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Springfield MO. May 10th 1865
Dear Mother,
I am yet living and well, but ere the sun will have reached its midday
throne my spirit will have gone to God who gave it.
I am to be shot at ten o'clock today, according, as I am told, to the sentence of
a commission which tried me at Boonville in 1863 -- but I do not fear to die; I have
faced a thousand of the Enemy's muskets and have escaped unhurt, but the few
I must shortly meet will end my life and troubles. I hope you will not grieve to (sic)
much on my sad fate, for in a few years at most we will meet again. I would like
so much to see you all but it cannot be. I have done nothing for which you need
ever be ashamed.
Those principles of honor which it was ere your care to instill into my bosom
I have always cherished and practised but the close of this revolution has drawn
me into its vortex and I must perish. I have been permitted to have my likeness
taken to send to you . It is all you can see of me now. I hope you will only weep
for me with that tranquil sorrow which those feel who are conscious of many tender
ties and but few [illegible] prospects. I am in the hands of my Enemy and must
abide his mercy, be that great or small, though they have ere treated me with
kindness. The Rev. James M. Davidson has promised to write to you for me when
I am gone.
I must now bid you along farewell when last I saw you I hoped to see you once
more at leasrt, and had hoped the time was not much farther off -- but that meeting
must be in the other world.
Give my love to Sarah, Elisabeth, Archibald and Robert and tell them to remember
their affectionate Brother.
Good by to you all,
Charles Brownlee