Riverside (near) Estill Springs, Tenn.
 October 1st 1872

My dear madam,
 Although I have never enjoyed the pleasure of personal intercourse with you, yet I
feel that we are not altogether strangers, & that knowing the soft sympathies of endearing
friendship that existed between Genl. Anderson & myself, you will not deem it an
obtrusion that I desire to express to you my condolence and sympathy at the sad
bereavement which his death has occasioned. Alas! My mind is utterly depressed an
bewildered at its total immobility of expression, & I shrink from indulging in mere
hackneyed commonplace generalizations to one who I feel is entitled to a preeminence in
sorrow.
 Genl. Anderson was the dearest friend I had on earth. His inner life (pure &
unsullied) lay open before me, & my highest aspirations

Transcribed by Christopher A. Baker, University of Florida, 2008.