break the limb over again and reset it, and this was done without the aid of opium or chloroform, the use of which in surgical operations was then unknown. In January 1840, he believed himself so far recovered as to be able to resume his journey to New York, where the vessel was still lying to which he was attached. But he had to be driven in a sleigh from Ohio across the Alleghany Mountains in the dead of winter. He was much delayed on the road, and the vessel sailed without him.
The following letters were written just before and after his accident:—
| At Home, near Franklin, Tenn., |
| Sept. 27th, 1839. |
My Dear Cousin,
In my last I alluded to the possibility of my parents return with me; but all their plans, and mine too, have been changed, at least for the present.
The Navy Department will not allow me to wait here for the rising of the waters, and I am afraid to venture with the old people and the very rough roads between this and Louisville, Ky. These considerations have induced my father to determine on a visit to my Sister Holland. . . . It is their present intention to spend the winter with her in Mississippi, and in the spring, if Pa thinks himself equal to the undertaking, they will come on to Virginia. . . My mother, who is quite as untravelled as Aunt Herndon was, thinks she could perform the trip from here to Fredericksburg on horseback!
. . . My father's voice, which was always very powerful, is as strong now as it ever was; he frequently exercises it in calling to his hands while at work at the top of its hail; it can be heard distinctly a mile off; under favourable circumstances it has been heard two miles. . . .
Besides, being at Mrs. Holland's, he will be within a day's ride (35 miles) of Memphis on the Mississippi, whence he can choose his own time for the journey.
Since writing the above, I have received a letter from Nannie informing me of the arrival of a letter in a liver--
