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May 4, 1861 - Rufus R. Dawes to (Sister)
Click for full-sized scanned image Mauston, Juneau Co., Wis. May 4th, 1861. I have been so wholly engrossed with my work for the last week or I should have responded sooner to your question: "Are you going?" If a kind Providence and President Lincoln will permit, I am. I am Captain of as good, and true a band of patriots as ever rallied under the star spangled banner. We hope to get into the third or fourth regiment, and if old Abe will but give a fair and merited share in the struggle to Wisconsin, we will see active service. The men expect and earnestly desire to go, and wait impatiently their turn. I shall esteem it an honor, worth a better life than mine, to be permitted to lead them in this glorious struggle. I am in hourly dread of hearing of some violence offered you on the border, and wish I might be permitted to bring to you, in your peril, some as strong hands and as true hearts as the Badger State can boast^[1]. (To view this page in its Source Category, click HERE)

↑ This is what I heard from home. Letter from my mother dated Marietta, Ohio, April 28, 1861:

April 28, 1861 - Sarah Cutler (Mother) to Rufus Dawes
Click for full-sized scanned image Marietta, Ohio April 28, 1861 "Governor Dennison has sent six cannon and two companies of the regular army to Marietta. Your Uncle (William P. Cutler) has not joined the Silver Greys for he will have to go to Congress in two months. He is one of the Committee of Safety. Business is prostrated, yet the people are hopeful and seem determined at all hazards to sustain the Government. Provisions here are abundant and cheap. The excitement is so great and so entirely engrossing that all other subjects are dismissed. People recognize the hand of God in these things and feel thankful that the North is right. To-day at church the soldiers marched in and took the front seats. What a sight for Marietta! The Ohio river perhaps will be the border. Before the end of the week there will be thousands of troops quartered in Marietta. I despair of giving you any idea of the excited state of things here." (To view this page in its Source Category, click HERE)

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