29 June 2015
Fort Worth, TX
Dear Readers,
I hope this letter finds you well. I write more for
cathartic means than for any other purpose, and it is my hope that through your
reading (and possibly through your writing) you too may find catharsis.
While working as a graduate intern at TCU Press, I was
reawakened to a fault in modern correspondence: we have lost letters. Well, we
haven’t lost them exactly . . . we no longer write them. (Note: an extended text
message does not count as a letter.)
Kassia Waggoner and Adam Nemmers, two doctoral students at
Texas Christian University, stumbled upon a collection of Civil War letters in
the Mary Couts Burnett Library. The Love family composed these letters that not
only grant insight into the lives of soldiers but also reveal intimate details
of family life during the Civil War. As Waggoner and Nemmers explain in their
book, Yours in Filial Regard: The Civil War Letters of a Texas Family, the Love brothers fighting in the war—Cyrus, Sam, James, John, and
Robert—wrote most of the letters, revealing the importance of written
correspondence to their psychological health.
After reading Yours in
Filial Regards, I believe the Love brothers teach us four main sources of
motivation for writing letters:
Words penned down are not hurriedly typed and then sent into
a digital world. They are thought out, measured, decided upon, and then
written. Those whom you love deserve your letters because they deserve your
thoughts—your unhurried thoughts.
Absolute Love and Care
If composing a letter requires that you carefully think
about the person to whom you are writing, then the act of letter writing proves
how much you care about them. Your words testify that you have set aside all
other aspects of your daily life to chronicle your deepest sympathies regarding
this person.
Commitment
You don’t write a letter to someone in whom you have not
invested a significant amount of time and energy—plain and simple. (Even if you
write a negative letter, you are still investing a significant amount of energy
to pen down your negative emotions.)
This point may seem strange, but if you read through Waggoner
and Nemmer’s collection, I’m certain you will find it more than appropriate. Throughout
their letters, the Love brothers express concern for their family’s welfare.
But underlying worry seems to permeate the letters—the brothers wonder why they
have not received letters back from their family, no doubt questioning how much
they are missed by their loved ones.
When we are away from those we love, it’s natural to worry
whether they think of us as often as we think of them. Cyrus Love, the eldest
Love brother, is no exception, so he writes letters to his family. But then one
day, August 20, 1863, he writes his last letter. I doubt he knew that it would
be his last, but his words ring ironically into the present day:
My life has again been protected by
Providence. . . It has been the Will of the Deity that I should not be killed so
far and I hope He will protect my life through the war so that I may be able to
return to you. . . The sum of my wishes for some time past is that I may live
to get back to you. . . (Letter 74)
Cyrus died in battle on October 7, 1863. He never returned
to his family. His last penned words read:
Tell Tenny. Alice. Mary. Lizzy. And
John K to be good children and study hard.
Yours in filial
regard &c
C.W. Love
Cyrus may have worried whether his family was thinking about
him or whether they knew how much he cared for them. But history has proved
that Cyrus need not have worried—his love and care lives on today through his
letter.
Letters. They need not go by the wayside. They, perhaps more
than any other medium, show how much we love and care for those around us.
Cyrus’ final words cause me to wonder: if I had one last letter to write, to
whom would I write it and what would it say?
I, like Cyrus Love, would send my last letter to my parents.
Who would you send yours to? What would your letter say?
Happy writing,
Megan
Megan Poole is a graduate student and teaching assistant in the TCU Department of English.
