'Yours,' Is A Romantic Drama Based On Civil
War Letters
By Lyle L. Brown
May 2003
Last summer a new Civil War play premiered which
was based on the love letters of 1861-1863 between Lt. Richard
M. Goldwaite of the 3rd New York and 99th New York Volunteer
Infantry Regiments and his wife Ellie.
"Yours," is an original romantic drama based on 72
of the 142 letters saved by Richard and Ellie. Husband and wife
wrote passionately of the hurt of separation, the loss of a
brother in the
war, letters going astray, and disillusionment with the war
as the months of separation dragged by.
The play was first performed at the Habersham Community Theatre
in Clarkesville, Ga. and directed by the play's writer, Richard
D. Stafford, who was then teaching at Young Harris College.
Its title was taken from the custom of the time in which Richard
and Ellie ended their letters with the formal "yours,"
even though the content on some occasions led them to implore
the other to "burn this letter!"
The "Union" drama played to sold-out "Confederate"
audiences and won enthusiastic reviews.
The play surprised many who did not expect the same expressions
of separation and loss in "Northern" letters as their
"Southern" ancestors had written in letters lovingly
passed
down to them.
From 1861 to 1863, the Goldwaites wrote back and forth between
Richard's duty location (mostly in the Norfolk, Va., area) and
their home near Albany, N.Y.
About 15 years ago, Martha Skipper, a granddaughter's daughter-in-law,
found the letters, many still in the original envelopes, in
the canvas bag that Goldwaite carried during the war.
She and friend Jane Taylor are developing a manuscript of the
letters for publication.
The letters were adapted to the stage by Stafford now a visiting
professor of public speaking at Georgia Perimeter College in
Atlanta. He has written four books and two plays, but this was
his first venture into Civil War drama.
He was introduced to the Goldwaites by a student at Young Harris
who asked if he had time to look at an aunt's manuscript based
on old letters. Stafford said he was taken by the feelings expressed
in the letters. He excerpted individual lines to develop the
romantic
two-act drama.
The play fits very comfortably in small playhouses, giving the
audience a close rapport with the two characters separated in
their own spotlights only a few feet apart on stage but achingly
far apart during the war. There are only 12 non-original lines
in the entire play, which were inserted where needed to provide
smooth transitions in the plot.
The play begins with the character of Ellie reading her moving
poem "The Parting" which she lovingly wrote for her
husband on the occasion of his departure for duty. Act two begins
with Richard and Ellie speaking passionately of their separation
and longing for each other, only inches apart and almost touching
hands, which heightens the effect of their actual separation.
Richard was older than the young Ellie and the two had been
married but a few months before war separated them. He shared
his loneliness and his growing disillusion with the war, in
turns speaking of doing almost anything to leave the Union army
and be with Ellie, then
remonstrating himself for such feelings, invoking duty and honor.
Ellie wrote in a more passionate style typical of her youth
and her longing for Richard.
Lt. Goldwaite served in the 3rd New York from April 1861 to
March 20, 1862, and in the 99th New York Volunteer Infantry
from March 1862 until June of 1863. He entered and ended his
service as a lieutenant.
He had served as a 2nd lieutenant in the Mexican War.
Richard and Ellie eventually had seven children, although only
four daughters survived to adulthood. Richard worked as a tobacconist
in Albany the remainder of his life and died in 1889 at age
63. Elle died in 1910 at age 70.
This reviewer had the advantage of reading the couple's letters
a year prior to seeing the play and believes the spirit of the
letters came brilliantly alive on stage. Three voices offstage
provided an occasional "letter" from a relative. The
minimal sets, props and costumes evoked the feel of the soldier
far away in camp and the young bride in her New York kitchen.
In addition to the full play of one hour and 45 minutes, a one-hour
competition-length version of "Yours," was presented
at the Georgia Theater Conference last October. It won First
Runner Up. Kendall Mize won the Best Actress award as Ellie
Goldwaite and the production won
Best Set Design.
An encore production of "Yours," will be given July
25 and 26 as a dinner theater in Habersham County, Georgia.
Stafford hopes to bring the play to New York state.
For tickets or information on how to schedule the production,
Stafford may be reached at 221 Featherwood Dr., Cornelia, GA
30531; (706) 499-3914; e-mail dickstafford@alltel.net
Lyle Brown is a long time student of the Civil War who is
a member
of the Civil War Preservation Trust, the Pensacola
Civil War Round Table, and an attendee of the annual Civil War
Institute at Gettysburg College.
