1861-2: Edgar R. Knapp to Temperance Society in Adrian, Michigan

The following lengthy letters were probably written by Edgar R. Knapp of Adrian, Michigan.

Randolph R. Knapp (Dale Niesen Collection)

Edgar was laboring as 27 year-old physician when he enlisted as a private in the 6th U. S. Cavalry with his younger brother, 20 year-old Randolph R. Knapp. Both Ed and Randolph are mentioned in the following letter though I believe Ed refers to himself in the third person. With his medical training and experience, Ed was later assigned to hospital steward duties in the 6th US Cavalry and later still, for many months at the hospital in Annapolis, Maryland, where he managed several wards.

There are at least forty letters by Edgar Knapp in the Special Collections at Virginia Tech that span the years 1862-1864 while he was working as a hospital steward at the U.S. military hospital in Annapolis, Maryland. These letters were purchased by the school in April 2002 with the following biographical note. “Lieutenant Edgar R. Knapp (b. 1834) of Adrian, Lenawee County, Michigan, was a steward at the United States military hospital in Annapolis, Maryland from 1862-1864. His brother H. Knapp was probably Henry Knapp (1813-1893), who is listed in the 1860 census as a doctor in Adrian, Lenawee County, Michigan. Randolph R. Knapp, whose death is the subject of some of the correspondence, was born in 1840 in Michigan.”

Letter 1

Early October 1861
Camp near Bladensburg

Presiding Templars,

Sisters & Brothers, I now find much time to write letters and according to promise I think the time has come to write a letter to you. Well, could I be there to talk to you, I would give you a better idea of matters than you could possibly have by reading my letter, but as this is the only medium by which we can communicate with each other at present we must be satisfied with it, and as I feel quite so, I will proceed to do the best I can to interest you a few minutes.

I will proceed to give you some idea of our trip and of camp life. Of course everyone enjoys traveling more or less and generally se a great many sights besides many sights they don’t see. I will saying nothing of our march from the recruiting office to the Depot or of leave taking of relatives and friends as you all know the particulars without me telling you. All I need say is that we went off in good spirits feeling that although we were looking upon many familiar faces for the last time, and hearing the kind and long to be remembered advice of near and dear friends, yet we were enlisted in a great and glorious cause—one in which our forefathers engaged with heart and soul, that [being] to create a government which should forever make their children and their children’s children a free and happy people, and we to preserve that government.

But as I said, we all started off in good spirits and nothing of note happened till we reached Oberlin. As soon as the cars stopped there, two little girls came to the window where I was looking out and wished me to tell the two soldiers who were in the next seat to look out, which I did of course, and as they put their heads out of the windows the little girls presented each of them with a pin cushion and said they are attending school or they would have made more of them. The boys thanked them for their kindness and promised to bring them a lock of secesh hair, provided there was no preventing Providence. Well, all this seemed very fine to the boys who received these presents but I must confess feeling very slighted in as much as I was just as much of a soldier as they were, and it was a mystery to me why they should choose those two boys and not me. But as I was dressed in citizens clothes and hat and the other boys had militia caps, of course I concluded the difference was in the caps and not the faces. Oh no! ’twas certainly not on account of looks.

We arrived in Cleveland all right and had an excellent supper and went to bed and all arose the next morning feeling first rate and had breakfast early and at 9 o’clock started on our way, rejoicing, not that we were glad we were leaving Cleveland or leaving home, but that we had been supplied with provisions enough in our haversacks to last a day or two and were not dependent on eating houses for our meals. The word haversack in our case means anything to carry provisions in and were not very uniform—[such as] newspapers, satchels, hand trunks, pockets, and your humble servant had his wrapped in his shawl. Having had all the baggage belonging to the company placed on a dray, our commanding officer sat me upon it and told me to take charge of it until we arrived in camp and thus piled up, we (baggage and I) left the New England Hotel for the Depot, while the men—poor fellows—were obliged to march down.

