Bone Letter, March 2, 1862 - page 1 |
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Object Description
| Rating | |
| Title | Bone Letter, March 2, 1862 |
| Subject |
Correspondence Military life Health Family Civil War |
| Description | Nacogdoches County, State of Texas. Minerva to Dr. Bone: she's uneasy because she has not heard from him, every man has been called to the military - even her father, financial matters, good health of the family, her mother has a fine pair of cards costing only $31, her father will not have to go to war. |
| Date | March 2, 1862 |
| Collection | Bone Family Papers |
| Collection Identifer | A9, Box 1, Folder 16 |
| Biographical Note | Robert Donnell Bone (1832-1892) was born in Wilson County, Tennessee, and came to Nacogdoches County in 1841 with his mother and stepfather. He and his brothers and sister moved in with his older sister when she married John Winstead Paine in 1846. After a serious illness of pneumonia, R. D. Bone rode horseback to Tennessee and entered the University at Nashville Medical School (which later became Vanderbilt University) in 1854 and returned to Douglass, Texas, to practice medicine after graduating in 1858. That same year he married Griselda Minerva Burk (1841-1912) who was also from Tennessee and had moved to Nacogdoches County, Texas, with her family in 1848. On November 25, 1861, Dr. Bone was appointed to serve as Assistant Surgeon of the 12th Texas Volunteer Infantry, Col. Overton Young's Regiment at Camp Hebert, Hempstead, Austin County, Texas. He felt it was his duty to serve the cause of the Confederacy and eagerly attended his post. As revealed in the following letters exchanged with his wife while on active duty in the Civil War, it soon became clear that he would have to contend with inadequate provisions, boring camp routine and confusing orders. "The Fever", dysentery, measles and exposure were Dr. Bone's patients' main medical problems; his regiment was not involved in any serious fighting. When he resigned his commission on March 7, 1863, in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, he went back to Douglass, Texas, to practice medicine. Dr. Bone also bought cotton and cattle and took them to New Orleans each fall to be sold. Minerva was Post Mistress in Douglass from 1866-1867. Only six of the Bone's 12 children reached adulthood, and two of their sons graduated from the University at Nashville Medical School exactly 50 years after Dr. Bone did. At least eight of his descendants have followed him in serving the medical profession. (Aiken, Roy L. (Pete). "Bone Family." In Nacogdoches County Families, 172. Dallas, Tx.: Curtis Media Corporation, 1985.) |
| Scope and Content Note | Included in the collection of letters between Dr. Bone and Minerva are letters to the Bones from family and friends, report forms from the post office at Douglass, and two poems (probably written by Dr. Bone). Typescripts for most of the papers in the collection are in a booklet in Box 2. Several 19th century newspapers belonging to Dr. Bone are cataloged and shelved with the newspaper bundles. |
| Associated Dates |
1860-1869 |
| Type | Correspondence |
| Repository | East Texas Research Center |
| Repository Link | http://library.sfasu.edu/etrc/ |
| Transcript | March the 2nd 1862 State of Texas Nacogdoches Co. My Dear Husband, On Sunday evening - My Dear, I haven’t heard from you since you have been gone. I think it strange, the reason why I haven’t received a letter from you, I am uneasy. I heard a letter read from Harrison Wade today, no word about you. Oh, honey, how bad I want to hear from you. I thought I would wait until I got a letter from you, but can’t wait any longer. Times are getting worse and worse. There is a call here for every man that is able to go. Every man is going, so they say. Pa says he is going, I am afraid that he will go. I am afraid that we will have hard times here. We hear a heap of war news too tedious to mention. Honey, it seems hard that we have to be parted. It goes hard with me to stay away from you when times are like they are. This world would not be much pleasure to me without you. It looks like to me, if we could be spared to live together, we would be the happiest people in the world, yes, I know we would be, which I hope and pray for. Honey, pray for ourselves and [our] little boys, our land, and [our] country. We are not the only separated two in the world, no, not by a great quantity. Honey, you don’t know how often I think of you. Oh, how I wish I could get one sweet kiss, like that one was when you came home, and went in the room and lay down. Oh, honey, I can see you, it seems like. Oh, that precious face. I am well. Watson and