before yours, has not been received. The stopping of Corbin with the gunboat timber looks as though the enemy was expected back in Fredericksburg. I don't want them to catch you there again. I shall leave a note behind to be sent you in case the carrier pigeon brings back word "all's well" I am thinking and dreaming about you all the time. I wrote Lucy yesterday; Elie the day before, and Tot's two days ago; also Dick and Betty and Nannie. Kiss them all, and may God Almighty bless and keep you!
After several attempts and failures, Maury and his son finally succeeded in getting off on board the 'Hero' on the 24th of October, and when they were safe beyond the reach of the Federal blockading fleet, he let fly a carrier pigeon with a note tied under its wing, to be forwarded by Mr. F., of Charleston, to his wife. The note contained the vessel's latitude and longitude and "all's well."
| My dear Wife, | 'Hero,' off Charleston, Oct. 24th, 1862, 3 p.m. |
"Brave" and I came off in a row-boat It was a long pull. We left at one, and are hungry. The table is set. We expect to pass the bar at eight, and pray to be clear of the enemy by eleven. We have about fifteen passengers, some of them Jews. "Brave" and I have a nice room, next to the Captain's, two berths in it. The sweetest of boys is "Brave." He has been coursing about on deck, and has come down to say, "Are you writing to ma again?" Yes. . . . With good luck we shall be in Halifax next Tuesday. I hear the steward discussing dinner. Duck, goose, potatoes, boiled mutton. Our appetite is keen. As soon as "Brave" is over with sea-sickness we will commence our studies. Tell Betty, and Nannie, and Dick, and Sue, and Will, and Corbin, and Tots, and Glum, to write me often, and tell me all the news; and do you also, my precious friend, keep me posted up in public as well as in family affairs. . . .
I shall, you know, very much wish to keep the run of public sentiment, and to be posted up in the various phases of public affairs.