Nothing of note happened between there and Pittsburgh except that some of the boys became very spirited, and some little loud tales were heard but orders were given by the officer in charge of us to throw all bottles seen out the car windows & by practicing a little in that way everything soon went off smoother & nice. At Pittsburgh we changed cars and then slid along to Harrisburg where we should have arrived Friday night at 12 o’clock had not here been a collision which caused so much delay that we did not reach there until Saturday at 4 o’clock p.m. There we had a good supper and then marched back into the Depot where we had a guard posted and no man was allowed to leave without an officer went with him. I looked around the city some and then wrapped myself in my shawl and laid down on the soft side of a board and slept very comfortably until I got up which was probably half an hour after laying down. This I tried several times and as often found myself napping till at length I became reconciled to my fate [and] resigned myself to the care of Morphine (or Morpheus as some call it) in whose arms I was gently transported to the land of Nod where I was permitted to enjoy myself as best I could till three o’clock at which time I was reminded by one of the men on guard, by a slight tap on the head making me see stars, that it was time to start for Baltimore.

Well we started for Baltimore a little after three o’clock Sunday morning and before we got within 40 miles of there we found the railroad track guarded by soldiers all of whom seemed glad to see us. Between 8 and 9 a.m. we arrived in that great city of Plug Uglies and without a weapon except the revolver carried by our lieutenant, our company marched to the Washington Depot, a distance of about a mile without molestation. I followed them in about an hour alone (having attended to the baggage) and met many people—both white and black—going to church, and strange as it may seem, they looked so much like people I had seen before, I never once thought of being shot and marched along taking a good view of everything I passed, just as careless as I would have marched from the office up to the Social Temple Tuesday evening.

On arriving at the Depot, I found our company eating breakfast. I had mine at a hotel with our lieutenant and [his] wife, and a regiment of infantry on a train of freight cars ready to start for Washington and they soon started out and in a short time another regiment came marching up to the Depot and a large train was made up for the whole of us making in all about fifteen hundred men on the train and we left Baltimore about 1 o’clock. Baltimore being only about 40 miles from Washington, I took a seat on a platform car with the baggage and had a fine view of the country all the way. It was a fine Sabbath day. We saw many slaves dressed in their Sunday best. Sambo with his sweet potato Dinah would stand to the side of the road showing ivory by the quantity, and I tell you, they looked right nice, being dressed in the height of fashion. We passed many camps and the soldiers would rush to the side of the tracks and cheer us long and loud except where we found a camp of the regular Army. then we heard no noise, no cheering, or disorder among the men. Everything was perfect, orderly, and quiet.

On arriving at camp, I had orders from Lieutenant [Stephen Septimus] Balk to go into Washington with his wife and get her into good quarters, which order I did my best to obey, but found it rather a hard matter as most of the first class hotels were filled to overflowing. However, I found a place and stayed all night & the next day looked around the city some and got back to camp along two or three o’clock and found the boys had put up the tents and everything was in good order for housekeeping. I could give you many details but it would be better if you could come here and see the place for yourselves. Now, having given you a long and as it seems to me a rather dry account of our trip, I will do the best I can to give you an idea of camp life.

No doubt all of you have heard many interesting accounts of camp life, but one thing is certain, you have not all heard my account of it nor anybody’s account of our camp life, so a part at least will be new to you. In the first place, there are about 1200 men here encamped on the west bank of East Branch of the Potomac, all in tents. Each company has probably 20 to 30 tents about 7 x 9 [feet] actual measurement and four men in each tent; some contain five. Not it is quite a sight to stand on the hill to the west of camp and see so many tents arranged in such fine order and all looking so clean and neat (I say neat because they have to be kept so & are inspected every Sunday morning). But that is no sight at all compared with the one at night after dark when all the tents are lighted. then tis a splendid sight—three hundred tents lighted at one time seems quite like a village and I might say city judging from the business carried on.

Last night, for example, I went along our row of tents and looked in each one just to see what was going on (both inquisitive and impudent, wasn’t I? Just like me.), but I felt well paid for doing so. Commencing on the right, our blacksmith was just finishing up his day’s work. Each compay has a blacksmith…cleaning up the kitchens and fixing for breakfast. Our kitchen was constructed under the superintendence of your brother Randolph Knapp and is very much after the fashion of a country woodshed and is the best on the ground, being made by four crotches stuck in the ground with holes scrap and covered with boards for a roof and then two shelves around three sides with places for fire on 4th side. We leave the kitchen open on the sides to allow of free ventilation.

