The middle of June, 1861, J. H.’s regiment, the Sixteenth New York, suddenly received orders to be ready to march, and after some little further delay it left Albany for Washington and the front. The family were now fairly in the war.
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Rev. G. L. Prentiss to Joseph Howland
Joseph Howland
New York, June 19, 1861.
Abby has just told my wife that you are ordered South. Is it so? If I were not strong in faith about you, I don’t know what I should say. But the path of duty is the path of safety and of honor, and if you were my own brother (you seem to me more like a younger brother than anything else) I could not lift a finger against your going – assuming always that your health and strength hold out. God bless you and have you ever, dearest friend, in His holy keeping.
Most affectionately yours,
George L. Prentiss.