In Their Own Words
August 28, 1861
Homesick Civil War Soldier Wrote to Wife
While the war was just beginning, homesickness was already settling in on some, as shown by this letter from a Georgia soldier in Virginia, written to his wife.
“…Dear Susie, you are not more anxious for me to come home than I am myself. I can give you nothing to hope for. It is almost impossible to get a furlough: and I do not have any idea when the war will end. Let us wait patiently, a while longer and see how things develop themselves. Perhaps it will not be long before we can form an idea of the future. Endeavor to be contented and happy if you can. …”
Source: Randall Allen and Keith S. Bohannon (eds.), “Campaigning with ‘Old Stonewall’: Confederate Captain Ujanirtus Allen’s Letters to his Wife (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1998), p. 31.
