Brother+Sam+LetterSJL09

Dear Sam,

Please come home. We miss you so much. We need your help with the tavern. Your brother and I can't do it alone. We even have to sin and work on Sundays. With you and your father gone we need you now more than ever. I don't want to lose another one. Is your father dying not enough for you to see that the war is getting too far? Innocent people are dying because soldiers are assuming that they are Tories. You and Tim are all that is left for me. You don't need to fight. Other people will take care of that. You have no business in this war. I never really had an opinion about you going to war but now it is a problem. You are needed here. Not there. You are risking your life for something that most of your family doesn't believe in. It is a waste of talent to have you in the war. You could be going to Yale and getting a degree and a good paying job. Betsy also misses you. You should see how heartbroken she is without you. I even think she changed her mind about the war after what happened to Jerry Sanford. He was just ten years old and they put him on a prison ship and he died of cholera. They sunk his body in the ocean so his parents can't even see him. Think of what they would do to you. I don't want to be like Mrs. Sanford. And when the British came to Redding, everyone was scared and angry that the war had gotten to our town. So please, come home. We all forgive you. Even your Father said so before he died. So you can come home to no more fighting and arguing. We can be just a normal family again, like we used to be before everyone forgot the reason we came here, to start over. If you come home, we can start all over, you, me, and Tim. We can just love each other and not have to worry about what is going on out there. We really miss you and want you back, safe and sound, back in our own home. We send our wishes and hope to see you soon.

Love, Mother

sour