May 24, 1863
In this letter to F. W. Gunn,
Goodyear begins by telling the story of his meeting with Gilless. They
met while Charles was on guard duty, and he felt bad that he was unable to have
an intimate conversation with him. Charles continues to say that he is
going to meet up with Gilless in Washington to talk. Gilless is a local
boy, and was a student of Mr. Gunn, though according to Charles, he will not be
going back to the school. He then talks of how Gilless had a prejudice
against the northerners, and that both concluded that there is good among all
people. The humor of Goodyear is especially prevalent in this
letter, as he goes on to describe Lieutenant Colonel White. Charles
describes him as an ineffectual commander, and talks about his poor diction
when running drills. He talks about the current affairs of the army,
including the apparent effort of the government to censor the press reports of a Union loss. Charles sees little point
to it. He once again winds down his letter by talking about the everyday matters,
and people that they are both familiar with. He finally asks for certain
text books so that he can help ease his boredom while at the fort and further
his education.
A7268 is the identification number of the document for the archivist.
A7268 is the identification number of the document for the archivist.