The first tent being the quartermaster sergeant’s, there was a little figuring going on looking up accounts to prevent the company getting cheated out of any of our rations and as we all eat our full allowance, I thought best to let them alone and went to the next tent [where I] found two of the boys writing letters, one reading, and one sewing. In the next there was about half a dozen playing Euchre. In the fourth [tent], I found a young man alone writing a letter to his sweetheart, I presume, and on enquiring where his companions were, said two had gone on errands to other tents and on eqnquiry, found his one to be Ed Kapp, an old acquaintance of mine from Adrian. In the next they were playing cards for money and swearing by note. I then proceeded more rapidly and found card playing in half of the tents, and in the other half there were some sewing, some reading, writing and talking and singing, and all seemed to be perfectly satisfied with their lot.

To give you the routine of each day’s business, it is as follows at present [but] will be different soon. The bugle sounds at sunrise for getting up which we do in double quick time, then in 10 minutes is reveille roll call which takes 15 or 20 minutes. Then we breakfast and get half a pint of hot coffee. By the time we drink that, the bugle sounds again and all fall in for drill and are kept at drill about half an hour, then dismissed till 8 o’clock. In the interval, we eat breakfast and black our boots and cover our [  ] brass fixings as Henry Ladd wore on his shoulder in Adrian, polish our sabres, revolvers, &c., straighten our jackets and brush our clothes. 1 Then at 8 we all fall in for dress parade which is about the same as dress parade in infantry, such as the 4th Regiment went through every evening while there. This takes nearly an hour and then we are dismissed till 10:15 when we have to drill an hour and then have our own time till 3:30 when we drill again from an hour to an hour and a half and then have supper at sunset, have retreat roll call, and then pass the time as we choose till 9 o’clock when we have reveille roll call and 9:15 is tattoo [when] every light in the privates’ tents must be out and no more loud talking. Thus the time passes away and I may say swiftly with me so far and very pleasantly.

Our fare is good, each man being allowed all he wants to eat. All are marched to the kitchen where each one receives his rations, which is half loaf of bread, piece of beef or bacon, rice with sugar on it, and from half to 1 pint of coffee. It would be quite a sight, to some of you at least, to see us after each meal down by the side of the river, each man with his tin cup, spoon, knife, and fork, washing and rinsing them before putting them in his tent. There are his dishes and he must keep them in good order. Saturday afternoon we do not drill but lay around in the woods and write letters and the like & Sunday all we do is to attend inspection of arms at which time our revolvers and sabres are examined and anyone who has not kept his clean has the pleasure of going to the guard house & carrying sticks of wood about three or four hours. Then we come to our quarters and are dismissed and generally one of the sergeants take 15 or 20 men down to Bladensburg one and a half mile to church which suits me very much. I have been both Sabbaths & heard very good sermons. Then in p.m., lay around in the woods on blankets and write.

You may think strange of our leaving our tents to go and write but we are all furnished with portable writing desks which make it very convenient to be out in the shade. This portable desk is a fine thing and is getting in very common use among soldiers at present. In fact, they do not think they are fully equipped without it. I can tell you how these desks are made so you can give instructions to any of your friends who make take a notion to join the army. They are made of a circular form about eight inches in diameter with about one inch of the edge around the whole circumference turned up looking very much like a tin plate and in fact these are all the tin plates we have in our regiments.

Well, I see am spinning a long yarn and one thing amounts to but little and if you all get as sick hearing it as I am reading it to myself, I really hope you won’t let me know it for I feel bad enough that I cannot write a good letter.

We hear some very heavy fighting going on—only trying their pieces. We were agreeably surprised a few days since by seeing Lieut. Braden from the 1st Michigan Regiment. They encamped about a mile from us Sunday morning, September 29th, and have been attached to Hooker’s Brigade, but I do not know how long they will stay there. They seem to be enjoying themselves right well. Such a thing as drunkenness is not known in our camp as no liquor is allowed to be sold on the camp ground except to commissioned officers, and ad only two men from each company are allowed to leave camp each day, the soldiers are from necessity temperate men, and besides, there is another inducement for a man to keep sober. If any man comes into camp drunk, he is put in the guard house. There is some gambling in camp but no disorderly conduct has arisen from it yet and we are in hopes the boys will soon get sick of it and quit. Our boys are all right so far and enjoy themselves hugely.

