Commentary - Humor - Nonsense - Sarcasm - Satire - Whimsy
On the Road with DR. EVIL
Vol. II, No. 6, 23 May, 2000
A Missive of Irregular Frequency and Questionable Worth
Only one item this issue. Somehow, I couldn't bring myself to, perhaps, trivialize it by including others.
When it first played on our local PBS TV station a few years ago, I watched and recorded Ken Burns' "Civil War." At the time, I was struck by the eloquence of the letters written back to loved ones by the soldiers of both the Union and the Confederacy. I have recently re-watched the first few hours of that 11 hour series and have transcribed one such letter.
It was written by Major Sullivan Ballou of the 1st Rhode Island Volunteers, to his wife, Sarah, early in the war, a week before the First Battle of Bull Run.
Dear Sarah,
"The indications are very strong that we shall move in the next few days, perhaps tomorrow, and lest I should not be able to write to you again, I feel impelled to write a few lines that may fall on your eyes when I am no more. I have no misgivings about or lack of confidence in the cause in which I am engaged and my courage does not halt or falter. I know how American civilization now leans upon the triumphs of the government and how great a debt we owe those who went before us through the blood and suffering of the Revolution and I am willing, perfectly willing, to lay down all my joys in this life to help maintain this government and to pay that debt.
Sarah, my love for you is deathless. It seems to bind me with mighty cables that nothing but omnipotence can break. And yet my love of country comes over me as a strong wind and bears me irresistibly with all those chains to the battlefield. The memory of all the blissful moments I have enjoyed with you come crowding over me. And I feel most deeply grateful to God and you that I have enjoyed them for so long. And how hard it is for me to give them up and burn to ashes the hopes of future years and, God willing, we might have lived and loved together and see our boys grow up to honorable manhood around us. If I do not return, my dear Sarah, never forget how much I have loved you, nor that, as my last breath escapes me on the battlefield, it will whisper your name. Forgive my many faults and the many pains I have caused you - how thoughtless, how foolish I have sometimes been. But, Oh Sarah, if the dead can come back to this earth and live unseen around those they loved, I shall always be with you in the brightest day and the darkest night. Always! Always! And when a soft breeze fans your cheek, it shall be my breath. And the cool air at your throbbing temple? It shall be my spirit passing by. Sarah, do not mourn me dead. Think I am gone and wait for me, for we shall meet again."
Sullivan Ballou was killed a week later at the First Battle of Bull Run.
See you at the next rest stop.
Dr. Evil
Why yes, I'm Evil.
