My dear Edward
As I have received no
news of you since your establishment in Botetourt, & as little, Pres
excepted, of any other member of the family, & as you had little
information of me, it seems to be high time for a renewal of the intercourse
that was once maintained between us. I want to know how you are succeeded in
your combined operations, agricultural & tutorial. I want to hear something
of Lizzie too Of Jane; Harvey M. & little Lou & if tidings of the
general & Bev can reach you, to say nothing of Syd. Transmit them to me.
In return for all this
(in anticipation rather) I will now tell you that I have been in this vicinity
a fortnight & shall probably be [occupi]ed here until the end of the
season. Having, like yourself, a double occupation. The improvement of Black
River, & a Military survey in this vicinity, after the completion of which,
one of the same character is to be made about French Mills, a little east of
St. Regis, thought to be an important military point on the frontier. Then I
shall turn my face southward for the winter.
I have been intending to
write to you for 4 or 5 months, but my occupations have never left me long
enough in any one place, for the purpose. For I never write without some
prospect of a reply. Indeed since leaving Maine I have been so often vagrant as
never to be able to guess where the next week might find me. I can venture to
say now tho’ that you may safely direct to this place.
There was a time, Ned,
when you kept the lead in our correspondence.
But that was long ago. You seem now inclined to yield that place to me.
From a just perception of my merits you are perhaps disposed to promote me on
the family list, & put me above yourself. Or perhaps you are too lazy. If
so, depute Lizzie to give me occasional intelligence of friends & kindred.
The little Jade promised me to be very dutiful & regular in correspondence
with me, & yet my first & only communication is still unanswered.
I saw Pres at W. P.
[West Point] a month ago. He seemed much better satisfied than I was at the
same stage. He has written to me lately too, & reports his bodily health
& spirits to be very tolerable. I have high expectations of the boy. I
think he’ll do his family credit.
But however he may
succeed in his studies, it is certain that no one better deserves the warm
affection of kindred. The little fellow had such a heart as is rarely found.
Nothing in my life has afforded me such gratification as my intercourse with
him – no one can understand it who does not live as I do. If I could keep
Lizzie & Pres with me the prettiest damsels in the world might all go hang
themselves. I’d want no one of them.
Can’t we arrange a
meeting in Botetourt this winter? Ask Bev & the Gen’l what has become of
the horse Harry Mitchell? My love to Minnie[?].
Affecy
J.E. Johnston
[Joseph Eggleston
Johnston (1807-1891) was thirty-two at the time, a first lieutenant (brevet
captain) in the US Corps of Topographical Engineers.
Edward William Johnston
(1799-1867) was attempting to run a school at Botetourt Springs (now the site
of Hollins University) on the property formerly owned by their uncle Charles
Johnston (1769-1833). Nickname here = Ned.
Pres = John Preston
Johnston/aka Johnstone (1824-1847), fifteen-year-old plebe cadet at the US
Military Academy (Class of 1843).
Lizzie = Eliza Mary
Johnston (1825-1909). Little Jade = a literary allusion to Daniel Defoe. The
epithet also appeared in The Monthly Chronicle; A National Journal of Politics,
Literature, Science, and Art, Volume II. July-December 1838. (London: Longman,
et alia, 1838), page 130.
Jane = Jane Mary Wood
Johnston (1811-1892)
Harvey M. = Harvey
Manning Mitchell (1799-1866)
Little Lou = Mary Louisa
Mitchell (1838-1930)
The general = Peter Carr
Johnston, general in the Virginia militia.
Bev = Beverly Randolph
Johnston (1803-1876)
Syd = Algernon Sidney Johnston
(1801-1852)
Minnie = presumably
Marie Antoinette Estelle Costar Johnston (1802-1848), more usually called
Estelle.][Many thanks to Sue Davis, William Myers, Mary Davy and Sally Young for their ongoing research collaboration.]
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