Dated "Laurel Brook" (near Sussex City, Virginia), April 4, 1866 - a few days short of the first anniversary of the surrender of Robert E. Lee. Signed "G.A. Bendall, to "My own dear Cousin", lots of talk of family activities, deaths, a marriage, the farm - wheat, cotton, chickens, geese, turkeys. She has seen her mother, "All her negroes left her Christmas, they have been compelled to hire white labour, which is rather difficult to do." One sheet, 1 1/2 x 11 inches, two conjugate leaves, four pages, closely written.