Letter from William Henry Seward to Frances Miller Seward, May 8, 1864
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Letter from William Henry Seward to Frances Miller Seward, May 8,
1864
transcriber
Transcriber:spp:sss
student editorTranscriber:spp:crb
Distributor:Seward Family Digital Archive
Institution:University of Rochester
Repository:Rare Books and Special Collections
Date:1864-05-08
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Letter from William Henry Seward to Frances Miller Seward, May 8, 1864
action: sent
sender: William Seward
Birth: 1801-05-16
Death: 1872-10-10
location: Washington D.C., US
receiver: Frances Seward
Birth: 1805-09-24
Death: 1865-06-21
location: Auburn, NY
transcription: sss
revision: obm 2016-09-07
<>
Page 1
Washington Sunday May 8, ‘64
My dearest Frances,
I trust that you
arrived at home safely last night, and
found Lazette
Birth: 1803-11-01 Death: 1875-10-03
improving.Willie
Birth: 1839-06-18 Death: 1920-04-29
bounded in upon uson Friday night at nine o’clock saying
that he had come up to change the
location of some portion of his errand.
He said that he was told that the change
was an account that the regiment was to
be immediately sent to the front. But now
Stanton
Birth: 1814-12-19 Death: 1869-12-24
does not seem to know of anysuch design. Willie said that Jenny
Birth: 1839-11-18 Death: 1913-11-09
and Cornelia
Birth: 1862-09-11 Death: 1921-10-05
are well.The tone and temper of the people a-
round us here undergoes a change since you
left. The campaign fills the country with
hopes and fears, and every man prophesies
confidently victories and defeats just ac-
cording to his own mental conditions.
They all wonder that I have no opinion to
give upon the probable success or failure
of the armies. Very likely that before the
sun sets to day we shall have [ disprate ]
Alternate Text
advice. But there is so much confusion
in the newspaper reports that I may not
imperfectally tell you just what we know
here at 10 o’clock to day, We were
two days fighting in front (Thursday and
Friday, very severe. Our wounded 10,000
The number of killed not mentioned. Now
every one believed to be retreating yesterday
morning at 11 o’clock. General Butler
Birth: 1818-11-05 Death: 1893-01-11
has landed a large force above City
Point within thirty miles of Richmond.
General Sherman
Birth: 1820-02-08 Death: 1891-02-14
is so far moving
successfullyagainst the enemy in Georgia.
In foreign affairs this is worthy news. If
the campaign should prove tolerably success-
ful we shall have quiet so far as our
affairs are concerned abroad.
N
Unknown
is generally assured but with deep
regretthat Major General Banks
Birth: 1816-01-30 Death: 1894-09-01
operates
as atleast a failure. N. is feared that things
may prove to have resulted in disaster.
Nothing has ben received directly from him.
The weather here is very hot. Summer
has set in upon us all at once
We have received a present from
Mr Sanford
Birth: 1823-06-15 Death: 1891-05-21Certainty: Probable
two very fine
oilpaintings, the one large seven feet by five
the other a natural colorful landscape. They
are damaged but repairable.
Mr. Blatchford
Birth: 1820-03-09 Death: 1893-07-07
() arrived lastnight. He stays with Mr
Unknown
. He reports Mr Weed
Birth: 1797-11-15 Death: 1882-11-22
as very melancholyand gloomy. It is a strange turn of words for
one who has all his life been so active
We have been looking at a home for the
summer. But after all our own here is
so shaded and pleasant that I do not
know that we should gain much by a change.