Scope and Contents

Thanks her for her letter and the extract; he [?] must have lost children to be able to speak about it so freeingly; as time passes she thinks that it was better for her [AFM] that she [her daughter Harriet] was taken; the boys still speak of her; received s package from Katie and Fonatine and one from Mrs. Wilson; hopes things will still get through the blockade; thanks her for the things she sent; needles and pins are hard to come by; Jane [her stepdaught?] and Annie Wilson are in Richmond; thinks that F[ontaine?] and Annie should make a match of it; the Stamps family are very grateful to Uncle Rutson for his kindness; Mrs. S[tamps] encloses a note to him [not present]; cannot decide what to do about sending Willie to school; it is warm out; it is not worth it to plant a garden though; it got very gold over the winter; Sallie Maury writes often; they are low on food; hears that Fonatine is flirting with Nannie Jesse Maury but thinks it is only fun; Thompson is married and has the church at Winchester, Virginia; he and his wife will move into the parsonage in the spring; Richard Lowndes sent her son flower bulbs; news of friends; their Christmas presents were plain; she gave wheelbarrows and gloves to the boys and money to the girls; cloth and clothing is very expensive; people are resolved to fight to the bitter end; prisoners get more food than soldiers do; is sorry that is was so much trouble for her to get the things she had asked for; sends regards; thanks Uncle Rutson for looking into her requests about prisoners; sends regards to Uncle Matthew's family. 8pp. AL