Camp Near Rappahannock Oct 23rd 1863
My dearest Wife:
Your Letter of Oct the 16th reached me yesterday enclosing one for Dick from Bettie. Your letters never fail to give me pleasure & nothing delighted me more to return to this to this bank of the river than the thought that I would hear regularly from you. The PMG I fear neglected to mail your letters promptly for not unfrequently two come one mailed on one day & one the next when there would perhaps be two or three days between the writing of them. Dick has not yet marched here though I look for him more every day. Betties letter has been put aside for him nothing has taken place since I wrote you day before yesterday. All is quiet in our front & the enemy show no dispostions to advance. In writing here I feel satisfied that the campaign is over for the winter. I shall have you with me in a short time. But the rumors are still rife & increasing that AP Hills Corps is to go to Tenn. I would rather not go I do not wish to get further from my Dear wife but then if any portion of the army shall go I fear it will be ours & if do we must submit as cheerfully as possible if we do I shall come to see you on the way if possible & stay a day or two I expect to go to Richmond this week. I have applied for leave of absence for 5 days on business expect that it will be granted how delighted I should be to meet you there & spend the time with you if I have time after the [illeg] I shall telegraph you to meet me then if not I must reluctantly postpone it until I can have you here or until I see you on my way to Tenn. If it is any pleasure my dear to know that I miss you & now more than when you first left you certainly can have it to your hearts content. During that march & while in pursuit of enemy I did not miss you so much but just as soon as I return & settled down again my loneliness returns with double forces & night & day. My heart yearns after something & experiences a void that you & you alone can fill. If my letters are not affectionate it must be from lack of facility in giving expression to what I really feel. But rest satisified my own dear that though it may not always show it self upon the surface yet it is deep & lasting & I hope to prove this over & over every day we live & every day will draw you nearer & nearer to my heart until they are over blended unto one & then can be no exhortation written cutting as under the heart itself. I am obliged to you for the [ille] endorsing for me whether I get it or not. Don’t forget your practice I should find smartly disappointed if you give it up. It is a sort of test question whether my wishes are regarded by you & whether you take pleasure in pleasing me Farewell Darling till we meet my Love to Bessie I do love her as my own dear sister & her children feel almost as near as my own when I have any. My love to Ma Ten & wife Bettie & all Your Devoted husband AM Scales
Source: Alfred M. Scales Papers, North Carolina State Archives.
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