Ballou’s Loving Memorial to Wife & Country

Letter to Romans: Even Sullivan Ballou’s inspiring battlefield letter to his wife is called into Q by today’s worst cynics because they can’t grasp a beautiful sentiment. Yet this lawyer’s remarkable ode to love of wife & country is as real as the Civil War’s 700K dead soldiers. Here, in honor of our military heroes on Memorial Day 2026 are excerpts from Ballou’s famous letter written from Camp Clark to his “very dear” wife Sarah on July 14, 1861, a week before the First Battle of Bull Run at which he gave his last full measure of devotion:

“Indications are very strong that we shall move in a few days ... If it is necessary that I should fall on the battlefield … I am ready … I know how strongly American civilization now leans upon the triumph of government & how great a debt we owe to those who went before us through the blood & suffering of the Revolution … Sarah, my love for you is deathless. It seems to bind me with mighty cables, that nothing but Omnipotence can break, and yet, my love of country comes over me like a strong wind … But, O Sarah, if the dead can come back to this earth & flit unseen around those they loved, I shall always be near you in the garish day & the darkest night amidst your happiest scenes & gloomiest hours always, always; and, if the soft breeze fans your cheek, it shall be my breath; or the cool air cools your throbbing temples, it shall be my spirit passing by …

“Sarah, never forget how much I love you, nor that, when my last breath escapes me on the battlefield, it will whisper your name. Sarah, do not mourn me dear; think I am gone & wait for me, for we shall meet again … As for my little boys, they will grow as I have done, and never know a father’s love & care … [Yet] I have unlimited confidence in your maternal care … Tell my two mothers, I call God’s blessing upon them. O Sarah, I wait for you! Come to me and lead thither my children. - Sullivan"

Davd Soul