Contains eleven letters from Hayhurst to his wife Louisa/Lucy during August 1864. The letters were written while Hayhurst was with his son Edward in the Sherman Hospital (Nashville, Tennessee), while the latter was suffering from typhoid fever and the resulting ulcers and open sores on his body. The letters give a report of Edward's health and recovery about every other day of the month, and also discuss father Isaac's journey to the hospital, the medical staff and their care habits, the state of the church and Isaac's ministry position at home, instructions for the children at home (care of the garden, etc.), encouragement to trust in God, Edward's diet and medical treatments, fellow patients, local weather, the possibility of Edward's getting a furlough home, and father Isaac's plan to come home.