Regrettably, with only the author’s initials provided, no envelope, and a lack of further details regarding his circumstances, I am unable to attribute this letter to a specific individual. The initials are “A. H. J.,” and he notes having sent a prior correspondence to his daughter from “Jackson Bow Station”—the location of which remains unknown to me. Nonetheless, the letter is compelling and reflects the insights of an older man who may or may not have been serving in the military, though I am inclined to believe he did. Written shortly after the Battle of Bull Run, the letter articulates his reflections on this pivotal conflict. He ascribes the Southern army’s success to the Providence of God, who he believes favors the people of the South and their cause. He further asserts that if the South were to abandon its strictly defensive strategy in favor of an offensive approach, the outcome of the war would likely result in loss, or at best, extend the conflict for “four or five years.”

T R A N S C R I P T I O N

August 12, 1861

Dear Daughter,

When I wrote you my last from Jackson Bow Station, I had sealed it when the 11 o’clock train arrived and that prevented my acknowledging the reception of the items sent me. I beg you accept my thanks for the kind attention to my request, and present my warm thanks to the Dr. for his kindness & especially his friends present. I have not yet trued it but will not doubt it superior quality being vouched for by its presenter. The gin is very good. Spirits must have risen much.

I am glad to see you so well employed with others improving comforts & necessaries for the soldiers who have so nobly sustained the honor of our country & given sure promise of success to our just cause. For such troops can never be subdued. And I believe the whole South, almost to a man, can & will send, if needed, to the battle just such spirits.

But my dear child, the more I read of the battle & see into its managed victory, I am the more impressed with the belief that praise is due to God. When I read of the terror that ceased the enemy & the fearful [ ] it produced in them, it strongly brought to mind the terror God produced in the army of the Syrians as they were besieging the city of Samaria. Oh, how great is God. He wills and the mighty warrior shrinks into the coward. Never did an American army run before. Never was Scott beaten, even by equal or superior in number. But here he was no only vanquished, but made to run for his life by those [ ] to [ ] crushed by the [ ] of His hand, by those He dispersed and half her number. I almost pity him [Scott]—so mortified, so disgraced, so fallen in his and his nation’s eyes & estimation. I already see signs of displacing him as not competent. They, in my [opinion] certainly had incompetent officers.

I only fear [Jefferson] Davis may commit the blunder of carrying the war into the enemy’s country. If he does, our army will be wasted and defeated. And we will [not have] a war on one year, [but] one of 4 or 5. Every man that is now growing tired of the war & unwilling to fight against us, will then be roused to fight for their homes & their country. Remain in the defensive and God will be with us. But let ambition or revenge rule us to carry the curse against women & children, & God will turn against our own soldiers [and we] will lose this war spirit, naturally so.

Affectionate remembrance to the Dr. & family. Your father, — A. H. J.