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Whatever Happened to Eloquence? A week before the first battle of Bull Run (Manassas for Southern readers), Major Sullivan Ballou of the 2nd Rhode Island wrote home to his wife in Smithfield: July 14, 1861 Camp Clark, Washington D.C. My very dear Sarah, The indications are very strong that we shall move in a few days - perhaps tomorrow. Lest I should not be able to write again, I feel compelled to write a few lines that may fall under your eye when I shall be no more. I have no misgivings about, or lack of confidence in the cause in which I am engaged, and my courage does not halt or falter. I know how strongly American Civilization now leans on the triumph of the Government, and how great a debt we owe to those who went before us through the blood and sufferings of the Revolution. And I am willing - perfectly willing - to lay down all my joys in this life, to help maintain this Government, and to pay that debt.... Sarah my love for you is deathless, it seems to bind me with mighty cables that nothing but Omnipotence could break: and yet my love of Country comes over me like a strong wind and bears me unresistibly on with all these chains to the battlefield. The memories of the blissful moments I have spent with you come creeping over me, and I feel most gratified to God and to you that I have enjoyed them so long. And hard it is for me to give them up and burn to ashes the hopes of future years, when, God willing,we might still have lived and loved together, and seen our sons grown up to honorable manhood, around us. I have, I know, but few and small claims upon Divine Providence, but something whispers to me - perhaps it is the wafted prayer of my little Edgar, that I shall return to my loved ones unharmed. If I do not my dear Sarah, never forget how much I love you, and when my last breath escapes me on the battlefield, it will whisper your name. Forgive my many faults, and the many pains I have caused you. How thoughtless and foolish I have often been! How gladly would I wash out with my tears every little spot upon your happiness... But, O Sarah! If the dead can come back to this earth and flit unseen around those they loved, I shall always be near you; in the gladdest days and in the darkest nights....ALWAYS, ALWAYS, and if there be a soft breeze upon your cheek, it shall be my breath, as the cool air fans your throbbing temple, it shall be my spirit passing by. Sarah do not mourn me dead; think I am gone and wait for thee, for we shall meet again... Sullivan Ballou was killed at the first battle of Bull Run. It happened probably within a week of writing this letter. I am never able to read this to completion without having a huge lump in My throat. Make Women Female Again |
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G, Thank you for posting this. It reminds me of a similar post, [post 901377], from Oreo60. How enriching for those of us reading his letter decades later to be able to enter the mind of a brave soldier and be able to feel just a little bit of the emotions he must have felt and those of the wife he left behind. This. This is how we can live forever, because we've poured out our souls onto physical or digital paper. But you are so right in asking whatever happened to eloquence. Decades from now people will have Twitter feeds and text messages to describe our thoughts and emotions and there's only so much nuance in RFLMAO. "Sarah my love for you is deathless, it seems to bind me with mighty cables that nothing but Omnipotence could break: and yet my love of Country comes over me like a strong wind and bears me unresistibly on with all these chains to the battlefield." I think this is the epitome of eloquence. The ability to find the perfect metaphor to describe something so intangible as love and turn it into a thing that can almost be physically grasped. [wipes eyes, steps off soapbox, tiptoes out]
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