Head Quarters, Co. “A”, 129th Ills. Vol.
Gallatin, Tenn., June 27th 1863.
My dear Wife
I recd. your letter of Monday last night.1 I hope you will give yourself no uneasiness about your trunks. I think they will get through all safe.2 I telegraphed to Louisville & Jeffersonville last evening, &, if they are not found there, I will telegraph to Indianapolis & Chicago to-day.3 I will order them forward[ed] by Express when they are found.
I am glad you have got through safe & hope you may both soon be rested & well. I did not think you would get through your visit so soon, but you will take much pleasure I hope in your trip East.4
It has been raining very hard for the past 4 or 5 days, & the ground is very wet. I was detailed to go Scouting again last night but fortunately was relieved. Capt. Hoskins was quite sick the past two days but is much better today.
I have had no letters since you left except yours. The Post master is about to leave with the mail so I must close. We are all well. Give my love to all. Tell Maggie I think Frank Culver a very good name for her boy.5 With many kind remembrances for all our friends & the prayer that God may abundantly bless you, I am, as ever,
Your affect. Husband
J. F. Culver
- Mary Culver’s letter of June 22, along with others written between June 22 and Aug. 6, 1863, are missing from the Culver Collection.
- On her return from Gallatin to Pontiac, Mary Culver’s trunks had gone astray.
- As the trunks traveled separately, J.F.C. correctly deduced that they had been misdirected at one of the transfer points. Louisville was the terminus of the Louisville & Nashville Railroad, while Jeffersonville, Indianapolis, and Chicago were other transfer points on the route by which Mary Culver had returned to Pontiac.
- Mary Culver planned a trip after a brief rest to New York and Pennsylvania to visit friends and relatives.
- The Utleys named the baby Albert Allen. Culver, “Robert Murphy and Some of His Descendants,” p. 99.