April 11th.
You appear desirous to move for the sake of our dear boy. I wish you to do just as you please; you know I have perfect confidence in your judgment. All places are alike to me where my wife and child are with me. But, on the eve of so important an event as is about to occur with me, I advise you to hold on until you see the result. God dispenses His will according to His judgment, and not according to our wishes or expectations. The defeat of our army at Corinth, which I saw in the rebel papers, will give us a much harder fight; men are easily elated or depressed by victory. But as to being prepared for defeat, I certainly am not. Any man who is prepared for defeat would be half defeated before he commenced. I hope for success; shall do all in my power to secure it, and trust to God for the rest. I trust in Him as a merciful being; but really in war it seems as if we hardly ought to expect mercy, when men are destroying one another upon questions of which He alone is the judge. Motive seems to constitute right and wrong.
