Civil War-era love letter remains a mystery

Belle Montgomery

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Scherenschnitte or “scissor cuts"
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In 1863, Virginia Cross penned a letter to her sweetheart and enclosed an intricate piece of folk art. The letter and art are now housed in the University Libraries
Special Collections and University Archives. Photo courtesy Virginia Tech.


On July 12, 1863, a young Virginia Cross picked up a pen and ink, several sheets of precious paper, and wrote to her sweetheart, a discharged Civil War soldier. She used a small blade to cut an intricate and delicate white heart to enclose with her words.

“Dear Sir, I received your letter and was glad to hear that you were well and it found me enjoying the same feeling also and was very glad to hear that you had got your discharge from service,” writes Cross. “I would be very glad to see you as soon as you can make it convenient to come down.”

The letter continued with coyness and humor as Cross described a sweetheart she picked out for him. “I want you to come and see her and see if she will soot you,” wrote Cross. “I have picked one out as near like myself as I could find her so you will come and look at her and see if you like her.”

She then ended the letter with...

Rest of Article: https://augustafreepress.com/civil-war-era-love-letter-remains-a-mystery/
 
At first I was a little confused by the "Dear Sir" greeting. That doesn't seem like the way to begin a love letter to your sweetheart, but it appears she wasn't the lover in question, but only a matchmaker of sorts...am I right?
 
At first I was a little confused by the "Dear Sir" greeting. That doesn't seem like the way to begin a love letter to your sweetheart, but it appears she wasn't the lover in question, but only a matchmaker of sorts...am I right?
I think she's teasing him - the "match" she is suggesting is herself.

So - can we see the whole letter? Can we solve the mystery?
 
This could just be a rorschach test, but I sometimes do paper cutout art (at the moment I have a tree full of fancy paper snow flakes). Does anybody else see a palmetto tree in the heart? That MIGHT suggest South Carolina. Or it might be me projecting. Or it could just be that that's to preserve the structural integrity of the heart.

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For the record, I live in an eccentric old house that came without closets and the dirt-floor basement floods regularly, so the tree stays up all year and gets redecorated seaonally. Soldiers in kepis on the left; young Han Solo on the right.
 
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