May 13, 1861.
My dear Joe: My eyes are so weak that I must use your Cousin Emily’s pen to express the surprise caused by the announcement in your letter that your sense of duty had obliged you to accept the adjutancy of a regiment.
Had the question been propounded to me, I should have replied that I did not think you possessed the physical endurance needed for such a post, nor the requisite knowledge of military law and tactics; also that you could be ten times more usefully employed in aiding the cause than by a personal devotion to the duties of an officer of the army. If there had been a deficiency of able men anxious to serve, then the duty might have been imperative to stand forward and offer personal services. There are, however, five men offering to each man required. All this I state, because you wish my candid opinion, though I am fully aware that now, having taken the step under your own sense of duty, it is perhaps well that you had not an opportunity of consulting me previous to your decision.
May God’s presence accompany you; and if during your absence I can be of any use to Eliza let her come to me as freely as to a father.
Your Cousin Emily joins with me in all love and desires to do anything in her power for you or Eliza.
Yours with sincere affection,
E. J. Woolsey.
