Addressed to Mrs. John W. Piper, Silsbee St., Lynn, Mass., by Mr. [David R.] Stacey
November 9th 1864
Dear Wife,
I have a letter of yours lying before me which bears date of the 6th in which you ask my opinion about your coming here. In the first place, I want to see you & I suppose you want to see me. And as you [have] a house hired & have not been from home much, I think that the journey would do you more good than a journey [home] would do me. And besides all this, there are a great many things to be seen here in Washington which would interest you a great deal. It is quite a thing to see Washington. And if you did [not] improve this opportunity, you may never have one. And therefore, I would say come out with John McHenry on the 14th & I would like to have you make calculation to stay 3 or 4 weeks. Never mind, come & leave all things behind and make up your mind to have a good time. I have a room where you can stay if you will only sleep with me & fix as I do. Your expenses need not be very heavy while out here.
We are going to have a Thanksgiving dinner & we would like to have you out here to help us about it. I don’t feel as though I was hardly competent to boss it as it should be done. If we get up a dinner, I want to have a good one — as good a one as we could have in Massachusetts.
There is one of our boys going home tomorrow & I will send this by him. ¹ This is the fellow that I told you before that was sick in the hospital & the doctor said was brooding. I guess he will get married this time & then perhaps he will feel better. If you get this before you send the money, don’t send it. Bring it out with you.
Now you had better make up your mind to come out with John & write me as soon as you get this. You had better see Bennett & see how he had those boxes directed & whether he took a receipt for them. If he did not, have him get one. They have not arrived yet. I have been to the freight & to Adams Express Office & they are not there.
Now I shall make up my mind to have you come out here & I want you should make up your mind that you are not coming to a palace & not to get homesick. You wrote that you had sent my overcoat & vest &c. [but] you did not mention my dress coat. If you did not send it, you had better bring it out with you as this looks rather rusty and more than likely we shall stay here this winter & if we do, I shall want to attend church. And I shall want to dress up a little to go round with you when you are here. I will make up my mind about taking a furlough after you get out here. If you can stop 15 or 20 days till after Thanksgiving, I will have a furlough & go home with you & we will make a stop in New York if it is so we can. I think you will never have a better time to come & see this place.
A “horsecar” in front of the U. S. Capitol
Mr. [Thomas W.] Jenness will be likely to have a furlough & go home with us. You had not better make any pies & cakes. I wrote you in one letter but you can help make them out here. You had better come out dressed to stay warm for it will be a little chilly nights. Now I have made up my mind to have you come & don’t disappoint me. Write & tell me when you will start & I will be at the depot to receive you. If I should not be there when you come, take the horsecars ² at the depot & come right to Georgetown as far as you can ride in the cars & I will be there somewhere to find you. You had better see William & have him get you 2 or hundred dollars. If you can’t get it handy, I shall not want it a great while. But the boys are wanting many things & I can do well to get them for them. Now I shan’t rest very easy till I hear from you and you must not decide in any other way than to come out. If you don’t think that you get richly paid for it, then I shall be sorry. You will have to have a pass in Washington to get over the river. I will find and get you one. So I will bid you goodnight with the hope of seeing you.
— J. W. Piper
¹ Pvt. David Robinson Stacey (1843-Aft1910) served with Piper in Co. L, 4th Massachusetts Heavy Artillery. David was the son of David and Mary Stacey of Lynn Ward 3, Essex county, Massachusetts. He was married on 24 November 1864 to Mary E. G. Stevens. A notice published in the Boston Herald on 15 May 1892: “David R. Stacey, an old resident of Lynn is missing from home since the early part of last week. Stacey is a shoe cutter.”
² The “horsecars” (or “streetcars”) were horse-drawn passenger cars that ran on tracks down the center of the streets in Washington D. C. The first streetcar in Washington D.C. ran from the Capitol to the State Department beginning in July 1862. It expanded to full operations from the Navy Yard to Georgetown in October 1862. Another line opened in November 1862 along 7th Street NW from N Street NW to the Potomac River.
Tough as a Pitch Pine Knot 