Letter from Wm B. Stevens, dated 1862-08-05

Douglass Hospital, Washington August 5th. 1862

My Mother:

Thy letter of the 27th. last. was received on the second of this &, as there has been some change in our affairs, since then, or, since I wrote home, last, I will reply to it, now; when I say our, I mean Charley's & mine; he is still with me & is not discharged according to report. His folks have doubtless heard from him, ere now, as he has sent them one or two letters, which should have reached them. I am very sorry to say that he does not get well nearly as fast as I wish he might & this is also true of myself. What a fool Uncle Sam is, some times! If he had given us fur-

loughs, when we first came here, we might have been at our posts of duty, now, I think, doing himservice.

The change in our residence is owing to the breaking up, by this same U.Sam. of the Institution on Mount Pleasant, so that we were without a home & got admission here. We are now in the City, in as well arranged an Institution as the Government can boast of, I suppose. We have good accomodations & care, which, last, is exercised by the Sisters of Charity, in their somber dress & I-- (I had almost said, no, wrote, faces, but the one, who is in our ward, does not fear to almost smile). We came here yester= day. Please direct, now, to Douglass in= stead of Carver Hospital, as we are likely to be here some time.

[upside down:]

I do not think Henry is in the [Co.?] else how

[in right margin:]

can he be at the [?] every day?

[right side up:]

Page Ye third,

Now I will try to answer some parts of thy letter, first; there must be some of a surplus of my letters, now at home so that there seems no need of my writing, at all, but [underline]no[/underline]! if I am not heard from, once or twice in so long a time, there I am sick, or perhaps have at last "shuffled off this mortal coil". You must not be so fearful. Always rest assured, that the "coil" is still around me, till you know it to be otherwise, instead of thinking otherwise till you [underline]hear[/underline] it is so. I am now as [underline]comfortable[/underline], now, as I have been since I came to the City, I think, though my strength is very much less than at some times since then. Seventh-day I had a quite severe attack of vomiting

& its reverse, and felt some fears of another relapse, but am, now over the effects of it, somewhat. The letter thee writes of as urging me to resign, reached me, after being sent to the 4th Regt. [underline]twice[/underline], so I think thee will mistrust the reason of its neglect. What shall I resign? I have no [underline]Commission[/underline]; only an obligation to serve our U.S. till he is out of his troubles; this is not considered [underline]resignable[/underline] & I must wait my time. Thee says not a word of Isaac; where is he? Some of the men the names, as going to [Perley?], are the very ones I would like to see drafted & I am sorry they have gone. Poor Jerry & wife! I did not know Melissa was sick till thee wrote her being [underline]better[/underline] & the same of [Jay?]. What ailed [him?]? Cousin [Hulda's?] paragraph is also clothed in mystery. Give my love to all the friends. I would write to Aunt Paulina, but my other met with no response so I cannot venture. Please write soon, as you, at home are not the only ones, who like to [underline]hear[/underline]. Thine W. B. Stevens

To Mother