Erastus Reed to Governor Francis R. Lubbock, July 12, 1863

deserve taking care of, but they are among us and
humanity demands us to do so, and that the sins of
their husbands & fathers should not be visited upon
innocent women & children, many of whom are now
employed in helping to giather [sic] the crops in absince [sic] of
men, those who even loyal have volunteered[,] freely leaving
their wives & children exposed to depredations by indians [sic]
to geather [sic] their crops with the assistance of the few men
left, and many crops are not yet geathered [sic] being obliged
to wait their turn, in consequence of which much grain
has been lost by being exposed to late rains[.] [T]o take
one half of what now remain home would leave us
in a very destitute condition. [N]o counties will suffer
more than Gillespie & the portion of Kendall that
formally [formerly] belonged to Blanco, which I understand has
been included in the draft by an order from the Adj
Genl. Malice may have induced some to represent
the state of things different in these counties but it
is just as I represent them to you. [T]here may be a
few that ought to be forced into the army but they
are found in every community and cannot be reached.
[T]hose few should not be the means of making the
whole community suffer, and force many to abandon
their homes, move their familys [sic] into the interior[,] leaving
the stock each may have to be stolen by those who geather [sic]