1862
From R[obert] E. Lee to [Catherine Maria] Tattie [Clinch]
Savannah, [Georgia,] 19 Feb. 1862
My dear Miss “Tattie,” I have no way of thanking you for the beautiful
“blanket” you have sent me. I stand in need of nothing to remind me of
you & if it will bring half the warmth & lightness to my tent which the recollection of you gives, I will want nothing else. Very truly yours, R. E. Lee.
From E[dward] B. [Barnwell “Barney”] Heyward to [Charles Heyward*]
Greenville, S.C. 27th Octob[e]r 1862
My dear Father, [Maria] Henrietta [Magruder Heyward] wrote last home
and I am not sure what account she gave of Joseph’s [Manigault Heyward]
condition. I am quite sure that I try to look on the best side of the case but
for the last two or three days I have been made very anxious.
The Doctor is beginning to fear he cannot recover tho’ he has’nt told
me so exactly. He now has very decidedly dropsy and in spite of all the
remedies it continues & the strength is failing. His liver is as healthy as can
be but the swelling of the stomach continues the same and today I begin
to feel very miserable about him. His appetite is good but he can hardly
now sit up in bed and he evidently gets weaker every day. He is emaciated to the last degree and I am very much afraid Dr. [Charles Pinckney]
Woodruff was right when he said he did not have vitality enough to recover.
It is a sad sight indeed to see so much beauty & manhood gradually decaying before our eyes, but disease seems to have left him to die from exhaustion. For the last four days he has continual pains in the stomach such as
he had at first after coming up here and we are obliged to give him morphine which makes everything quiet for a while, but all the time he gets
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Heyward Family Letters
weaker and weaker and I am afraid will soon loose his appetite & then he
is gone.
I will write every day for a while & give you accounts of his condition.
I think him in a worse condition today than I have seen him ever before.
With more strength it seems as if he could be easily cured but I think his
blood is like water and I am very much afraid of the brain now in a day or
two. He is perfectly himself at present but terribly nervous and dejected. I
shall ask the Dr. more particularly about the case tomorrow & write home.
Hoping you are well I remain Yr affec Son, E. B. Heyward.
*Charles Heyward is Edward Barnwell “Barney” Heyward’s father. In November
1861 a large Union fleet and twelve thousand troops captured Beaufort and the islands
around Port Royal Sound, just south of Charles Heyward’s four plantations on the
Combahee River. Slaves from the surrounding area soon fled to safety and relative freedom behind Union lines. In March 1862 fifteen of Charles Heyward’s slaves, including
three women and a child, ran away. In June, Charles Heyward moved with approximately 150 slaves to his son’s plantation, Goodwill, in Richland District in the center
of the state. Initially only a watchman and a few elderly slaves remained on the Combahee plantations.
From Barney to Tattie
Friday 7th day—31th Oct. [18]62
My own darling, Your absence has been a sore trial to me this even’g, tho’ I
have enjoyed your companionship today so sweetly that I am more patient
at loosing you this eveng after tea.
I have spent my little half hour with my Cousin, a very dear friend of
mine, & Izards [ Walter Izard Heyward’s] God Father. I wish I could have
introduced him to my “little comfort.” He has a most affectionate heart,
and has been so kind to me & my family that I can never forget it. Just such
a sad event from the same cause as this loss in yr brother’s family gave
Cousin Izard an opportunity of showing his love for me at Flatrock many
years ago. He has had his trials too and very hard to bear. I did more for
his daughter than I dared to tell him of as I found he would not talk of her.
Now is’nt there something [more] terrible than death, only think of what
affliction disgrace can bring in a family. Poor Cousin I am truly sorry for
him but I can do nothing to soothe him.
Your recent loss allows me to remind you that while it seems hard for
parents to part with their little loved ones still we must never forget that
like all other gifts they come from God alone. He has a right to claim them
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3
again and in his mercy he teaches us to feel that he cherishes them as his
own for ever. I am sure no one ever looking at a childs face in death has
ever doubted its being happy.
And dearest ought not such sad news from home bear some good fruit
in our own hearts. As God has seen fit to bring us together thus closely and
while our hearts are full of happiness & love for each other let us not forget
that it is only by taking up our Saviour’s cross lovingly that we can be truly
happy & never be separated.
