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St. Louis, Missouri, April 18, 1861.... The excitement increases here daily. I do not expect any outbreak to occur here for the present, but at the same time a breaking out of hostilities here at almost any moment would scarcely surprise me. Men like Mr. G——and Mr. C——--, who still profess to be thorough Union men, say that Lincoln's proclamation is sinful and outrageous; that to try and whip in the Cotton States is madly hopeless; and that when war breaks out, in consequence of the attempt, the Border States must infallibly defend their “Southern brethren.” Mr. G——thinks, moreover, that one Southerner is equal to two Northerners, and that the recognition of the Southern Confederacy by the European powers is so palpably certain as to leave no possible room for a contrary expectation. These are the sentiments of many who have said and still say, that if the government could put down the Rebellion and hang Jeff Davis and the other Rebel leaders, they should like to see it done. Thus you see how the matter strikes the Southern mind, among those who deplore secession and declare it unjustifiable. I am led to think this feeling will be pretty universal,— “Many men of many minds.” We are drilling here, under a pledge to obey any call made on us by the United States authorities, to resist attack or rebellion here. I am longing, as I never should have thought to do, to join the Massachusetts Volunteers. Perhaps I may not be able to “hold myself in,” if matters come to the point of actual war. I'm very sure that I would rather die in battle twenty times, than have Washington captured, or than that the North should now yield her principles to accommodate those of the South. At the same time I cannot avoid feeling grief and distress in the knowledge that so many people I esteem, and could agree with on every question of morality, except in these proand anti-slavery issues, are quite as capable of being aroused to enthusiasm on the side of this monstrous wrong as any of us at the North on the other side. God send us a good issue!
camp near Darnestown, September 12, 1861.. . . . How do people that you meet talk about the war? Does Northern spirit and determination seem to you unabated, and do you see many signs of an increase of the desire to see slavery abolished? I pray God that it may come to that. Not that I would have total and immediate abolition declared; but I want a policy adopted and persevered in which shall look to the speediest abolition possible.
