[Draft] Oak Forest 14 Apl. 1864 My beloved Child, I know you have reason to conclude that I have almost forgotten you, to judge from [inserted: the] infrequency of my letters to you; but nothing could be more erroneous than such an idea - When you were here you know how much trouble I had. Well, that was nothing to my trials and troubles since. I am now just through the final settlement with the hands and it has been an unpleasant affair but with the assistance of the Provost Marshal the thing has been accomplished I would promise to write oftener but am afraid I might not be able to do so. I have charged Sarah to write regularly as she has now plenty of time - You have heard of course that she is in town Comfortably fixed and the children at a good French & English School - I do not expect to be able to spend a great deal of my time in the city as my business demands too much of it here - We are planting cotton & corn, the former a [seed] crop to most of the hands and improvements are to be used to [suit] it - I am going to put the Gin in the sugar house at Greenwood - We are as uncertain as to our business matters now as ever & live under a government which subjects every Citizen to the will of any officer who happens to be a Provost Marshal at the time, be it for a day a week or a year! American ideas of liberty have totally changed since this Negro War began & education for them is soon to be the order of the Day by Regular Military order. Whilst as far as I know the white [2] Children are to grow up in ignorance or mix in the same cabin with the Negro with the same Yankee Marm for the teacher! How much farther this system is to go is broadly hinted at in the newspapers of the North with what real foundation I have as yet no means of judging but with the prevailing tendency to fanaticism at the North I would not be at all surprised if "miscegenation" became the fashion as well as the sentiment of those people. You must write to your brothers in full, all the news, which might prove interesting to them: I never write to one of them as the [medium] of Communication is too uncertain - I hear of them at long intervals - the latest information is that they are all well and that Hart is yet a Prisoner & sent to Fort Delaware which it is understood is a great Amelioration of his condition of what is was at Columbus. I go to Mr. [Ortam] in the morning and shall send this by Mrs. Wisdom who and her five little boys leave on the Morning Star for N. York on the 16th and thence to L. Pool without much delay - We are unalterably fixed to our present boundaries by the law of "Military Necessity" and only wish that we may be as well off as we are at the end of the present year. I dread the [events] of the immediate future full as it is of [portent] events for good or evil to all - You no doubt look with painful anxiety [inserted: to] the fate of those most dear to us in the Conflict of Arms which cannot be very far off in the future - You have the best chances to read results and can not send any information from this remote [3] quarter - Jane was here a few minutes ago and asks to be remembered to you & says she is still here and likely to remain. Since your sisters arrived I have never seen Jane out of temper; no one need want a better servant as she is now. We had a nice [mess] of straw berries today Green Peas & asparagus - The orange trees are most killed at the top but some will bear fruit: of Plums & [Nectarines] we shall have plenty perhaps Peaches: Miss Henrietta [Boutiton] will be married soon it is understood & not denied - [Ryan] Easton is with Sarah. Octavia Caroline's appoplectic [sic] fits are becoming more frequent & of course more dangerous - they are terrible. I will possibly add a Post Cript when I reach Mr. [Ortams]. I shall write Mrs Bell as soon as I can get time to muster a few ideas without the embarrassment from disagreeable business mean time I trust you make no difficulty in yielding to her Authority & judgment in all that concerns your interests - I beg to be presented in kindest terms to Mrs B. [Wishes] Carry & [Coon]- And to Mr M. O. H. N. if in Paris and to his daughters - George I understand [forms] a part of [R. L. S.'s] military family and no doubt sustaining his reputation as a fair officer & soldier Accept the tender love of your Devoted Father T. G -