January 9, 1863: Henry Warner to John Riddle Warner

Henry Warner Jr. was the youngest brother of John Riddle Warner, the grandfather of the poet Marianne Moore.  Henry served in the Pennsylvania  Independent Artillery, Battery G from August 1862 until June 1865.These family letters are preserved as part of the Marianne Moore family papers.

Transcript:

Fort Delaware

Jany 9^th 1863

Dear Brother

A letter from home to-day informed me of your intended departure from Allegh. and I suppose in this you are comfortably domiciled in Gettysbg.—I was happy to hear of your pleasant visit and I have no doubt you enjoyed it intensely—Your last letter from Hrsbg. reached me in due time—

— I want to know if you are acquainted with any man of influence in Washington that would through himself or others, influence the War Department in getting for me a commission in the “Regular” Army—And would you yourself be willing if you know such a one to work for me—I have wanted for a long time to write you on the subject but I scarcely know how to do it—All that is necessary is to get the recommendation of the commanding officer and the service of some influential man in Washington to present and urge the claims—The first I can easily get and of the very best kind—but I know none of the latter—The “Regular” service is much superior to the Volunteer services in every particular and especially for commissioned officers—Among some of the advantages a commis’d officer can resign at any time if he gets tired of the service—If you could not do anything yourself probably Sharp or some other person that you know could—If you exert yourself probably some time I will be able to repay the compliment—As for instance if I had been an Officer here I could have got you the Chaplaincy of this Post with scarcely an effort—It is a nice place for a chaplain—Out of danger and surrounded with every luxury the country could afford—the present incumbent is a fair specimen of a Methodist preacher with little sense and no zeal—dresses in subdued military style—wont preach unless the stand before him is covered with a flag, and makes out to draw from the Government a salary of 1800$ per annum.

Happy to hear from you Soon on this subject I am &c

Henry

Citation: Henry Warner Jr., autograph letter to John Riddle Warner. Fort Delaware, 9 January 1863. Moore VI:5:15