The letter below was not written by an ancestor and was only related by marriage. I received the letter from Sandra Gray Brenneman. Sandra is a descendant of Dempster Darrow and one of my second cousins. Dempster Darrow, was a brother of Frances Darrow, who was the grandmother of my mother, Frances Louise Berlin. Dempster would have been a grand uncle of my mother. 

L. B. Cornwell was the father of Susanna. Dempster Darrow married Susanna Cornwell in 1874. This would have been eleven years after her father wrote the letter appearing below.  

The following letter was written by L. B. Cornwell, Co. B I2th, Reg. Wis. Vol.
to his family while serving in the Civil War.

Tenn. Feb.26, 1863

My Dear Children;

As I am thinking of you, a great deal, I will write a few lines to let you know I am well and mindful of you. No one knows the love and care, the hopes and fears for his children but a father who loves them. you are the ones of my greatest care. It is for you that I have left my home and denied myself of all the comforts of life. It is for you I am here to fight the battles of liberty, to establish the laws of justice and leave you in possession of the many and the great blessings that our fore fathers left to me, that is life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. If I can obtain these ends, I shall be satisfied.

My dear children, I am here in the land of the enemy where they seek my life. They are the common enemy of our great, good and holy institutions that our fore fathers fought, suffered, bled and died for and as those great and good principles are set at naught by a subtle foe of our country. I have shouldered my rifle and been ready to meet them in your behalf, knowing, as I do, that I am liable to fall a victim to the enemy’s bullets. I wanted to write a letter to you and tell you that I do love you with a kind father’s love. I have hopes of living to return to you but we do not know the results of cruel war. And I thought if it should be my fate to fall; thereby depriving me of ever seeing or speaking to you again, that a letter like this would be long remembered by you.

I was on picket guard last night and while standing all alone surrounded by the black darkness of night, your bright eyes were visible before me. You are young and need the care of a good father and one who would look to your good and your welfare and my prayer is to God, who holds the destinies of the Nation in His hands, that he will spare me to return to you that I may be of good service to you; Also, that He will keep you from the evils of this vain world, for when I think of the many snares and vices of this world, I fear for your safety. But, my dear ones, a great deal of your future happiness depends upon yourselves. I know that you have a good and kind mother who will always try to help you to be good and make you happy. I also know that you are naturally willing to be good children, therefore, I have reason to hope you will become good and wise through the instructions of your mother. It can always be assured that your mother knows what is best for you.

I am pleased with the progress in your books. I think you are learning to read fast, and it pleases me well. I was highly pleased that Rispa could spell the school down and hope you all may do likewise, for nothing would be more gratifying than to see you emerge from childhood into manhood and womanhood, bright specimens of humanity. God grant that you may, my dear children. It may be that I shall never see you again, and the object of this letter, in such a case, is that you may have something from you indulgent father to remember him by. If you would be good and happy children you must love your parents and each other and learn to love the Lord, for He is your Savior. He loved you and died—that you might live, and He says," Suffer little children to come unto me and forbid them not, for of such is the Kingdom of Heaven. It makes no difference, whether I die here or at home, I shall want to meet you, all, there.

I shall, also expect to see little Mary and Bennie F. , who have gone on before. I hope to be permitted to have one unbroken family there, but I hope to spend a few happy years with you on earth, where all of us can kneel around the family altar to praise God or His delivering. grace. Good—by , dear children, for this time,—this to Rispa, Newton, Ella, Olive, Susanna, Christopher, and to my beloved wife, Charlotte.

From a loving husband and father to his family,

L.B. Cornwall,
Company B 12th Reg. Wis. Vol.