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Head Qurs. Co. “A” 129th Ills. Vols.
Goldsboro, N.C., March 29th 1865
My Dear Wife

By to-day-s mail I recd. letters from Bro. Sammy [Murphy], Chattanooga, Tenn. of Mch. 2, & from Springfield, Ills. of the 2nd also, but none from you. Yesterday I recd. yours of the 29th Feb., being the latest. We have news from Pontiac of the 8th & 10th inst. I hope, however, you are not ill. Your letters may have been delayed.

It is quite cloudy & threatens rain. Yetter went on a visit this morning to the 17th Corps & has not yet returned. John Lee just came into my tent; he is quite well. His last letter is dated the 1st March & came by Major Hoskins.

I read a number of your letters over just before dinner. I find some of them as old as October & one from Maggie [Utley] of Oct. 14/64.¹ I thought of all the changes that have taken place since they were written; and, though the ways of Providence are past finding out, yet God has been very good to us. I think of Dear Mother very often.² I felt very happy last night after I lay down, & I thought she was near me though I could not see her.

We have not yet heard when the Army is expected to be put in motion. Genl. Sherman has gone to Washington & will doubtless return with his plans for the coming Campaign completed.³ Unless the Rebel Army should retreat from our front, we anticipate a campaign similar to last summer, only doubly severe. I think it probable they will contest every inch of the ground stubbornly.

I recd. a letter from Saul to-day of Jan. 31st. He says if the war does not terminate with this Campaign, he will be in the Army. A few weeks may make a vast change in the aspect of affairs in this Country.

Jim Morrow was up at my tent last evening, he is in good health. Harry McDowell was here until a late hour last night, he is very well.

I heard yesterday of Thad. Keyser’s marriage. Rumor says Abbie Remick has returned, & she & Milt [Lyon] are to be married very shortly.⁴ Is it true? Has Ed. Cook returned yet?

Remember me to all our friends. Kiss Howard for me. Love to Maggie & children. Hoping Our Father will bless you, I remain, with love,

Your affect. Husband
J. F. Culver

1. The October letters were written before J.F.C. received the orders detaching him from the regiment and sending him to Chicago as a witness in the Beatty trial. [↩]
2. Mrs. Nancy Murphy, J.F.C.’s mother-in-law, had died under the wheels of a railroad train on November 10, 1864. Mary Culver, from that day forward, was unable to mention her mother’s name. Culver, “Robert Murphy and Some of His Descendants,” p. 40. [↩]
3. General Sherman on March 26, leaving General Schofield in command of the armies, boarded a train at Goldsboro for the trip to New Bern. There he embarked on the steamer Russia and landed at Old Point Comfort, Virginia, from where, on the afternoon of the 27th, he telegraphed General Grant and Secretary of War Stanton. Next day found General Sherman at Grant’s City Point headquarters. There they discussed with President Lincoln plans for defeating the armies of Generals Lee and Johnston and ending the war. When he returned to New Bern by boat on the 30th, Sherman was accompanied by his brother John, United States senator from Ohio. O. R., Ser. I, Vol. XLVI1, pt. III, pp. 32-3, 42-3, 59-60. [↩]
4. Abbie J. Remick on October 25, 1865, married D. Milton Lyon, son of William M. Lyon. [↩]