Utica, New York
Dear Sir,
You will probably remember that upon an occasion some three months since while going from Washington to Philadelphia, that I chanced to become known to you, and that we then had some conversation relative to your son who was mortally wounded at the second battle of Bull Run.
I have recently been looking over some of my notes taken during Gen. Popes’ Campaign in Virginia, touching upon matters in which I was personally an actor or writer of, and being impressed with the thought that probably you have but little of the history of the past enacted by your brave son in that unfortunate campaign, it has therefore occurd to me that it would be gratifying to you to be put in possession of even such brief and broken threads of the history of him as a military acquaintance who very often had official and quite frequently conversation of a more social character with, could note down amid the hurried and exciting duties of those times. This thought is suggested from the impression that you remarked to the effect that you had but little information as to his military acts, especially as connected with the battle of Bull Run. […]
Your obedient servant,
William Henry Christian
William Henry Christian to William Pitt Fessenden [Fessenden Collection]