Let us always have Jesus in our home as our constant Companion &
friend & let us conform our life to his example and then can we fully enjoy
his gifts and if we do come back to the “old rocks” may it be with increased
love for him & not only for ourselves. Love in this world is but the fore
shadow of that in eternity, its purity, sincerity & consolations come from
God alone and to him should we always pray that our lives linked together
here below may be sanctified by his grace.
Hoping to see my darling well tomorrow I say good night with my blessings on your head. Most fondly yrs, Barney.
From [Barney] to [Tattie]
Sat. 8th day Nov. 1st [18]62
Good night my little darling my pen is broken I am sleepy and I can only
say I love you.
Sleep my dearest and live to make me happy by your sweet smile. It is
a shame I should be so hard worked as I should like [word illegible] time for
my little comfort and not be weary with watchings. I want my darling to
find me all that delights her and I wish her to be always proud of me.
I love to do my duty. I like you to know when I do it. Sweet blessings
on yr innocent head. Ever most true yrs, Veldt.
From [Barney] to [Tattie]
9th day—Sunday morn’g 2 Nov[embe]r [18]62
I am stealing no ones time dearest, to write this morning. Mrs. Heyward is
yet abed and I have been by her husband’s bedside five times during the
past night and have my little half hour to myself and I pinch off just a little piece to say to my Tattie that [I] hope she has risen this Sabbath morng
happy & well and also to tell her that she is the sweetest little comfort any
man ever won in this world.
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Heyward Family Letters
Kiss your hands darling and press them with my love on those jewel Eyes
before you go down to breakfast and I shall be with you, close by, you all
day, and should you go to the Communion table today that—but never
mind I leave it to Gods wise & merciful spirit to teach you.
My brother [ Joseph Manigault Heyward] is no better—in fact I think
him worse today. I cannot do more than leave him for one hour while I go
myself to the Sac[ra]m[en]t.
I shall look into your jewel eyes for one minute this even’g in a place
where my darling looks sweetest and hold that dear hand where it is most
trusting, and my little comfort must interest herself with all around her,
and mind & be happy.
I suppose yr Sister Mary is delighted now that I am shut up here. I
declare it is too mean, never mind. I shall count the days & crossmark them
to be compensated for one of these days. Goodbye precious Tattie believe
me yours forever, Veldt.
From Barney to Tattie
Wateree, S.C.* Tuesday 11th inst. [November] 1862
Dearest Tattie, Safe at home once more darling and find all well. Our journey from Greenville was not mark’d with any important events except we
came very near missing the connexion at Cola. I wonder how my poor
little darling got through all that crowd of horrid people. I really do feel I
should have been there to take care of you.
And where are you now, in Savannah; or Augusta? I know who loves
you with all his heart, and I know just exactly where he is, and I will tell
you, in his sister Lizzie’s Chamber at her desk writing on her paper with his
own pen to his dearest little comfort. And let me tell you something else
that the mail boy leaves in a few minutes and what have I been doing all
morning for it is now nearly mid-day. I will tell you. I have been with my
Father alone talking over my poor brother’s affairs and you have seen
enough to know that some very painful subjects have been introduced & I
have not left him till I was prepared to tell the widow sister some little delicate matters. And now dearest you know exactly why my letter has’nt yet
been written. Darling I am now getting well. I sleep so sweetly and the children talk so funnily, and I feel I am of so much service to all around and
I feel so happy in feeling my being loved & esteemed by such a sensitive,
noble, girl as my little Tattie and I wont omit my feeling gratified at the
esteem of your Mother & your sister Mary.
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5
But darling now that I am at home & feeling happy & sleeping soundly
you dont know how cheerful the feeling is that I am loved. I almost feel
gay. I am busy as possible or rather shall be so after this is gone to the mail.
I am soon going to Charleston. I dont know how soon to Richmond and
when am I to come to See you my little pet. I really want to come very much
indeed but if I must speak my mind fairly I should say that what I most
want is to have you here with me, where I can really make you happy. I
want to see you here. Thinking how proud I will be isn’t enough. I want to
feel proud actually.
I wish to tell you a little secret. I am coming to Sav. or Augusta sooner
than you think & you shant know anything about it. And now comes the
horrid post boy & I havn’t written a word to your Mother.
Goodbye dearest, I hope I shall hear from yr Mother this even’g but I
warn you the correspondence cant stay concealed long. I shall have to write
through a friend in Cola., a male friend.
