| Summary: | In the letter Rucker writes about his long friendship with Barnett: "You don't know, my dear friend, how much pleasure it gives me to bear testimony to your fidelity and courage as a Confederate Soldier. You were nearer to me, some how or other, than the rest of my escort boys." Rucker goes on to note that "after forty of peace, the South has prospered so much that we are worth, as a whole, many millions than we had in 1861, and that curse slavery you and I did not then understand, but now are willing to acknowledge that it is no longer and we are a united, prosperous and happy people" who are now happy to welcome "the visit of the President of the United States."
|
|---|
