FEINBERG/WHITMAN GENERAL CORRESPONDENCE Kirkwood, James P. [1864] (DCN150) Box 12 Folder 13for J P Kirkwood 44 Union Square New York City [[was thinking] I forget whether I wrote to you [about] acknowledging the receipt of the $10 [contributed] sent for the wounded & sick. 1st Feb. [but perhaps not] - It came safe - also the $5 [in the note of] [last week also came] you sent some [since] ten days since [As with] [all such] [very] My dear sir, your [welcome]contributions [they are, applied to the] are very very welcome - they go to the direct sustenance, cheer [&] & comfort or [help] of special cases of wounded & [sick each after its kind.] [special] [experienced] I have [has] now been over a year personal on the wounded. I find that application [&] tact & insight, with entire sympathy are the [greatest] [requirements] only [neither] precious [worth] in [ministering to the] [men] effectual in hospitals - every [th] case wants [its] some peculiar adaptation - to some some [artic] little article purchased - may the tender hand & word, oft repeated, never slack, up, till [this] danger is past. [we think here] the talk here is that Grant is going to make things hop in this region presently - [Our] The idea is that [he] the means of railway transportation between here & the southwest are to be increased to the extremest practical degree, so that he can swing large bodies to & fro, with unprecdented dispatch, & have the use of the Army, in either quarter, at a few days notice. [They say] we hear he (Grant) thinks it indispensable that we should smash Lee & the Richmond juntaSome, [though quite low] while prostrated, are out of money, & too proud to speak of it, to these a little gift of two or three — to some a little tobacco is a great [gift] [a] treasure. [[Tawne] poor spirited] [persons or] any thing like beggars or deceivers, are [almost unknown] very rare—indeed I dont meet one a fortnight. [They] The soldiers are nearly altogether young American men [mostly] [nearly altogether] of decent breeding, farmers' sons [only consiously] ordinarily educated, but well behaved & their young hearts full of manliness & candor. & [well behaved] [one] [one] Their condition makes [the a peculiar] [gets so attached to them] deepest attachments under their sufferings & wounds often brought right to the bitterness of death. Some, [special cases] indeed, one feels to love [very] deeply, & they return it with interest. I am at this time [Since I last wrote you] I have lately been down [to the] [are a s]front, on a short tour through the Army, part of the time being in camp among the men, (I know a great many soldiers in the ranks) part part -- & [have] [to] visiting the division hospitals. The hospitals in the field are at present thin—the main cases are here. The condition of the Army the past winter has been surpassingly good—(go on with acc't) I write this in hospital having leisure here. I am sitting by the side of a [Marine] soldier of the 6th Marines -- he had his leg amputated lately [There are] The sick are coming in pretty freely here, poor wrecks and phantoms -- a sign of action as they are breaking up the field hospitals. One's heart bleeds for them. Every day I am among them as usual. I desire you if you have any friends able [&] to send me aid, & that feel to do so that you would show them this letter, as I would like more means. It shall be sacredly this summer; though more for our prestige [more] than for any practical need of Richmond as a [locale] locality. [About] [The] I can assure you from personal knowledge that the Army of the Potomac is in splendid condition, physically & in soul, - it has now the fibre of [a] the most veteran [army] troops, one of the historic armies. It is very youthful. I think well of Meade. He is very cautious & conscientious, yet very alert. (would be [great] perfect if he fused those qualities with the [destruction,] lighting of [sublime] audacity & venting all [our] [when fully needed,] but he has not that. When it was worth it dangerous but necessary crows merit, Napoleon's,)I make no calculations on the course [nature & resu] result of the ensuing summer campaign, except that I I believe it will be vehement. Meantime we are liable at any moment to have an incipient caving in of the south parts of it like North Carolina but the shrewd ones here still reckon on a desperate fight of the Richmond junta ferocious [staking] caring is things with a [a] high hand [yet] [some] while yet as ever the ensuing year I see the President often I think better of him [for] than many do. He has conscience & homely shrewdness - [than] [most. He] [is] conceals an enormous [obstinacy] tenacity under [a] his mild gawky, [rude] western manner. The difficulties of his situation have been unprecedented in [the history of nations] the history of statesmanship. That he has conserved the government so far is a miracle of itself. The difficulties have not been the south alone The north [itself] has been [is] & [is] yet [as] honeycombed with semi -secesh sympathisers [venemous &] [always] ever ready to [sting] undermine - & I am [half] half disposed to predict that after the war closes, we shall see bevies of star-straps, two or three of our own Major Generals [will be] shot for treachery, & full deserve their fate.