It was
a most decided victory. Apart from
the published accounts, and various oral
statements, I may mention that there was

an officer by the name of Stewart, also
spent a night or two with us immediately
before the affair, and commanding
a portion of the Richmond troops at
Bethel, immediately returned to Williamsburg
and again staid with us--he is a nephew
of the well-known politician of this state
[A.?] [H.?] [H.?] Stewart. From his simple state-
ment on the subject, I inferred that the
enemy's force was four or five times
as numerous as ours, the entrenchment was
only a slight affair, having been [first?] day,
we had very few guns--and yet the
Yankees fled in the greatest disorder,[losing?]
very largely, whilst but one of our men
was killed.
    Even before this affair, it was
a remark made that the troops also
passed through williamsburg seemed to
look upon their antagonists, as though they
could be as easily vanquished as though they
were children. In speaking to one of a cavalry

troop, I spoke of the great inequality of
numbers at Bethel, when he observed "[well?]
that is the exact proportion, four of the
Yankees being equal to but one of our soldiers."
    Since the occurrences engagement at
Bethel, the enemy has been very quiet
on this peninsula. Our forces are strongly
entrenched at York, and also a mile
and a half below them. The [?] at Jamestown is [also?] [?] [?]
& not [reflect?] [?] to [?] [?] [then?] York [?], [?] to
the Grove & other points on the river were
burnt by our side, to obstruct the enemy
if they attempted to land.
    The College is used as
a hospital, and so also is the Academy,
which is erected at the other end of
the town, on the site of the old Capital.
The Churches and other public buildings
are occupied by troops, either sick or
well. For two months, the [suburbs?] just beyond
the [illegible?] Asylum, were occupied by wooden huts, an
encampment where the troops nightly drilled &c
[being so constituted?] [illegible sentence inserted here] Please remember Sally & myself
to [Virginia?], Cousin [Mary?], the Galts, & our relatives ge-
nerally, and believe me yours very truly & respectfully,
J. M. Galt