The Printer's Kiss by Patricia A. Donohoe

Author:Patricia A. Donohoe
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: The Kent State University Press

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Disarmed

One half of those who are born, die before they attain the age of seventeen.

—“Interesting Facts in Brief,” Freedom’s Casket, June 8, 1844

THE WINTER OF 1862 was a difficult time for the Tomlinsons—and the country. About the time that Tomlinson was dismissed from the military, he came down with a “disease of the lungs,” which was probably some form of bronchitis or pneumonia. His illness was given by the family as the reason for the end of his military service. Letters from him and Colonel Harris, however, reveal that his discharge was actually precipitated by his involvement in the deplorable Jacksonville affair. If Eliza ever learned the truth of the situation, she never mentioned it in her letters. More than likely, she never knew much, if anything, about what really happened during her husband’s star-crossed interlude as captain of an independent company of counterinsurgents in the hills of western Virginia. She may not have cared all that much since she soon had more pressing concerns. Byers was also ill, and his father was not around. After recovering, Tomlinson had gone back to work in Cincinnati. But his recent humiliation in the military, his damaged health, and the depressing war news made it hard for him to see any rays of hope, as indicated by the following fragment of a letter he apparently wrote to Eliza early in 1862.1

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