A Love Letter

Sullivan Bellue Major 2nd Rhode Island Volunteers to his wife Sarah in Smithfield.

Washington DC July 14, 1861


Dear Sarah,

The indications are very strong that we shall move in a few days, perhaps tomorrow, and lest I should not be able to write you again, I feel impelled to write a few lines that may fall under your eye when I am no more.  I have no misgivings about or lack of confidence in the cause in which I am engaged and my courage does not halt or falter.  I know how American civilization now leans upon the triumph of the government and how great a debt we owe to those who went before us through the blood and suffering of the revolution - and I am willing, perfectly willing, to lay down all my joys in this life to help maintain this government, and to pay that debt.

Sarah, my love for you is deathless.  It seems to bind me with mighty cables that nothing but omnipotence can break, and yet my love of country comes over me like a strong wind and bears me irresistibly with all those chains to the battlefield. The memory of all the blissful moments I have enjoyed with you come crowding over me, and I feel most deeply grateful to God and you that I have enjoyed them for so long.  And how hard it is for me to give them up and burn to ashes the hopes and future years when God willing we might still have lived and loved together, and see our boys grown up to honourable manhood around us!

If I do not return, my dear Sarah, never forget how much I loved you for that when my last breathe escapes me on the battlefield, it will whisper your name.  Forgive my many faults and the many pains I have caused you.  How thoughtless, how foolish I have sometimes been!  But oh Sarah, if the dead can come back to this earth and flit unseen around those they loved, I shall always be with you in the brightest day and the darkest night, always.  Always.  And when the soft breeze fans your cheek, it shall be my breath, or the cool air your throbbing temple, it shall be my spirit passing by.

Sarah, do not morn me dead.  Think I am gone, and wait for me, for we shall meet again.




(transcribed from Ken Burns: The Civil War Ep.1.  Sullivan Bellue was killed at the 1st Battle of Bull Run - one week after writing this letter.)