Early September 1863

It has been unusually hot here for the past month, more so than normal,
being up here in the Mountains.  Almost like the firey War that rages
around us.  Life here goes on, as usual, a little tougher than one is
normally use to, but still we have managed to survive these hardships. 

The terrible toll that is taking on us all, is not only the loss of loved 
ones, from separation and loss of life, but also that of these feelings of 
ill will, towards our countrymen.  We are all still one people, but this 
War has drawn boundaries, that are clearly drawn, you are either for the
Confederate Cause of Independence or that of holding the Union together
at all costs, no matter what.  

Our Uncle Abraham, the one who owns Cursoe, due to all the Federal
activity in the area, has had to start hiding out, away from his family 
for their protection.  He hides in a place, back in the mountains, not 
quite sure where it is located, but Cursoe takes care of him, taking him 
food and water.  He is very loyal to Abraham.  There is a bond between 
the two of them that is hard to explain.  It must be true, all the gossip 
about him possibly being Abraham's son.  I can not see, a slave, having 
such devotion in his master as Cursoe does and in turn, Abraham to him.  
I will have to ask him one day, when the time is right about this.  

The Army of Tennessee is once again on the move.  It seems that we
are to receive some Fighting Generals I have heard tell of.  Our 
State Senator G.A. Henry had sent a letter to President Davis late in 
the spring, requesting one of General Lee's most trusted of Generals, 
that General Longstreet be sent here to assist General Bragg in the 
defense of Tennessee.  Seems "the fate of Virginia depends upon the 
defense of East Tennessee," or so I am told.  We understand that this 
movement of Longstreet's Corps took place on or about September 9th 
and that they moved the whole Division by rail, from Virginia.  To me, 
it seems an honor of sorts that we have been blessed with the presence 
of a Commander so qualified as that of General Longstreet.  It is the 
consensus of many officers here in Tennessee that General Bragg does 
not know what he is doing.  Many of them being reluctant to carry out 
his commands unless they know through their own intelligence that it is 
the right choice to do.  He has had several opportunities to crush 
General Rosecrans of the Federal Army, and each time it seems that he 
has slipped through his fingers.  I hear tell that they are concentrating 
on the other side of Chattanooga somewhere.