Letter from William Hardy to his wife, Sallie Hardy; 21 August 1861

              Manassas, Virginia 
August 21 st, 1861

My Dear Sallie,

After a long and anxious period of one month, I received your letter of the 4th [of] August directed to Richmond. You may rest assured that I was proud of the unaccustomed visitor who brought tidings from my dear now more than fifteen hundred miles from me. I have for the last five or six days been gloomy and dull. A dark and somber cloud seems to hover over my spirits and darken the bright sky and sunshine of happiness and contentment. Anything would be a relief to me, and I would hail an order to meet the enemy in deadly combat with pleasure. This sad yet desperate feeling has been produced by a combination of causes. First, this place, though it has in and around it 125,000 troops, yet it seems isolated as we see none but our own regiment scarcely and won't till we are brigaded. Hence there is a monotony about the camp that is really irksome. Second, it has rained here for ten days and the mud is shoe-mouth deep in our street. Third, I had to perform duty in this rain and mud as Officer of the Day, being up at night, etc., which threw me into a fever, and I am now reported on the sick list, though I am up.