Letter: Sue Branch to her Aunt, R. Williams, September 23, 1862

              Please let us know in what year and what day of the month Pa was born---
Raleigh Sept. 23rd 1862.
My very dear dear Aunt.
Oh! How sad is the news which was yesterday transmitted to us through the telegraph. It seems very hard for us to realize, nevertheless it is true. I will try and give you the circumstances as well as it is in my power. On last Sunday morning just as we were going to church a dispatch was brought to us, saying that it was reported in Richmond that Pa was killed. Oh! Such a shock it was. We had not even heard that he was in the battle. All day Sunday we endured this suspense not knowing whether it was a mere idle rumer [sic] coming from a straggler from the battle field, or whether it was a sad reality as it has proven to be. Sunday night about 10 o'clock we had another dispatch saying that Pa was safe, for the gentleman that telegraphed had seen an aide of Gen. A. P. Hill's who said