Wayne-Johnston County NcArchives News.....Memorable Letter Recalls War of 1812 March 7, 1957 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/nc/ncfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: tammy tyner ttyner1@nc.rr.com March 30, 2006, 1:29 pm Goldsboro News Argus March 7, 1957 (From the Jacksonville Daily News) At a plantation house located a few miles south of Smithfield, county seat of Johnston County, a mother sat down at a rosewood desk, to write a letter to her sons. The parlour room was cold that December morning in 1814, but Mrs. Winifred Bryan scarcely noted that fact. Her thoughts were directed straight toward an army camp which lay somewhere between the Neuse river and the sea. The camp where Captains David and Harry Bryan alternated between their tents and the roaring fires of the encampment. David and Harry were her sons. The War of 1812 had dragged into the second year. There was talk of a British invasion from the sea. The troops waited cold and impatient, knowing they stood between the Redcoats and home. The letter penned by Mrs. Bryan, although written in an urgent time, is remarkable for its calm dispassion. The enemy is not spoken of in disparagement. Winifred Bryan was concerned as much with the spiritual welfare of her sons, as with their material comfort....with the breeches for Harry and the drawers for David, a mother sent stern council-only partially tempered by her yearning. One hundred and forty-three years is a long time. W. Carroll Bryan, of Jacksonville, proprietor of the Builders Supplies Company, and the great, great, grandson of Winifred Bryan, was sorry but he had no likeness of the letter writer. He did have a picture of Captain Harry Bryan, however, Mr. Bryan informed the Daily News that, were his father living, much more information would be forthcoming. "It is only in the last couple of generations," said Mr. Bryan, "that the excellent styling and crafting of such letters as this one, has gone into the dust of oblivion. In progress is some loss inevitable. The art of letter- writing has almost disappeared into the form of hastily scrawled notes." And what of Captains David and Harry Bryan? "They came home alive," said Mr. Bryan. "That I am sure of. The report that David was wounded, is rather vague to me and I cannot vouch for it." Mr. Bryan filled in the following facts: Mrs. Winifred Bryan was a native of Johnston County, and had been Winifred McCullers before her marriage to Hardy Bryan. Among living descendants in North Carolina, are listed the following brothers and sisters of W. Carroll: Raymond A. Bryan and Robert E. Bryan, both of Goldsboro, Bryon Bryan, Mayor of Mount Olive; Norwood Bryan of Fayetteville; Mrs. P. O. Bizzell of Fayetteville and Mrs. Hemmeter Weeks of Tarboro. It was a little known war, the War of 1812, and now it lies misted in time, far, far beyond the memory of living Americans. Sometimes, during the long December nights, W. Carroll Bryan, snug in his warm home, takes down a photograph and lifts a yellowed letter manuscript form its satin-lined box. Reading the letter and examining the photograph, remembering that blood is indelible, W. Carroll Bryan wonders what the Captains David and Harry Bryan, were like. He knows what great, great grandmother, Winifed, was like... The Memorable Letter North Carolina Johnston County December 10, 1814 My Dear Sons: Accompanying this letter you will receive some clothing for the relief of your present necessities. One pair of breeches and two shirts to Harry and a pair of drawers to David. If you require anything more you will not be backward in making it known, as frequent opportunities occur to send. Your mother's hands that nursed you from infancy will be extended to your support while God shall give them strength. Leaving a rehearsal of the news of the neighborhood to your brother and others who may write, I will attend alone to that duty which is required of me as a mother-the instruction of her children. My dear sons, you are now out of my sight and beyond the reach of my voice, among strangers and a variety of characters; young men called into that service which has a tendency without strict regard over one's self to harden the feelings and brutalize the manners of men. I must, therefore, content myself with this mode of requesting you to remember the many instructions I have given you whilst you were with me; do remember that you were raised in civil society, and to guard against that encroahment of savage disposition incidental to camp life. It is my particular request that you abstain from drinking excessively, cursing and swearing, and other debaucheries of human nature. Guard against the temptation of every evil, and indulge not in anything that will tarnish the character of the Christian of the gentleman. Be kind and attentive to your soldiers. Let not a hasty temper or unguarded expression incur their displeasure. Be obedient and dutiful to your superior officers. Endeavor to improve in discipline and should emergency require it support the honor of your family, your country, State and the interests of your country. William will be in to see you shortly after the Christmas holidays are over, and should you need anything more write me and I will send it by him. You will deliver my compliments to Mr. Walton and Mr. Pool. I resign you to the protection of that God who gave you life, with an anxious hope of seeing you return well when your term of service has expired. Your loving mother, Winifred Bryan Wasn't the heart of a mother outlined in a beautiful fashion, lying right there before him? File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/nc/wayne/newspapers/memorabl20gnw.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/ncfiles/ File size: 6.1 Kb