The railroad runs about half a mile from us. We can see every train that passes and almost everyone is loaded down with soldiers and it is thought that from three to six thousand pass here daily. This seems a large number, but the figures are not at all too high. If either way, they are too low. I have already written too much and now, hoping the Social Temple is in a flourishing condition and all my friends present to hear this read, I will close by asking an answer soon from the Temple, and if I should get letters from each of the members separately, I should be just so much the happier. Should I ever write you again, I shall give you much shorter letters and try to have it more interesting although I cannot promise. Now, wishing you all godspeed, I will subscribe myself your absent brother, — Ed

1 “Owing to the large number of volunteer units then being organized, carbines were in woefully short supply and all but one squadron of the regiment was initially equipped as Light Cavalry, with revolvers and sabers being their only weapons. Training progressed and by the end of October daily regimental and squadron drills were conducted in full marching order. The regiment continued to train and served in the defenses of Washington until March of 1862. Carbines were at last issued to the remaining squadrons and on March 10 they left the Capitol to participate in the Peninsula Campaign.” [Source: 6th US Cavalry]


Letter 2

Camp East of Capitol, Washington
[Early January 1862?]

Presiding Templars
Sisters and brothers,

Having received some very interesting letters from a goodly number of sisters and brothers without hearing one word from the Presiding Templar, I take it for granted they care nothing about hearing from me. Therefore, they may consider this letter addressed to them as a matter of form and not in answer to any interesting letters they may have written. I looked long and anxiously for those I did receive and they were as welcome as if they had been received a month sooner. Yet I do not wish to be understood to say that a month’s delay in answering a letter is just in accordance with my views for I think the beauty of a correspondence is writing regularly and promptly.

I ws exceedingly pleased with all of the letters but almost everyone contained one sentence too many. That sentence was, “as all the rest are writing, they will tell all the news, so I will write but little.” Now if you will leave that out of your next letters and put some news in the place of it, you will oblige your Brother Ed. It seems that some of the brothers have left for the war since we left and I am glad to hear there are others joining to fill vacancies. Tis pleasing to hear this and think what a glorious time we will have when the boys all get back. The Old Hall will ring again, But that time is far in the future, and as some few incidents have happened since I wrote to you which have changed somewhat the monotony of camp life, and may possibly be a little interesting to you, I will try to write them as I cannot be there to tell them.

When I wrote before we had not been paid off and most of the men were out of money, and at that time, a drunken man was a rare sight. But oh! what a change has taken place. The scale is turned, and since pay day, drunkenness is of common occurrence. I thought until pay day that military discipline was severely strict, and none but the most daring and willful would dare defy a law of camp. But alas, how great the power of the human appetite. It defies any and all laws, is stronger than any camp guard and even more powerful than the fear of death for men who had been without liquor two months, and were fine intelligent men too, applied for papers, after being paid off, and were allowed to leave camp to purchase clothing and other little articles necessary to make them comfortable, came back to camp drunk. Some were put in the guard house, and others, upon fair promises were allowed to continue their duties. But they had now had a taste of liquor and as they could not get another pass for a month or two, there was no way to get out of camp but to run the guard. This was practiced several nights and some men were away from camp three days and then came back drunk, but this kind of work did not suit the Colonel and he gave orders for every guard to have his revolver loaded and shoot any soldier who tried to pass him.

Under such circumstances one would think a man would sooner lie down after tattoo and go to sleep than run the risk of being shot by the guard while trying to pass him, simply for the purpose of getting a little liquor. But no, these men while sober and perhaps tired from a hard day’s drilling, or maybe sleepy from being on guard the night before, will run the risk of being killed by the guard, or of getting in the guard house in the city and being severely punished when he returns, all because they cannot resist the cravings of their appetites. One would think the punishment sufficient to prevent all such operations but every effort against it seems perfectly useless.

There are various punishments for drunkenness such as being tied to the picket line with the horses all day, or having the hand cuffs on, and a rope passed through them tied to the upper part of the stable, drawing the hands so high he can only touch his toes to the ground. Then if he talks too much, has a gag put in his mouth. Sometimes he is put on extra duty several days, or put in the guard house where he carries a log of wood weighting 15 or 20 lbs. around a ring from two hours to one day. Or perhaps he is court martialed and has to pay a fine of from 2 to 5 dollars. Now what would seem more abusive than to see a man with his hands tied together, and drawn up over his head & fastened so high he could only touch the ground with his toes, and then if he finds fault about it is gagged and given a bath by throwing a pail of cold water on him, you would ask at once why this brutal treatment? We tell you he has been drunk. But you say that seems too severe simply for that. But he has not been so once or twice only but half a dozen or more times and has as often promised to do better. But instead of keeping his promise, has again become drunk and abused his comrades and officers and is now paying the penalty. I am exceedingly sorry to say that these are scenes of almost daily occurrence.

