Once again the “general” was coming out in her, as she responded to the demand of the times. Before the end of the year she had written a “Sonnet To Maj. Gen. John C. Fremont,” and some of its vigorous lines suggest anything rather than a sequestered invalid as its author:

What other beams O! Patriot, shine
In that commanding glance of thine,
No shade of doubt or weak despair
Blend with indignant sorrow there.⁹⁹

Meanwhile the war had an unexpected effect on her life.¹⁰⁰ Following the death of Mahala Cheney, George Glover, not yet seventeen, ran away from home and joined the Eighteenth Wisconsin Infantry Regiment, giving his age as a year older than it was. There he became acquainted with one David Hall of Iowa, who wrote letters home for many of the soldiers who were illiterate or not gifted with the pen. Through Hall’s inquiries Mrs. Patterson’s whereabouts were discovered, and the result was that on October 10 she received a letter from George, Hall acting as amanuensis.¹⁰¹ Cyrus Blood, who happened to be present when she received it, noted the date in his diary and afterwards told of the tears of joy she shed at hearing from her son at last. Until Glover was wounded a year later, Hall saw to it that he wrote more or less regularly to his mother.