Letter from H. H. Lesesne to Colonel Asbury Coward, April 15, 1898
Title
Letter from H. H. Lesesne to Colonel Asbury Coward, April 15, 1898
Description
Letter from H. H. Lesesne, father of Cadet T. P. Lesesne, to Colonel Asbury Coward concerning the Cadet Rebellion of 1898, also known as the Cantey Rebellion.
Creator
Source
CP8, Box 5, Folder 2
Publisher
The Citadel Archives & Museum
Date
Rights
Materials in The Citadel Archives & Museum Digital Collections are intended for educational and research use. The user assumes all responsibility for identifying and satisfying any claimants of copyright. For more information contact The Citadel Archives & Museum, The Citadel, The Military College of South Carolina, Charleston, South Carolina, 29409.
Relation
Asbury Coward Collection
Format
application/pdf
Language
English
Type
Text
Identifier
https://citadeldigitalarchives.omeka.net/items/show/581
Date Valid
Text
[Page 1]
April 15th
1898.
Dear Col. Coward,
I received your letter last night, & I am so very much obliged to you for talking to Tom, & I hope now all danger is past, & that he knows what to expect should he disregard your advice. I have tried to impress upon him that four years at the Citadel, & mountain holidays in summer, are far pleasanter than going to work to earn your own bread at 16 – for that to leave in a crisis like this means every door shuts against you. And I hope that argument will not only keep him
[Page 2]
until the end of the session, but for the next three years to come at the Citadel. Tom wants discipline, & that is what he can’t get at home, for he has got to the age when he thinks he can walk over me, & it is astonishing how foolish boys can be. Do you feel like going out against the Spaniards? They are very upsetting – that is to me; for the wine season is coming in, & for three years I have feared a raid from “the spies,” & now the Spaniards are taking their place, & as I am very proud of my efforts in the wine line, I do not wish the Spaniards to take possession of it. But I hope the fear will be only in my mind, & not in reality, & that
[Page 3]
the war will not come. I hope your troubles in the Citadel are now over, & that you may have a little rest, for if one boy can upset me, what must 80 have done to you. Thanking you for your kind advice to Tom.
I am,
Yours Truly
H. H. Lesesne
April 15th
1898.
Dear Col. Coward,
I received your letter last night, & I am so very much obliged to you for talking to Tom, & I hope now all danger is past, & that he knows what to expect should he disregard your advice. I have tried to impress upon him that four years at the Citadel, & mountain holidays in summer, are far pleasanter than going to work to earn your own bread at 16 – for that to leave in a crisis like this means every door shuts against you. And I hope that argument will not only keep him
[Page 2]
until the end of the session, but for the next three years to come at the Citadel. Tom wants discipline, & that is what he can’t get at home, for he has got to the age when he thinks he can walk over me, & it is astonishing how foolish boys can be. Do you feel like going out against the Spaniards? They are very upsetting – that is to me; for the wine season is coming in, & for three years I have feared a raid from “the spies,” & now the Spaniards are taking their place, & as I am very proud of my efforts in the wine line, I do not wish the Spaniards to take possession of it. But I hope the fear will be only in my mind, & not in reality, & that
[Page 3]
the war will not come. I hope your troubles in the Citadel are now over, & that you may have a little rest, for if one boy can upset me, what must 80 have done to you. Thanking you for your kind advice to Tom.
I am,
Yours Truly
H. H. Lesesne
Collection
Citation
Lesesne, Henry H., “Letter from H. H. Lesesne to Colonel Asbury Coward, April 15, 1898,” The Citadel Archives Digital Collections, accessed September 18, 2024, https://citadeldigitalarchives.omeka.net/items/show/581.