Now Sisters and Brothers, allow me to relate one more incident and I will close the dark side of soldiers’ life in camp. There was one man who had been drunk nearly a month and finally became sober long enough to go on guard, but in the night he deserted his post, went into town, got drunk, and was put in the guard house, on his return to await the action of a court martial which would probably have resulted in giving him the sentence of death. But on the night of December 13th, he managed to escape from the guard house, went down to the city, got drunk, and came back to the Navy Yard and got in the river where the water was shallow, where he floundered around till nearly noon when he was discovered by some of the Marine sentinels and taken into their quarters and, as his clothes were frozen to him, they were obliged to cut them off, but he was still too drunk to tell the where he belonged, so they let him lay where he was. But about three p.m. they went to look after him again and found him cold and pulseless and it was only by the most active and persevering treatment that he was kept alive. But after awhile he became sensible enough to tell where he belonged and word was sent to his company commander who immediately sent for him with an ambulance and he was brought to the hospital.

That night (Friday) he rested very well although he did not sleep more than ten minutes at a time. Saturday he felt very well until afternoon when he began to see a great many sights, and at night a great many more, and often when he heard a noise he would ask who is there? But being assured that all was right, he would again be quiet but did not sleep a minute in all night. Sunday, he kept very quiet although seeing many things and having much trouble with his officers, But such a temperance lecture as he gave Sunday night by his ravings, shrieks, moans, pleadings, & prayers could never be forgotten. He would imagine that his wife or brother (both here in camp) were going to shoot him and would cry murder at the top of his voice and jump out of bed, and then beg of them to let some soldier shoot him instead, as he was not afraid to be shot but thought it would be horrible to die by the hand of his wife or brother.

After begging some time for them not to shoot him, he then asked for time to say his prayers, and being told he should have time, he clasped his hands and fixed his eyes on the spot where he thought his wife stood with a pistol, and with a most pitiful tone and look, said the Lord’s Prayer, and then, having lost sight of his wife, began to look around and soon discovered a bottle of whiskey sticking in some crack or corner of the hospital and coaxed us a long time to get it for him, and sometimes he would find a bottle hidden around his bed and work a long time with the clothes to get it so as to drink, but always before getting it he would cry murder and see his wife or brother just ready to shoot him. Thus he raved till twelve o’clock when he had a severe convulsion, after which he was determined to get up and we were obliged to tie him on his cot and then his cries were so loud that many of the soldiers collected around the hospital to find what the trouble was and so we had to gag him. Both these operations seem severe and even cruel but would not have been resorted to only as a necessity.

He continued raving until five o’clock when he had another convulsion and then kept quiet nearly all day, but as soon as night came he again commenced raving and it seemed rather different from anything before as he now became violent and ill-natured, resisting all our efforts to quiet him and becoming angry with everyone who tried to do anything for him. It now became necessary to tie and gag him, which we had to do by main strength, and then he tore in two a new silk handkerchief with which his hands were tied, just as easily as it it had been wrapping twine. But we finally succeeded in getting him tied and gagged so he was obliged to lay pretty still although he was all the time trying hard to get loose. But in the morning he became calm and we let him loose and about ten o’clock he dropped to sleep and slept so soundly that the only way to keep him breathing was to sit by his side and shake him just often enough for each breath.

He remained in this condition till three o’clock in the afternoon when he awoke and said he was glad to get out of that condition as he felt he had been very sick. We then gave him some nourishment and he sat up a short time but at four o’clock he became perfectly exhausted and died without a struggle. Thus ended the career of a man who but one short year ago was a good citizen, intelligent, industrious and temperate. Within that time be became a soldier and a drunkard, left his post as guard, the penalty for which is death, and to finish up, died the worst of deaths—delirium tremens.

But enough of this. Now we will take the other side of the picture. A private soldier has to work from daybreak till sundown, except while eating his meals, yet his work is all very easy. Then after sundown he goes into the barracks and writes, reads, or joins in such amusements as may be going on at the time, and there is generally something up to keep one in good spirits. Thus a day passes away without being noticed hardly and a man goes to bed to sleep, not to think of troubles or anything of that kind.

