But, O Sarah! if the dead can come back to this earth and flit unseen around those they loved, I shall always be near you; In the gladdest days and in the darkest nights . . . always, always, and if there be a soft breeze upon your cheek, it shall be my breath, as the cool air fans your throbbing temple, it shall be my spirit passing by. Sarah do not mourn me dead; think I am gone and wait for thee, for we shall meet again.
-- Major Sullivan Ballou, to his wife, a week before his death
in July 1861, at the Battle of Bull Run during the Civil War. Quoted in documentary, "The Civil War" by Ken Burns.
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