And Tattie are not you going to say something to me in your Mothers
letter? Is our relation to be simply what you hear from me? but never mind
it makes me happy, more than I deserve to feel I am loved. You can say nothing if you can till I come to see you. Very little satisfies me, when the kind
of love is such as my Tattie alone in this world can impart to her own, dearest Barney.
P.S. Dont think I use the word feeling too often, it is, exactly just my condition now and what is just what I want. Feel, feel, feel, love, love, love,
Tattie.
*In 1858 Edward Barnwell Heyward purchased the Goodwill plantation on the
Wateree River, twenty-two miles south of Columbia, Richland District, South Carolina, hoping that moving from the coast would improve the failing health of his first
wife, Lucy Green Izard Heyward, who died June 20, 1858.
From Barney to Tattie
Wateree, S.C., 17th Nov. 1862
Dearest Tattie, This I drop at Camden, the last was left in Cola. and this is
also sent to Augusta where I hope you will be on Tuesday. I hope in a day
or two I shall hear from yr Mother again and be furnished with the name
of your hotel in Augusta which I am too provoked with myself for loosing.
And dearest how have you found Savannah? and how are your servants?
have they proved faithful and do they look as if they had been behaving
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Heyward Family Letters
themselves well while their mistress was in Greenville, or as the cold weather
came on have they like others I know been getting themselves into little
scrapes. Darling you dont know how much good coming home has done
me. I now really feel well, tho still sleeping badly, but I am so happy in my
loving you. When busy I forget you entirely and yet when I am at leisure I
go back and find you just in the same old place, and there I commune with
you. It has a supporting wholesome effect upon me and you have really
already done me a great deal of good. And it is so delicious to wake up every
now & then to the reality that I have someone to love me, and I feel so
relieved to think that you are such a fine woman. Darling since yesterday
I have become more than ever satisfied of the importance of the woman
I make my wife being what you and I call “a fine woman.” I drove up to
Columbia yesterday & took Izard and for four hours in the buggy he talked
to me both going and coming, and I must confess I was very much amused
and exceedingly gratified to get at the little fellows character. He really must
occupy more of my attention and he well deserves it, his disposition is excellent, very tender hearted & very clever. I asked him if he ever read books
and he said “Oh yes ‘that the other day he read Beulah’ half through.” Now
only to think of the little wretch reading “Beulah.” But it was when coming
home that we had a very curious talk. We got singing hymn tunes together
they being the only airs we can sing and I told him that at Greenville when
his Uncle Joe’s coffin was brought in and placed in the chancel that the
choir with the organ sang “Home Sweet Home” and I tried to tell him how
it sounded. The little fellow seemed quite touched & sniffled a little and
said “Papa you think Aunt Henrietta cared much about Uncle Joe?[”] I said
“Oh yes.” And then he said “Papa dont you think she will get married
again?” and before I could answer he went on to say “And Papa are you
going to get married again. I know these people about here said you were
going to be married to Miss Mills[”] (one of the extraordinary ideas of these
country people, rather a low person), and here Izard blubbered out, [“]I
always said I did’nt care but I would never call her Ma because I didnt like
her enough.” So I relieved his mind by telling him that I would marry if I
could find a lady who would love him & me and that he mustnt mind what
people said[,] that I would take care of him and he seemed comforted &
soon after fell asleep on my shoulder.
Now my sweetest little darling that little boy will love you just as I do.
I know he will. He watches closely, and he has been always fearing I would
marry and that it would be somebody he wouldn’t love, and am I not
blessed in my choice. I am ready and anxious to show my [Tattie] to him,
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1862
Edward Barnwell
“Barney” Heyward.
From Margaret Belser
Hollis, My Mother
Was a Heyward
or to anyone, and that drive together yesterday has united us closer than
ever and made me feel my responsibilities greater than before. That boy is
really an member of the family, there will be three of us & he will amuse
you too. But let me ask how you are my little comfort. Has the photograph
got smashed yet and how does it look across the Sav. river. Does it look as
if it loves you. If it [doesn’t,] dont give it to your Mother. Tattie do you know
one week is gone, and you dont know how happy I feel, only wanting to
see you so much. I do not attempt to ask after your feeling my loved one
since you have decided to be silent[.] I do not complain but I only say I feel
happy doubting nothing. Sleep on my little blessing. I will watch till you
wake and gladden my heart with your voice. Those jewel eyes are closed
but I can wait by and look into them again. I do not fear their being ever
dim to[o], Yr ever dear, Barney.