Letter from Walter Reed to Emilie B. Lawrence, June 11, 1875 printer-friendly version |
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Harrisonburg, Va,
June 11th, 75.
My darling Emilie:
Mrs. Vaughan & I
arrived safely, last evening, after a
pleasant journey. I would have
written to you, last night, but re-
ally, my darling, I was so exhaus-
ted & sleepy that I [was obliged to] postpone d it
till this morning, and now, much
to my surprise, I find that the
mail leaves very early, thus ab-
reviating my letter very consid-
erably- I did not find the letter
that I had expected to find at the
Portsmouth P.O., & hence was
a little disappointed- I left word
with my brother to forward any
letters that might come for me,
and expect to get yours in a very
few days- Did you receive the one
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I wrote from Churchland last Sun-
day? I sent it to the office by the
Rev. Mr Rowe, & gave him very care-
ful orders about mailing it-
still, my past post experience
makes me very solicitous. As I promised, I wrote to Dr Hoff
& received a reply, last Tuesday,
which I enclose- Please r destroy
it after reading, or else, return
it to me when you next write.
You will see from his letter that
there is no fixed rule as to leave
of absence. He states that the
rule is that a Surgeon shall re-
main at a station for a period
of either 3 or 4 years, according to
the Department he may be as-
signed to. Whether he shall be
granted a leave, during this time,
depends entirely upon the incli-
nation of the Surgeon General.
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Now, my darling, I regret exceedingly
that I cannot give you more def-
inite information, and I am sorry,
beyond measure, that I did not know
this much when I was in Murfrees-
boro. Do you attach any blame to me?
God knows I love you well enough
to submit to anything you may
say, but, by the love you bear me,
do not cast any blame on me, for
I am innocent of the remotest
thought of deception. As soon as
you receive this, write to me, at
once, & unburden your mind
freely on this subject- I cannot
rest contented till I know your
full opinion. Ma sends much love & desires
that I should tell you that she
considers your neglect of her
as inexplicable; in other words,
she is very anxious to hear from
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you. Please excuse my scribbling,
as I have written in the great-
est haste. Believe me, darling,
as ever,
Your devoted
Walter.
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