Letter on the End of the Civil War in Florida, 1865 (Page 1 of 4)

Florida Oak Grove April 29th 1865

My Dear Son according to promise I will write though I have nothing agreable to to tell you the news you sent me revived my drooping spirits considerable but I hear that it ___________________________________ our duty [?] _____ which is awful to me and you and everybody else South our doom is sealed

General Lee is a prisoner and nearly all his army we are lost without the report is true that ol Lincoln is dead if that is so we may have some chance yet I did hope you ___ Dark [?] about [?] ___ ___ ___ ___ before this but my hopes are [in?] vain [?] when will this ___________________________________________ may [?] be [?] room [?] for our negroes will break ____ in [?] spite of all that I can do they have broke into the sugar house and tooke one of my calf skins and nearly a barrel of syrup and a considerable amount of sugar and they got in the smokehouse and tooke out as much meat as they wanted I think about two hundred pounds of meat

p. 2 I told Mr. Spooner they were stealing but he said that he could not help it and I ____