Henry and Mary Warner lived in Allegheny City, Pennsylvania, now part of Pittsburgh. They are the great-grandparents of poet Marianne Moore. By the 1860s they had three surviving children: John, Henry, and Anne. Their letters to John, a Presbyterian minister living in Gettysburg, are preserved as part of Marianne Moore’s family papers.
Allegheny City Wednesday September 3rd 1862—2 P.M.
Our Dear Children, With sorrow of heart, we must confess, that we feel sad & gloomy, although at the same time we have to acknowledge we have no right to be. We all enjoy good health; Annes family and ourselves, have plenty to eat, drink, & wear, and are out of debt—The news from the scene of war both East & West does not seem to be of the most cheering character at present, united with the absence of Henry causes sadness. We have no news, of any kind, in our neighborhood, to communicate that would interest you
If Henry has not written to you we will give you a statement of his movements since he left us—he arrived in Harrisburgh on tuesday morning and arrived at Fort Delaware on the Saturday evening following, says he is well and hearty and upon the whole do not find things as hard as he expected—since his arrival at the Fort has been promoted to the rank of Sergeant called “4th Gun Sergeant” which places him 6 ranks above a private, is to have command of a Gun and has already command of 2 corporals and 14 men all of which ‘mess’ with him in his tent (a large Sibley calculated for 22 men) Says, he has complete controul of them in every particular must see that they keep themselves clean turn in at the right time in the morning, are properly conducted, fed, &c &c, says he allows no swearing in his tent and of consequence had not heard but one oath from one of his men since he came there, says every man in the mess also has a Bible and you would be astonished if you could see, by a walk with him through the tents at early candle light the amount of Bible reading that is done there and by men too who he thinks never opened a bible at home says, they have prayer meeting in one of the tents every night at 8 oclock and regular services on Sunday
His address is
Henry Warner
Care of, Captn J.J. Young
Fort Delaware
Delaware City
Delaware
If you should write to him be sure direct as above, & be particular for instance dont write Mr. Henry Warner His letter coming to us has a three cent stamp on it and when we write to him we put a three cent stamp on ours
Kind remembrance to Jennie and wishing you both, and your dear little babe the blessing of the mighty God of Jacob
We remain your affectionate father & mother
Henry & Mary Warner
Citation: Henry and Mary Warner, autograph letter signed to John Riddle Warner. Allegheny City [Pittsburgh], 3 September 1862. Moore VI:05:10
