Joseph Patterson wrote this letter in Scott County on the eve of the election of 1860 to a woman named Adah. From references in the letter, Adah apparently was Patterson's fiancee. Patterson described anxiety and public discussion concerning the election and uncertainty over the South's prospects. He also noted an early winter snowstorm. Patterson referred to the slowness of "steamboat mails" in getting Adah's replies to his letters. As he was writing three or four letters before receiving one of hers, he said his one-sided correspondence was like "writing a diary for the benefit of posterity."
