Headquarters 1st Division, 1st Corps,
Army of the Potomac.
My dear General: Mrs. Howland, the wife of Colonel Howland, of the New York t6th Regiment, desires to be presented to you in order that she may get permission to join her husband, who is in my Division. I beg that if you can do anything to assist her in obtaining her very natural wish, you will do it, and I will consider it as a favor done to me.
Mrs. Howland is by no means an idler when she is with the soldiers, but has really done more than any other lady of my acquaintance in adding to the comfort of the sick as well as those in health. I therefore believe that it will be for the interests of the service that she should have the permission for which she asks.
Very respectfully yours,
W. B. Franklin,
Brig.-Gen. Com. Div.
Brig. Gen. L. Thomas,
Adjutant General U. S. Army,
Washington, D. C.
