Undated, ca. 1862. 3 pages in ink on lined paper, 7.75” x 9.75”. Exhibits fold-marks. Writing nearly decipherable.

Letter heading:  “Head Quarters  Lt. ____ Dept.

“General….I have rec. the reports of Capts. Puffer & Clark…”

It seems that Capt. Puffer (one of Butler’s ADC’s) has complained to an illegible staff Lieutenant that he was unable to find a wharf and could not  awake a steamer or find a sentinel to challenge him. Next, Capt Clark complains  of encountering no sentinel on beat between between a trawler and a wharf.

At bottom, these complaints seem vaguely  to suggest a plague of night fog combined with the possibility that Gen. Butler has granted so many soldier furloughs as to leave the New Orleans wharves temporarily bereft in the matter of sentinel security. Now, just what General Butler is to make of these conundrums and this nearly illegible staff letter is anyone’s guess.

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