Dr. Robert Peel Links to A. L. Peel Diary |
Dr. Robert Hunter Peel Civil War Letter Surgeon, 19th. Mississippi Regiment Letter From Robert to "Sister" Fredricks-Burg Va Dec the 24th 1862 Dear Sister, From Sis Julias letter received and answered a few days since, I learned that you were refugees from home and sojourning for a time near Carrollton, Miss; and while it pained me to think of you being driven from the natural root[?], I can but rejoice that you are within our lines, and that you will at least escape the taunts & insults of an unscrupilous foe. Amongst the many trials & troubles a rebel soldier has to bear, there is none so bitter & humilliating as the thought that his mother, sister, wife or sweetheart must feel the blow & suffer the horrors of this cruel war. God bless our women; their hearts are always in the right places, and if the men only prove as true to our cause as the ladies have themselves, all will be well in the end. You, who are now a refugee, can appreciate the feelings of our Miss Soldiers whose homes have fallen into the enemies hands, and who are yet compelled to remain on this far-off field where they can only indirectly assist their friends. Our army has just achieved a glorious victory over Burnsides “Grand Army” at this place & we are very anxious to have him make another advance toward Richmond from this quarter. The dead yankeys lay in heaps upon the fields, actualy piled upon each other where they attempted to force our boys from their position on the sides of the hills commanding the town & river. The health of our army is very good, and never were our men in a better humour for a fight. Albert & Add went through this battle untouched & indeed our loss was remarkably small, as our boys worked all night long with spades & picks to cover their positions from the enemies fire. None of your acquaintances were injured. The town of Fredericksburg is “played-out” completely torn to pieces & destroyed by fire balls & shells. The place was given up to pilledge & well did the vandals do their work, every house in the place was broken open and all distructable property, public & private was completely mined. The iron & stone fence that enclosed the cemetery was torn down and the graves of the dead trampled under their unhallowed feet. The grave of the Mother of Washington is in this place & it looks like sacrelidge to have that sacred plot thus desecrated. This army of ours has a most heartless & [?] set to contend with, but we have [whipped?] them on every field where we have met & the thought of defeat has never entered the heads of our brave boys in this “Army to the Potomoc”. Would to Heaven our [southern?] army had so bright a page to adorn the future history of this bloody [strugle?] Now that we have sent you one of our very best generals [Joseph?] Johnson and [?] has gone in person to look after the welfare of the South, I expect to hear of great battles and glorious victories won by our arms in Miss. Tomorrow will be Christmas, but it brings no rejoicing to the hearts of Mississippians. God grant our month will be a happy one. Give my love to Julia, Bob & Billie & write me soon & often. Farewell my dear Sister & believe me ever your affectionate brother. ["Sister" is a nickname Robert used for Alice Maud Matthews. Robert was courting Alice after the death of his first wife, Virginia. Alice was Robert's Sister-in-law.]Robert Peel – |
