Todd-Dawson-006
Dalton, May 2, 1861
My Dear Elodie, I have been greatly disappointed every day at not receiving a letter from you. This evening I am again denied the pleasure; the deferred hope has made my heart sick. We leave for Lynchburg tomorrow, and I hope indeed that letters will be there awaiting me from one who is so essential to my happiness. No minute passes but that your image is not before me, recalling the beautiful charmer that has again awakened me to life.
We have at last organized our regiment. Col. Jones [1] of Huntsville, Colonel; E. M. Law [2], Lieut. Col.; Charles L. Scott [3], a private from my company, Major. My company would not allow me to be elected, and I now feel quiet and contented again, but I confess it was a trial to resist the temptation. I am almost unwilling to send you such a scrawl as this, but if you are like me, it will be a pleasure to read anything from you.
After a speech made yesterday at the May celebration, I received from a fair young maiden a beautiful wreath of mountain laurel and flowers. I wish I could send it to crown the tresses of my own dear Elodie, but Hope permits me to [dream of] a happy reunion with her, when she will be the genius of my home and the beautiful bride of my affections.
Farewell Love. May God preserve and protect you.
From your affectionate,
N. H. R. Dawson
- Egbert J. Jones (1818-1861) of Huntsville, Alabama, had helped raise the Fourth Alabama and was appointed its first colonel, though he did not have the full confidence of his men. 1860 U.S. Federal Census, Huntsville, Madison, Ala.
- Evander M. Law (1836-1920) was born in South Carolina and moved to Alabama to run a military preparatory school. 1860 U.S. Federal Census, Darlington, S.C.
- Major Charles Lewis Scott (1827-1899) was born in Richmond and served as a congressman from Virginia but met and married a young woman he met in Mobile, Alabama. He resigned his seat in Congress with the outbreak of war and joined the Fourth Alabama as a major. Charles L. Scott, Adventures of Charles L. Scott, Esq., ed. Kathy McCoy (Monroeville, Ala.: Monroe County Heritage Museums, 1997).
