Cairo, Illinois
The following letter from Ed Richmond to Mary Van Ness shows that he could be quite eloquent when the occasion demanded it.
ED TO MARY:
Camp Randall Sept 15, 4o'clock 1864
Dear Mary
I have at this moment received your kind letter which relieved me very much. I just as much expected to meet you once as I live. Yet such is disappointment. I have not time to write one minute as the drummer has already beat. I send you my Photograph such as it is, and hope I shall receive yours in return quickly.
Dear Mary here is a ring I expected to place upon your finger, but I cannot will you place it there remembering my love for you is as endless as this pledge.
If I had bid you good bye the other day I should feel a great deal better, but remember I think no less of you. If I could see you and talk with you once more I could go to Washington feeling well, but you know we cant calculate. Good Bye Dear Mary. Write often and remember your best friend on earth.
Ed
P.S. George wants to start and I must go Good Bye