James T. Fields — 16 Nov. 1861
To JAMES T. FIELDS
November 16. 1861, Wheeling
Mr Fields
I am glad that you like the story so well. I will correct the numbers as you suggest. Indeed I will leave all “care of authorship” in your hands. You don’t know how your kindness touches me.
Whatever I wrote before the Iron Mill story, I would not care to see again—chiefly verses and reviews written under circumstances that made them unhealthful. I would rather they were forgotten.– As to the “per centages” of course you know. I should have thought the story belonged now to you altogether, though—
Yours R.B.H.
Thank you doubly for Cecil Dreeme, now that I have read it. I wish the friends of the author could hear the quick recognition his bravery drew from the Confederates. Some friends of mine were in the Virginia howitzers who were nearest when he fell, and their praise is worthy of the man.[1]
Notes
Theodore Winthrop (?-1861) was a lawyer and rising young author; he enlisted in the Union Army and was killed in battle on June 10, 1861. His gothic novel, Cecil Dreeme (published posthumously in 1862), explores cross-dressing and sexual ambiguity.
Key Words
"Life in the Iron-Mills", Cecil Dreeme (Winthrop), financial issues, Theodore Winthrop
Source
Richard Harding Davis Papers, Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library, University of Virginia
Contributor
S. M. Harris