I was duely favor’d with yours of the 1st: Inst: & am extremely thankful to you for your kind interfereance in my behalf with the President.

I shall as you suggest remain profoundly silent on this subject until it is necessary to act, when I have no doubt of obtaining such letters from the respectable part of the society here, of all professions, & of my brother Officers of the late War, as will be perfectly satisfactory to the department at Washington.

When the draft you speak of in favor A. Garrett for $300 or $325 appears, it shall be honored.

I set out in a few days on a Mercantile excurtion thro’ the principal Northern & Eastern Cities as far as Boston & Salem; if I can by any means render you a service in any of those places or Washington, I shall be happy indeed to do so, & you have only to address your commands to me at Fredericksburg care Mr John Scott, in the neighbourhood of which place I shall remain some days with my family.

My object is to increase my business in the Commission line, finding it too small just now for the support of a growing family, & leave a profit to add to the Capital:—with this view, have procured letters to many of the most respectable merchants & Gentlemen in these Cities, & hope to derive some advantage from the trip.

My feelings of gratitude & obligation to you my dear sir will never cease to exist, & shall be glad of every occasion in my humble way of rendering myself useful to you.

With great respect & sincere esteem