Winsted are well. The rest of our folks are well, as far as I know. I went down to Foster’s next morning after you left; I saw the Reverend Armsted at a distance. [I] came back to Sidney’s next evening. Sam let your other gun go, Mr. Ham got it. Mr. Ham paid back that money paid Jeff Reynolds. Pa got a mule from Ham [for] one hundred and fifty dollars. Pa is putting a room to his house. He has two men helping him, Mr. Camel and Mr. Grant. He gives them a dollar-and-a-half a day. Mr. Winerd says he will saw our plank for good notes. Sam was here the other day, he said they were all well. I reckon [I] will go to Douglass next Tuesday. Write me all the news, tell me how you made out to get this. Honey, I want you to write as often as you can, for I like to get a letter from you. You can’t write too often to me. I will write oftener than I have, [I] think. Speak a kind word to Jim for me and tell him to be a good boy. Dr., I want to see you as bad as ever, for your Dear face comes up before my eyes so often. Honey, the love I have for you, no one can tell. I love you better than the whole world. Oh, may the good Lord bless us, and give us health and strength. Oh, may he spare us until we meet again, if it is his will. I hope and pray, if the good Lord calls us away, we will get to a better place. We will pray for that happy place, yes, I know we will. Goodbye my Dear, who is so near my heart. May the good Lord still permit us to love one another. G. M. Bone Ma wants me to write a few lines for her. I don’t like to do so, for I think it is her place to scratch up a few lines, she says she thinks Emily Isabel is one among the finest, she thinks. Ma says she is going to save you some sausage until you come home, let that be long or short, and Winsted is as fine a boy as comes along, and [she] has a fine pair of cards [that] cost only $31. All [are] in better health than we have been in a good while. Pa missed going to the war, which made joy at home, how long it will remain so, I don’t know. We hope a good while, but [are] fearful. John and Brittan are breaking up their land. The old lady Mayfield is dead, and Sydney Cummins and her sister Mary Burne are dead, and the old lady King is dead, and Miss Casslin and Miss Dikes. I will change the subject if she don’t write next time, I will tell a little joke. Fos and all got discharges and came home. [I] am glad for them, for I feel the pang myself, I know something about it. Poor Turnipseed, he makes his tongue sing. He sung around home among his Negroes until his throat is swelled up even, I reckoned what done it, I don’t know. We heard him up here, you can guess for yourself. I saw Miss N. Wade this morning. She told me to write to you, [and] for you to tell her boys that she has written them seven letters and received no letters, only one by Lewelling. Tell the Wades [and] the Russells their folk are all well. Tell Jim Paine howdy for me, and I would be so glad to see them all, for I know they all want to see home. I wish them all good luck and to be good boys. Honey, come if you can get off, for I want to see you so bad. How [I] wish you were here. How joyful my heart would be tonight, how happy I would be no one can ever tell. Sweet love, you are all my earthly treasure and joy. My life would be miserable [by] myself, but if God takes you away from me, or me from you, it will be His will, for He knows well I love you, and it is right I should, for you have been so good and kind, and have worshiped me as an idol. Your kind words are now ringing my ears, I can almost hear you say, “Minerva.” I can imagine I can hear the sounds, ringing in my ears everyday, of your kind words. Sweet and my Dearest love, see you again love. Enough of idle words, let us look to the Good for protection, may He be our guide while we stay on this earth, and take good care [of] us and keep us from all harm, and teach us how to do right and do our duty, and may He bless you with his choicest blessings until we meet again. Yours, as ever. Goodbye, my love. Yours, G. M. Bone This may be the last chance [I] will have to send to Nacogdoches. [I] wrote you last Sunday [and] sent my last letter to Nacogdoches. [I] don’t have [a] chance every time [to] write, anyhow, you write to me. |
| Rights | This item may be protected under Title 17 of the U.S. Copyright Law. It is available for non-commercial research and education. For permission to publish or reproduce, please contact the East Texas Research Center at asketrc@sfasu.edu. |
Description
| Title | Bone Letter, March 2, 1862 - page 1 |
| Collection Identifer | A9, Box 1, Folder 16 |
| Repository | East Texas Research Center |
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