Hello and thank you for reading Past Lane Plus! This monthly newsletter is an extension of the Past Lane Travels blog, which was named the top history and travel blog in 2023.
This is usually a place for me to post photos of historical destinations that didn’t make it into a blog post, but in honor of Valentine's Day, I’m doing something different this week.
About 15 years ago, when doing research for my Civil War novel Shades of Gray, I ran across a number of unbelievably poignant love letters from such notable figures as Stonewall Jackson, JEB Stuart and General Pickett, to name a few.
I couldn’t really use them in my novel, but I wanted to share them with the world so badly that I put them into a small book!
From the Heart: Love Letters and Stories from the Civil War
This week I’m sharing some of the letters as a way of paying tribute to Valentine’s Day. I hope you enjoy!
Major Sullivan Ballou
The one letter you may have heard of is from Major Sullivan Ballou, made famous by the Ken Burns documentary on the Civil War. Major Ballou married Sarah Hunt Shumway on Oct. 15, 1855, and served in the 2nd Rhode Island Infantry during the Civil War. The couple had two sons, Edgar and William.
In this letter, Ballou attempts to explain the emotions he is feeling—most significantly—the internal battle being waged between his love for his wife and his sense of duty to his country.
I tried to pick out the most poignant parts for this post, but the entire letter is beautifully written.
Fore brevity’s sake here are some bits and pieces of it. As you can see, I had a hard time cutting it, but there is actually a lot more!
“I cannot describe to you my feelings on this calm summer night, when two thousand men are sleeping around me, many of them enjoying the last, perhaps, before that of death—and I, suspicious that Death is creeping behind me with his fatal dart, am communing with God, my country, and thee...
Sarah, my love for you is deathless, it seems to bind me to you with mighty cables that nothing but Omnipotence could break; and yet my love of Country comes over me like a strong wind and bears me irresistibly on with all these chains to the battlefield.
The memories of the blissful moments I have spent with you come creeping over me, and I feel most gratified to God and to you that I have enjoyed them so long. And hard it is for me to give them up and burn to ashes the hopes of future years, when God willing, we might still have lived and loved together and seen our sons grow up to honorable manhood around us.
…my dear Sarah, never forget how much I love you, and when my last breath escapes me on the battlefield, it will whisper your name…
…But, O Sarah! If the dead can come back to this earth and flit unseen around those they loved, I shall always be near you; in the garish day and in the darkest night—amidst your happiest scenes and gloomiest hours—always, always; and if there be a soft breeze upon your cheek, it shall be my breath; or the cool air fans your throbbing temple, it shall be my spirit passing by.
Sarah, do not mourn me dead; think I am gone and wait for thee, for we shall meet again…”
This story has a sad ending, as Major Sullivan Ballou died a week later after the First Battle of Bull Run. His wife, Sarah, never remarried. She died in 1917 and is buried next to her husband. You can read the entire letter and the story of the Ballou’s in the book Love Letters And Stories From The Civil War.
General George Pickett (Of Pickett’s Charge Fame)
Most people probably don’t know about Pickett’s tragic life off the battlefield or the fact that he was married three times (four times if you count being married in two different ceremonies to the same woman).
You can read about Pickett’s sad love life in the book, but he married 16-year-old La Salle Corbell during the Civil War, who was 23 years his junior.
In a letter in April 1863, Pickett pleads with Sally to come marry him in camp, despite the social improprieties of a woman doing so.
“You know that I love you with a devotion that absorbs all else—a devotion so divine that when in dreams I see you it is as something too pure and sacred for mortal touch. If I am spared, my dear, all my life shall be devoted to making you happy, to keeping all that would hurt you far from you, to making all that is good come near you.”
Unfortunately, Sally turned “her soldier” down that time, but did eventually relent and marry Pickett. In July 1863, she received this note from the general.
“…Now, I go; but remember always that I love you with all my heart and soul, with every fiber of my being; that now and forever I am yours—yours, my beloved. It is almost three o’clock…”
The letter was dated July 3, 1863—the third and final day of the Battle of Gettysburg. The time of three o’clock is shortly before his ill-fated Pickett’s Charge and in the midst of the largest military bombardment in North American history.
Stonewall Jackson
Perhaps the most amazing and romantic letters in the book are from Stonewall Jackson, a man who is usually regarded as austere and distant.
Here’s a sample of a letter to his wife.
“Darling, my heart turns to you with a love so great that pain flows in its wake. You cannot understand this, my beautiful, bright-eyed, sunny-hearted princess. Your face is the sweetest face in all the world, mirroring, as it does, all that is pure and unselfish, and I must not cast a shadow over it by the fears that come to me, in spite of myself. No, a soldier should not know fear of any kind. I must fight and plan and hope, and you must pray. Pray for a realization of all our beautiful dreams, sitting beside our own hearthstone in our own home—you and I, you my goddess of devotion, and I your devoted slave. May God in his mercy spare my life and make it worthy of you!…
Your soldier”
The story about seeing his daughter for the first time is a real tear-jerker, as is the fact that he was accidentally shot by his own men in May of 1863. He died 10 days later.
Modern Times
It’s amazing that in just a century we have lost the art of writing letters and instead use text messages and emojis to communicate!
Even if you don’t get a handwritten love letter, I hope you have a wonderful Valentine’s Day!