Christopher Raymond Perry Rodgers letter to Raymond Perry Rodgers, 1861 May 3

“My dear Ramy, We are all well and are preparing to embark in the Baltic for Newport. She has just begun to unload and we shall, tomorrow, begin to get on board all the furniture and effects of the school, and of the officers and professors. We hope to sail on Monday or Tuesday.

Your Aunt Ann may possibly go to New York, with Annie, in the Kidas (?), but of this I am not sure. Your Mother went to Washington this morning with Capt. Meigs and Mr. Luce, to bid our friends good bye. We expect her back to night, or tomorrow morning.

Many thousand troops are passing through the quiet streets of Annapolis, the firemen Zouaves went through yesterday.

Your Mother has had a weary time of it but she has borne up bravely without murmur, and with a stout heart. The son of such a Mother will, I am sure, be a brave boy. Your Aunt Ann too, has borne herself very bravely. Give a great deal of love to your Aunt Kate and cousin Jane, and show them this letter.

Our beautiful grounds have been sadly disfigured by the troops, though the men have behaved with propriety and decorum as I would not have supposed possible. The Midshipmens quarters, and many of the houses of the officers and professors, are filled with soldiers. The battery and boat house are turned into stores houses. Huge sheds have been erected in the rear of the quarters, and a rail road has been run from our lower wharf to connect with the road. The harbor is full of vessels.

My son, you must ever bear in mind your duty to your country! Let loyalty to the stars and stripes be in your heart next to your love of God, and if this war last until you are able to bear arms let your earliest vigor be devoted to the unflinching support of the old flag under which so many of your blood have served faithfully.

May God bless you my dear boy. Ever your affectionate father.

[P.S.] I have written to you amid much interruption.”