January  1861

Returned to duty from my leave back home in Virginia. Got back on 
December 26th. It feels good to get back out west......to my company 
here at New San Diego Barracks. Was made post commander upon my arrival, 
a pleasant surprise. 

It feels good to get away from all the tension back in Virginia.....
everyone wondering if Virginia will secede and join the growing number 
of Southern states that have formed the Confederate States of America.  
That’s all everyone talked about during my leave, especially since South 
Carolina called it quits. I really feel that Virginia will not secede from 
the union since the majority of the founding fathers came from our great 
state. How could our state call it quits when we were so instrumental in 
forming the union in the first place.  Although this issue of states rights 
does carry some weight with a lot of the people there.  I agree that the 
founding fathers...Washington...Jefferson...all felt that the central 
government should only be the thing that draws us together, not the strong 
government that tells the states what to do.  This may be the "straw that 
will break the camels back" and lead us out of the union. I pray that this 
does not happen for I will have forced to make the hardest decision of my 
life...to stay with the military that I have served for the past 22 
years...or to follow my state.