Editor’s Note: This article was provided by John Hennessy and transcribed by Jackie Martin.
A Soldier’s Letter.
The following is from the editor of a republican paper, published in Wyoming Co., Northern Pennsylvania, who has discovered “there is too much nigger in the administration.” The letter was dated near Petersburg, July 8th, 1864:—
Dear Wife:—A great many want to know, I suppose, how the last battle went. My answer is, invariably, that we have had but one, and that commenced on the 5th of May last. The soldiers all console themselves with the belief that this season will end the war, and I believe so myself. If we can’t whip them by fall we never can. The soldiers will stand it no longer. They will go for a new administration. In fact, I have changed my views considerable from what they were when I left home. There is too much nigger in the present administration, and too many lies published in newspapers. I find if I want to approximate anywhere near the truth, I have to take it from democratic papers.
Inclosed you will find a silver dollar, (if it ever reaches you) which I send to the little “cherub,” and one which I prize quite highly for two reasons; one is, because they are scarce, and the other is because it is a relic from the battle-field near Petersburg, and was once the property of some Reb. I picked it up shortly after the battle.
H. A. TIFFANY.1
Source:
- “A Soldier’s Letter.” Daily Eastern Argus (Portland, ME). August 31, 1864, p. ? col. ? ↩