_Richmond_, 10_th October_, 1851.
MY DEAR SISTER,--First let me tell you I am safe and well; which
assurance, I trust, will reach you before the news of all that has
been taking place here can arrive in England. Some of the scenes I
have gone through have been full of danger and horror, and have
produced upon my mind, my character, and my fate great and important
effects; as, indeed, must always be the case when we are subjected to
sudden and unforeseen trials.
It is impossible, in the scope of a letter, to give you anything like
a clear account of all that has occurred; but whenever I have had an
opportunity I have carefully made up my journal, as I promised our
friend J----, when I left England, to do for his especial benefit.
That journal, of course, contains merely notes and heads; and so many
events, and scenes, and conversations remain merely upon memory that I
must write it all over again, adding things every here and there which
are necessary for a clear comprehension of the whole, which would
otherwise in all probability pass away in a few short years. I know
you will read them with interest, and so will J----. I shall therefore
send the whole story of my last two or three months' adventures to you
in detached fragments, and you will forward them to him when you have
read them.
In the meantime do not put much faith in newspaper accounts; for many
of the statements I have seen myself are exaggerated, and many, very
many, fall far below the reality. Indeed I do not know that I myself
shall be able to bring home to your mind some of the sights that I
have witnessed and the scenes through which I have passed; I am sure I
could not do so were I to suffer the first impressions to pass away.
But, thank God, it is all over; and although several of those whom I
highly esteemed have left this world by a tragical and bloody death,
those who are dearest to me have escaped almost miraculously.
I see you smile, dear sister, at that expression--"those who are
dearest to me." Smile away, for I cannot but hope that they will soon
be dear to you also.
Very likely I shall bring over the last portion of my journal myself,
and we may read it together by the old fire-side, with many miles of
the dark Atlantic rolling between us and the scenes I have attempted
to depict. My faithful Zed will come with me; so have a comfortable
room in the hall ready for one to whom I owe my life, and who has
suffered many things in the service of your affectionate brother.
* * * * * *
The above letter, which, together with the two that preceded it, have
been given merely as introductory to the following history, caused a
good deal of curiosity and even agitation in the mind of the lady who
received it, and in that of the friend who is mentioned under the name
of Mr. J----. They were much nearer to each other than the writer
imagined when he wrote, and they were never after separated; but each
felt a deep interest in the fate of the wanderer over the Atlantic,
and looked in the newspapers in vain for the events to which he
referred. Englishmen at that time took much less heed of events
occurring in the United States of America than they do at present, and
English newspapers rarely mentioned matters of merely local interest
occurring in any of the several states. At length, however, at the end
of about a fortnight or three weeks, came a large package, in the form
of a letter; and every arrival of a mail-packet brought one or two
more, which were perused with deep feelings by the sister and the
sister's husband, and are now given to the public, _verbatim et
literatim_, as they were written.