Everything Looks Bright for Us

By Bruce Allardice and Wayne L. Wolf · Originally published July 2020 · p. 21

Mary Louise Thompson Head Qrs. 2nd Division, 23rd A. C. Camp near Mosely Hall, N.C.2 April 1st, 1865 Long after I had written you my usual daily letter last night, Dear wife, and gone to bed, your letter of the 23rd inst. Was brought

by Bruce Allardice and Wayne L. Wolf Nathaniel Collins McLean (1815–1905) was a Cincinnati lawyer, farmer, and Union army general, the son of Supreme Court Justice John McLean. A Harvard Law School graduate, he helped organize the 75th Ohio Infantry and became its colonel. He saw action under General Fremont in western Virginia and with the Army of the Potomac. Later in the war he led a brigade in Sherman’s army. He was promoted to Brigadier General in 1862. Throughout the war he wrote numerous letters to his second wife, Mary Louise Thompson (1835–1908).1 McLean had 13 children by his two wives. The letter below, written in the last month of the war, mingles news of the war with homesickness and doubts about the couple’s future. Newly discovered, and never before published, this letter shares the confidence of one of Sherman’s generals that the war would soon end.

Nathaniel Collins McLean. Families, p. 84. National Archives.

to me. It is the latest news I have had from you and was gladly received although you will persist in encouraging me by doubting the strength of my love for you. I have so often given you the strongest assurance of my entire devotion that I know not in what way to give you more convincing proof, unless I leave the service. I feel greatly tempted to do this even against my own judgment, for I cannot bear to feel that you are so miserable without feeling the strongest inclination to sacrifice everything for the sake of making you happy in your own way. Did I not doubt this result of my acting as you wish, there would be little to keep my [sic] longer in the service. I have not yet been able to convince myself that my whole duty has been performed by serving up to this time, bit [sic] setting this aside let us look at some other matters which concern both you and I equally. You know that when I resign my pay at once ceases and this lessens our income some three thousand dollars at once.3 It will be impossible for me to make up this deficiency by the practice of my profession for some considerable time, and even then I must be very fortunate to do so. You find great difficulty in getting along now, but to what we will be reduced then. I know that you feel willing to make any necessary sacrifice in order to have me home, but I fear you do not realize the reality. For myself to see my family so shortened from the comforts we have always enjoyed would be to me a source of great trouble. But this would not be the worst we would have to fear, for my resigning before the end of the war may so injure me that my business prospects may be seriously interfered with and I may have to plod on[,] a laborious and unsuccessful lawyer to the end. I have thought very seriously of all these things Dear Wife, not with the selfish feeling that I alone might suffer for that has little to do with it, but it is my wife and children who will suffer and the thought of them holds me back in the hope that the war will soon end, and then I can quit under the most favorable circumstances, with perhaps some reward from the government. There was a Bill before Congress giving three month’s pay to those officers who remain in the service until the close of the war. I do not know whether it passed or not, but something of that sort I have no doubt will be done in order to give a support for a little while to officers to enable them to get into some business.4 Small as this compensation would be, it would afford time to get at something. I know that you will answer me by speaking of the danger I run in battle, and your argument is a strong one, but I reply that the end of life does not depend upon the situation in which we are placed, but the will of God. He can preserve me in the midst of danger or strike me down whilst I am peacefully at home I trust that I may be preserved, and permitted to return home in peace and happiness. I ma trying to perform my duty, and when the war is over you will love me all the batter for having done so. Did I alone consult my inclination, nothing could keep me from you, for it would be my greatest happiness to go to you without a moment’s delay. To day I received your letter of the 16th of last month, and in it you mention Col. Morgan.5 Has he paid you the two hundred dollars I loaned him at Wilmington? By this time he has no doubt gone home and this money will help you a little. It is stranger Mr. Allen6 does not answer my letter. You had better get Burnet7 to see him and ask for an answer. I do not think it would be well to sell the place at auction, but judge we can do better at private sale. You speak of renting the place for $800 and taxes. I think this is too little unless rents have fallen, but at this distance it is folly for me to attempt to give a correct opinion. If you should rent the place, when could you go yourself? Would not have to pay more than $800 for another house not as good? I think perhaps we had better hold on and try to sell rather than rent unless you before hand know exactly what you can do to make yourself comfortable. I would not raise Conrad’s wages but let him go if he will not stay at the present price. I [sic it] would be much cheaper to sell our horses and buy vegetables than increase his wages, and in fact keep him at all. If I should come home the first thing I would do would be to cut off our stables and do without horses. Can you tell me how our fruit promises this year? Perhaps the pears may bear a crop and help us out of our difficulty. I am glad you have sent my summer underclothing by Mr. Morgan for I shall need them very soon. My present winter clothing is in very bad order and shall be compelled to give it up very soon because it will not hold together any longer. As yet we have no marching orders by [sic but] Genl. Sherman has returned from a consultation with Genl. Grant, and we may expect very soon to move forward. We are making every effort to get the men properly equipped for another campaign, which I hope will end the war. Everything looks bright for us. Every battle of any moment seems now to terminate in our favor. A few more such fights with a like result as that of Fort Steadman by Grant and the Rebels must quit for want of soldiers. Love to your Ma, Lindy8 and the children. With loving good night kiss to my darling little wife. McLean To: Mrs. N. C McLean, Glendale, Ohio. 1.

Endnotes:

March 1865 McLean letters were published in June 2018’s Civil War News. Mosely Hall (now LaGrange, NC) is just west of Kinston. A Brigadier’s pay was $315 per month. It appears the McLean family, quite wealthy prior to the war, was feeling the pinch, even with a general’s salary. The law mentioned passed March 3, 1865. See Appropriations Act of March 3, 1865, Section 4, Mentioned in the National Republican, March

10, 1865. Probably English-born Benjamin Morgan (1823–98), Colonel of McLean’s old regiment, the 75th Ohio. Probably Samuel B. Allen (1817–79), wealthy drug manufacturer and a neighbor of the McLeans in Glendale, Ohio. His son Jacob Burnet McLean (1841–1926), a banker. Malinda Thompson, Mrs. McLean’s sister.

Bruce S. Allardice is Professor of History at South Suburban College in Illinois. He is a past president of the Civil War Round Table of Chicago. Wayne L. Wolf is past president of the Lincoln-Davis Civil War Roundtable.