griffing@fnal.gov
A
Letter
from David Thomas Richards
[click on image to enlarge]
Hyde
Park, [Pennsylvania]
March 11, 1865
Dear William,
It is with the greatest pleasure that I write to acknowledge the receipt of your letter which came to hand last night informing me that you had been paroled and [are] once more, as you say, in “God’s land.”
I can well believe you, at seeing the old flag and being released, that your emotions were such as but few ever experience. God grant that you [will] never be in their hands again. The last I heard from you was dated November 12 which I received about a month ago. I immediately answered it and sent you $20 in gold at your request, but I do not suppose you got it as Sherman soon after moved that way.
I have not heard from your folks any lately. About one month ago I think I got the last letter. They were then all well but very anxious about you, of course.
We
are all well here as when you last saw us, and all anxious to see you and bear a
hand at bringing you around again. So come as soon as you can. [
Give my best respects to D. Garhert and Thomas Evans. I sent T. Evans’ letter to his wife last night. She is well but has not heard from him in a long time and had almost given him up for dead.
As I expect to see you here soon, I will not enlarge so goodbye. Come on as soon as you can and let us have a grip of your fist ever more.
From your friend, -- D. T. Richards and the whole family
Footnotes
Need
to do some research on how common it was for prisoners of war to be able to send
letters home.
The reference to General Sherman's
approach suggests that William was imprisoned somewhere south of
Petersburg, possibly in Danville, Virginia, or some prison camp in South
Carolina.
Thomas Evans was a member of Company H, 2d
Pennsylvania Heavy Artillery. He was born in Wales in 1839. Prior to the war, he
resided in Plymouth, Luzerne, Pennsylvania and labored as a miner.
griffing@fnal.gov