Augusta County: James M. Schreckhise to Amanda [?],
February 26, 1862
Summary:
Schreckhise writes to his friend Amanda about the current "dark days" of the
Confederacy and appears to have obliquely proposed marriage to her.
Feb. 26th 1862
Newberry College S.C.
Dear Miss Amanda:
"Procrastination is the thief of time" and for fear it should prove to be such in
reference to answering your welcome epistle, I will answer it immediately. It
came by due course of mail, and it arrived, like that of its predecessors from
the same source, met with a hearty reception. It is a great pleasure to know
that although seperated for several hundred miles,
yet that there is a way; in which to communicate thought from friend to friend
through the medium of pen & paper. There is nothing can so vividly
revive past associations, and can call to mind joys and sorrows seemingly
forgotten, as a letter from a friend, unless it be the presence of that friend
himself or herself. On its reception we go back in contemplation to other days,
and other scenes, connected with the individual from whom it comes, and we seem
to live over the past. Memory revels amid by-gone experiences bringing forth
pleasing as well as sad reminiscences
[page 2]
and if there is a ray of hope
promising to a return of past joys the soul is filled with expectations and
longs for their speedy arrival. Last Friday was observed here as a day of
Fasting Humiliation & Prayer. I preached a sermon on the times at my
church in the country to quite a large congregation. Next Friday has been
appointed by the President for the same purpose. It will be observed here as it
should be. Surely if ever a people had need to Praise God, and to pray to him,
it is the people of the South. We are rather in a sad condition at present in
the Southern Confederacy yet I hope our dark day will soon pass by and that our
recent defeats will soon be overruled by the Disposer of all events for our
good. The North are making a desperate effort for our subjugation. "The battle
is not always to the strong nor the race to the swift." If the Lord sustains us
we will in the end triumph. Almost all the soldiers from
[page 3]
Newberry
have revolunteered & I suppose it will be the same thing throughout the
South. Lincoln will find it a hard matter to subjugate a people as numerous as
we are, & scattered over such an extent of country. It will be
impossible I think if we remain united. I should like very much to have been in
Augusta during the Holidays and have been a certain place not a hundred miles
from Churchville (You may guess where.) You seem to think I was putting on airs
about becoming an old bachelor. I was not altogether doing so but perhaps my
case is not a hopeless one and as bad as I represented it to be. Your letter
contains one ray of hope. You Say "I know one lady who things a great deal of
you perhaps enough to go with you to South Carolina (as much as she is attached
to Virginia) but I can not tell you her name but leave it to your imagination as
it is fertile." This is some consolation yet I do not think it definite enough
to give firm hope. I do not like that "perhaps" "perhaps enough to go with you
&c." As to the lady I have set my imagination to
[page 4]
work and I
think, I believe, I hope, I feel confident (yet I may be mistaken "perhaps")
that I have her name in my mind. Who I have in mind your imagination which also
"is fertile" may conjecture. I would like to know who she is for certain and also to know if she would not be
willing to leave out 'perhaps' and adopt some language similar to that of Ruth
as given in the Bible (see Ruth 1:16,17). Perhaps you
can give one some light upon the subject. I would take some way to find out all
about it if I did not fear I might meet with the same sad reverse that I met
with in reference to the same subject from a lady whom you
know well. It is by no means pleasant to be disappointed in a matter of
this kind & as I have met with one reverse as you
know I shall never attempt it again unless I receive some encouragement
to know that I shall not be repulsed a second time. I shall patiently yet
anxiously await your reply. We have nothing new in our town. Our number of
students is small not more than sixty. This war interrupts every kind of
business. We have had very pleasant weather for two or three days. Before that
it was cloudy and raining for almost six weeks. There has been no snow here this
winter. Some of the plumb & peach trees have
been in bloom for a week past. I fear they will be killed. So Mr. John R. is
quite popular in the army. I suppose you are glad to hear it. And Miss Sally is
alone.
[page 2-3]
It ought not so to be. You say she looks well. She always
looked well and by well you mean I suppose pretty, handsome, goodlooking or
something of that kind. If so I agree with you. I live so far away that I cannot
go to see her I fear she will become discouraged. Please try and keep her in
good cheer. But I must close. Write soon sooner soonest. It is now 11 oclock
& time to retire. So I will bid you good night.
Your friend, as ever,
J.M. Schreckhise
