Letter. [Sarah Stilson], Rochester, New York, to "My orderly correspondent and Quadratic soldier friend" [Oliver Waldo West], Suffolk, Virginia, 1862 September

File — Box: 1, Folder: 10

Identifier: MSN/CW 5061-10

Staff Only

Letter. [Sarah Stilson], Rochester, New York, to &quot;My orderly correspondent and Quadratic soldier friend&quot; [Oliver Waldo West], Suffolk, Virginia, Page 1

Letter. [Sarah Stilson], Rochester, New York, to "My orderly correspondent and Quadratic soldier friend" [Oliver Waldo West], Suffolk, Virginia, Page 1

Letter. [Sarah Stilson], Rochester, New York, to "My orderly correspondent and Quadratic soldier friend" [Oliver Waldo West], Suffolk, Virginia, Page 2 and 3

Letter. [Sarah Stilson], Rochester, New York, to "My orderly correspondent and Quadratic soldier friend" [Oliver Waldo West], Suffolk, Virginia, Page 4

Letter. [Sarah Stilson], Rochester, New York, to "My orderly correspondent and Quadratic soldier friend" [Oliver Waldo West], Suffolk, Virginia, Page 5

Letter. [Sarah Stilson], Rochester, New York, to "My orderly correspondent and Quadratic soldier friend" [Oliver Waldo West], Suffolk, Virginia, Page 6 and 7

Letter. [Sarah Stilson], Rochester, New York, to "My orderly correspondent and Quadratic soldier friend" [Oliver Waldo West], Suffolk, Virginia, Page 8

Letter. [Sarah Stilson], Rochester, New York, to "My orderly correspondent and Quadratic soldier friend" [Oliver Waldo West], Suffolk, Virginia, Envelope

Scope and Contents

Stilson celebrates the news of the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, declaring: "I never have been "Abolitionist" until lately, but I am now. There! If I've incurred your everlasting displeasure and aroused your wrath to the annihilating pitch,—I stand annihilated, but am Abolitionist (!) . . . . Thank God and Lincoln! Emancipation to the enslaved! "Unconstitutional" no longer! Liberty universal where there is victory." She discourages West's ambition to be an officer: "Don't aspire to be lieutenant very soon for these lieutenants in young regiments are picked off and killed as soon as they go upon the field." Includes a song of her own composition, entitled "Soldier's Lullaby."