William goes to Chillicothe. The railroad employees have struck; troublous times are these. Letter from Clara. She needs help. Can we extend it to her? I do not know but we shall all be swamped. Let us submit -- patience, patience! God knows what is best.
Mr. and Mrs. Munsell came today. They have sold their property in Illinois and will probably remain in Ohio. She has told me enough about Clara and the west to convince me that Illinois is not El Dorado.
George E. Cutler, the only son of my late brother, Charles, has enlisted in the 17th regiment O.V.M. [Ohio Volunteer Militia] and is now at Camp Anderson near Lancaster. He is an orderly sergeant. The Union Blues went down on the cars today. We waved to them and they hurrahed as they passed. The 14th regiment left sixty six in camp. Sarah is going to offer to assist in nursing. She thinks of Rufus and is doing as she wishes to have him done by, if away from friends sick. I wrote to Clara today.
Editor's comments:
Julia had a great many family concerns on her mind today.
Her brother William was an officer on the board of the Marietta and Cincinnati Rail Road and striking railroad workers would disrupt railroad service. The M&C Rail Road meetings were held in Chillicothe, Ohio.
Clara is Julia's youngest sister. Clara had married when she was 30, bore 5 children, and was 45 in 1861. She lived in Pana, Illinois, which was about 500 miles due west of Marietta, Ohio.
Julia's half-brother, Charles Cutler, was born in 1792 and died heading west to California in 1849.
Julia's sister Sarah Cutler Dawes was the mother of Rufus R. Dawes who had raised a company of volunteers in Wisconsin, where he had been working for his father. He was to begin service as Captain in Company K, 6th Wisconsin Volunteers, but in late May, 1861, Rufus was still in Wisconsin, awaiting orders. On May 27, Rufus' mother, Sarah Cutler Dawes wrote to him from Marietta:
All of the first ladies in the city have given their names to nurse or furnish supplies for the sick. As yet we have no system, but hope to get organized in a day or two. The hospital is an old brick building near the Fair ground. There are thirty-nine sick men there to-day, and they are far from comfortable. But the Citizens are sending in things every day and we shall soon get fixed. Most of the men are sick with the measles. There is one case of typhoid fever. Another regiment (18th Ohio) came in to-day. Everybody is making bandages, lint, and Havelock caps. L___ has made five and a half dozens of plasters of mutton tallow, spread on linen rags, four inches square and done up neatly in oiled silk, very acceptable, the surgeons say.
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