ALS
4 pp.
October 21, 1862
Letter from Charles N. Tenney to Adelaide E. Case
Charles has been feeling down but expresses a resolve to cheer up with the help
of "an hours conversation with my treasure", taking Addie's portrait as
surrogate interlocutor. One great source of sadness is Charles's family's,
especially his father's, apparent indifference to Charles's military service:
"no wishes for my success--no hopes for my return, but a cold shoulder, a cool
'no difference.'" Charles has been left behind as his regiment decamped--he is
under physician's orders to rest in order to overcome an unspecified ailment.
The regiment has moved to Hillsborough, and Charles suspects that McClellan
intends to hinder the enemy's movements in that area. After remembering a love
of Byron's poetry that he shares with Adelaide, he shifts his thoughts to
politics, rejoicing that "Vallandigheim" lost the recent election and regretting
the political maneuverings at the War Department that have hindered the Union's
war efforts. He then invites Adelaide to a word-tour of two hospitals where his
injured comrades receive treatment. Charles concludes by asking Adelaide to
dream of him, and to write often.
