Providence R.I. Feb 10^th 1864

Wednesday Morn^g

 

My dear Colonel.

                        I have heard that you are in difficulty which grieves me very much. If you are & there is anything I can do for you, write me at once, and I will do my best to assist you. How I would like to look in upon you this beautiful morning and lay my head with yours & see if together we couldn't devise something that would straighten matters out. You wrote about getting your son to West Point. I think it is the best thing you could do for him and when you make up your mind in the matter let me know what I can do for you in it and I will work my best. I think it [torn] / complished. Write me very soon & tell me all about your difficulties & whether you will probably be dismissed from the service, for I hear rumors & dont know exactly how much to believe. Since I wrote you last I have shed my bright straps & brass buttons & have settled down quietly into a civilian. I made up my mind that if ever I intended to return to my profession it was about time ere all the best years of my life had slipped away. I see very little inducement for an officer to remain in the service unless he likes it or he wishes to make military his profession, as Colonels cannot be mustered in their old Reg^t not, at least one cannot in the 2^d in my place. My resignation was accepted Jan 18^th. I have been home three weeks tomorrow. I am quietly [faded] old office peddling [faded] I think I have done / extremely well because I have done some business though only a little & I feared I should have to wait a long time ere the face of a client brightened my solitary loneliness. I am perfectly contented and happy in civil life and a Major General's commission wouldn't tempt me to put on an uniform again, unless the most dire necessity compelled me. I have never enjoyed myself anywhere as I did in the old Third with you & Brayton in Military I mean, & though I had many warm & strong friends in the 2^d, & a very easy time of it after the first breeze blew over there was no place like my first Reg^t in my opinion. Next June we expect to go to housekeeping, my father in law having bought the house on George St formerly owned by Dr Chapin. it was built by Walter Updike [faded] the old Judge Pitman [faded] / We shall be delighted to see you there whenever you are in Providence, or should you come on before June you will find us at Mr Waterman's, 6 Brown St. My wife often speaks of you & of your kindness to her & she said she was going to write you but whether she has yet or not I dont know. Enclosed I send you my vignette which I had taken when I was at home on leave about Christmas time. Old Providence seems about the same and I see but little change in it after an absence of two years and a half. I have seen men here who say that Stickney's woman was a regular whore & I know men who say they have done it to her themselves, whether they are married I dont know, but he is a fool whether they are or not, to be mixed [faded] way. He is [faded]

                                                                       

Yours very truly

[H Rogers Jun]

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