Of course he has to stand guard occasionally and when the weather is cold or wet, it is very unpleasant but a person will experience such hings even at home. In regard to fare and clothing,I can say there are but few families who live better than the soldiers in this regiment. They have baker’s bread, beed one day and bacon the next, and plenty of it. Then they have beans, potatoes, rice, sugar, coffee, tea, desiccated vegetables for soup, besides cakes, pies, puddings, tarts, and the like which they don’t have. Since moving into barracks, they have large cook stoves and ovens, so they have their food cooked about as well as at a hotel and in fact, much better than in some hotels. Of course they have no desert, but if you will carefully look over the dietetic rules to be observed by working men, you will find they are better off without than with such things.

The reason I speak about our fare is because some men who have been home on furlough have reported on their return that the people where they lived had an idea that we lived more like starved Indians than working white people. Now if you hear anyone telling that our fare is hard, you may refer them to what I have said—and what I have said is true, as twenty pounds gained in weight since leaving home is abundant testimony.

With regards to clothing and blankets, all a man need do is ask for things and he can have them. Your humble servant is in the hospital taking care of the sick, sometimes has plenty to do and at others, next to nothing. Often on Tuesday evening I wish I could step into the old hall and see how you get along. Then I meditate awhile, hear the gavel come down upon the desk, the Brother Usher make his proclamation, and then all the opening exercises are gone through and sometimes even an invitation generally of some young lady and I figure largely the ceremony or am initiated with her, but my reveries like all others have an end adn I find myself sitting on a camp stool or lying on a cot or the floor in the hospital and on looking at my watch, find it time to give some poor fellow a dose of castor oil. salts, pills, drops, or some other nasty stuff called medicine, and away I go and the Social is no more till I am alone again.

Now Sisters and Brothers, do not let the cause flag but make an extra effort as this is a trying time for templars, both at home and abroad. Do not let it be said that all interest ceased and therefore the meetings were stopped, but on the contrary that they made an etra effort, kept their numbers good, and continued to flourish. it is my earnest prayer that this may be the case with the temple, and while my best wishes are for the temple at home, I feel proud when I think there are templars in the army, who, though their influence may be slight, yet each may be the means of preventing one soldier, if not more, from becoming a drunkard.

But I see I am growing tedious and must bring this to a close, but first I would just say that although a detailed account of all our doings would be very tiresome, yet some of you might be glad to know how we amuse ourselves when at work. Well, we have a very good band besides many musicians in the companies and very much of our amusement is of a musical style—some playing one instrument and some another, such as violins, guitars, banjoes, accordions, &c. While others keep time by “tripping the light fantastic toe” and I reckon you would call it light if you could see and hear a soldier dancing in a pair of 3/4 inch soled government boots.

Well, there is one young fellow in the hospital who takes lessons on the guitar and is getting along finely, and in order to help him get up some good music, I concluded to take lessons on the fiddle and think I am improving fast. How I wish some of you would happen around to hear me play. I practice nearly every day and like it much. The other fellow and I do not play together yet as we have not got our instruments tuned so they exactly cord yet, but you need not be surprised at any time to hear that we are “the musicians” of the regiment.

My fiddle bow got out of order a few days ago but a man living nearby put it in order in a short time by means of a three-cornered file. My fiddle is an excellent one, as you will all know when I tell you it is made after the style of the genuine old Corporation fiddle.

We often read in papers and magazines of funny sayings and there is no reason why they would not sound well when read in a letter, and so I will put in some from this Quarter. The first was a German nearly convalescent after Typhoid Fever. When asked by the doctor how his appetite was, said he didn’t eat anymore than he could get. An Irish man who was always complaining and making a fuss from Erysipelas felt a little better one morning and when the Dr. came to him, he said, “Well Tommy, are you dead?” “No,” said he, “I’m not dead but speechless.”

But the nicest thing was a letter received by one patient from his sister. She said, “Dear brother, we fear you are worse than you told us in your letter, but if you should die before you get this letter, it is mother’s wish that you send your body home.”

The weather has been fine till within a few days since which it has been rather muddy. Hoping to hear from all of you soon ad wishing a God speed the Temple, I will subscribe myself your brother, in T S. P. and F.

— E. R. Knapp

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