Wiley Pope Hale letter, 1842

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Letter from Wiley Pope Hale at the U.S. Military Academy, West Point, New York, to his mother Harriet A. Hale, dated April 19, 1842. The letter is incomplete.

The letter reads:

[page 1]

United States Military

West Point N.Y.

April 19th 1842

My Dear Mother

I have just this moment opened your affectionate letter and I have immediately laid aside my books for the purpose of answering it and I am truly happy my dear Mother that in doing so I am able to relieve your mind from any apprehensions you may have entertained from the certificate of the Engineer Department refered to in your letter. But I am at present so agitated at the thought of what must have been your feelings when you read the report, that I am affraid you will hardly be able to read what I write. In the first place the report of my having used spiritous liquors is entirely false which originated entirely through a mistake of one of the Officers of the Army attached to the Military Academy. It seems that sometime about last Christmas some Cadets had procured some ardent spirits and becoming somewhat merry - and one of them made a good deal of noise at a concert given in the Mess Hall by the West Point Band - an officer happened to notice him from the lower end of the room – supposed him to be myself on account of the Corporal’s Chevrons which [page 2] he wore upon his arm. The officer sometime afterwards reported the circumstance to the Superintendent and said that he suspected the person to be Cadet Hale but that he was not certain. Nothing more was said of the matter untill a bout two months after when I learned that the Superintendent had reported it to the War Department - when I immediately repaired to Maj. Delafield and denied the charge and explained everything to his satisfaction. So dear Mother you may feel perfectly at ease on that subject and rest assured that your son never has nor never will dissipate whilst he remains at the Point. As to my demerit I will merely say that you made a slight mistake in reading it for instead of 115 it was only 1 1/5 (one demerit and one fifth part of a demerit) one fifth being added on the demerit of all Cadets for the 2nd year. I have less demerit than anyone in my class - as proof of which I am a Cadet Corporal and Dick Hays can inform you that no Cadet is ever made a Corporal unless he stands very high in good conduct. I presume I have written enough on this subject - I will proceed with my letter - I was particulary blest with letters by to day's mail – having received beside your kind letter one from my dear grandmother [page 3] Woods and one from Mary & George Tate in Missouri – Mother! I could not refrain from shedding tears when I read grand Ma 's letter she seemed so much grieved at the idea of your not returning to V[irgini]a and seems to think I am coming to live with her next summer - she says that she is going to plant a large water melon patch especially for my benefit - the other news contained in her letter was that grand Ma Hale's health was much improved - that Harriet Woods was to be married to Bob Early - Emily Taliaferro was lately married to Ferdinand Claiborne - Dillard was broke all to pieces - Uncle Sam was a candidate again for the Legislature - Poor Jo Peter's health was very bad she said that she did not think he would ever recover - Mrs. Tate wrote me a very friendly and affectionate letter indeed and I was truly glad to hear from her and George - She wrote that poor Henry Tate was no more - which you have heard before. She said that she had lately paid a visit to Mrs. Tomlin who appeared to be quite contented with her situation and was quite cheerful. George added a short postscript to Mary’s letter - he said he had succeeded in inventing a machine for thrashing hemp and requested me to make him a perspective [page 4] drawing of it - as he intended to apply to the Legislature of Missouri for a patent - which I expect I shall do when he sends me a description of the machine. Mary requests me to give her a description of my adventures in Texas when I write - she seemed to be under the idea that I must have been heart-broken at Josephine's marriage - and really thinks that I was once in love with Jo. I expect however that she is mistaken there –

I for got to mention that Grand Ma said something in her letter about the division of Grand Pa's estate which I could not make out well-

Tell Sarah I received her profile from Mr. Tomlin - and I take a long look at it every day for I consider it a very striking likeness. Who drew it? tell her I have commenced copying it to paint and will bring it home with me that she might judge how far I have succeeded. I flatter myself that I draw tolerably well - I am very glad that you sent me your permission for without it I could not have come - I have written so far that I find I will have to take another sheet to envellope it - but I fear that I have written already more than you can read - for it is [rest of letter missing]

Identifier

sc.0024.001_001.001

Date

1842 April 19

Subjects

Hale, Wiley Pope, 1821-1847.

Recommended Citation

"Wiley Pope Hale letter, 1842" (2021). Letters. 1.
https://digitalcommons.memphis.edu/speccoll-mss-halewp1/1