"I have not heard from you for two weeks, but to-day I have three
letters from you and one from Father, and I can assure you your good,
dear letters are most acceptable. I think of you and our dear little
one so much and long for the time speedily to come when I can be with
you again. I trust and believe that God is so ordering events that the
time is not far removed. In the meantime we will hope and pray and be
patient.
"You need not be the least troubled about me. I am in perfect health,
and General Buell with more than one hundred thousand men is making a
junction with us; so that our combined army of two hundred thousand has
only to _move_ to sweep every vestige of opposition out of the way, I
don't think the enemy will make a stand before us at all."
The foregoing illustrates how little the subordinate officers know
of an army's strength or its future. It is a common error to make
exaggerated estimates of an army. The figures given above place the
numbers of the joint armies of Grant and Buell at more than double
their actual strength. And so far from sweeping the enemy before them,
within two weeks from the writing of this letter Grant's gallant army
was attacked in its own camp, and barely escaped being swept into the
Tennessee River.
I wrote on the 27th: "I have been detailed by General Hurlbut as judge
advocate of a general court-martial, and am kept very busy with its
duties. That's what I get for being a lawyer."