Curtis McCluer  1864-12-13

Envelope:  Charles H. Gauss
No. 127 College St.
New Haven
Conn

St. Louis Nov 20th / 64

Kind Sir,
                Your favor of the 12th is at hand.  You speak of not having received any reply to your former correspondence, which is not chargeable to me.  I got your first letter, & was as prompt to answer as I am to day.  Guess you will have to throw the blame on U.S. mail agents, I am sorry you did not get it, not that it was worth reading, but its nature was such that it should not be subject to the perusal of the government authorities.  St. Louis has subsided into her accustomed condition, & we are getting on pretty much after the old fashion.  We have a No 1. Prof. of Math.  I have three recitations a day with him.  Dr. Litton, straining the boys to the last notch, makes a good Chancelor.  English Literature is one of my studies.  Do you think that belongs to a scientific course?  Descriptive G- is what Dr. Shumard would call a "fascinating study".  In it I am alone, & wading right through.  Ed. S. Holden is up north with the Chancelor.  H. H. Mudd is at Popes College.  The Juniors together with myself are rendered somewhat nervous in anticipation of the Exhibition.  Your Father has been presenting a very ludicrous appearance, by marching about with a musket, conscious, no doubt, that the thing was was more dangerous to himself than to any one else.  My Father also is presenting a strange appearance, but in a different direction; viz, riding over the country with a blind bridle, & on a gunny sack, The negro troops having taken three horses, & all his saddles & bridles,  He has recovered two of his horses.  St. Charles County is in deplorable condition; many of the citizens are moving out.  They are all well at St Charles, so far as I know; also at your Uncle's;  Your Uncle, although he wont confess it to me, is a firm supporter of old Abe.  Missouri is subjugated, & Serling P. had to return to Arkansas very little bettered by his invasion.  We have information which leaves little room for doubt but that Harrison Gaty Waddell & Dennis Muschany are killed.  Ed Sanford is a cripple for life, & the rest of the boys are prisoners in Georgia. Our friends in the country are in deep distress, rendered more intense by the action of negro troops in that vicinity.  A french revolution is being enacted in our once peaceful province; and who know but that a Robespierre, may appear, & a giloutine be erected ere we shall hail a harbinger of peace.  These subjects do ever, & anon break in upon me, and interfere seriously with my duties as a college student.
    Having other letters to answer I bring this to a close, by expressing an earnest wish for your welfare & requesting you to write whenever it is convenient, & promising a prompt reply.

Very Respct --    
U McC.