Louisiana Boys
Army of Northern Virginia
24th April
My darling girl,
You are a bold letter writer.
Imagine if General Butler, thinking you are a spy, should open it – it would surely unhorse him!
I go into the tall woods to read your letters. Press against a firm bark so I should not faint. It is impossible to read you in company – and have such thoughts.
Your gift I held to my face – the silken foulard that touched you … the last lingering of your scent … the secret within its folds. Now, beneath my grey-trousered garb it gilds my skin, as it once did yours. I am a soldier in silk! I hear the cries of the heaving street as you write them … and mixed with them your cries … like the cry of the heaving sea.
This from Patrick’s book (I do not think he sends such lines to Miss Emmeline).
Full nakedness, all joys are due to thee.
As souls unbodied, bodies unclothed must be,
To taste whole joys …
Tomorrow, clothed we fight the Northerners. I am exhilarated by love and ready to shoot them!
Write and write and tell me of your innermost thoughts … and deeds.
Your darling Johnny Reb, P.S. When watermelons get ripe send one in a letter.