Item No. 6553499

An 1864 letter by Major Floyd Clarkson, 12th New York Cavalry, requesting thirty days’ leave to recuperate and see to personal business in New York. It includes signed endorsements by a number of officers, including Brigadier General Innis N. Palmer and Brigadier General Richard H. Jackson, among others. Major Clarkson, who was then detailed as assistant adjutant inspector-general at New Bern, North Carolina, notes that a previous request had been returned as “not approved at present.” Two pages of the letter are occupied by endorsements as the request made its way up the chain of command:

• October 27 - Approved and signed by Colonel Charles H. Stewart of the 3rd New York Artillery, from the headquarters of the Sub-District of New Berne.

• October 29 - Approved and signed by Brigadier General Innis N. Palmer, commanding the District of North Carolina.

• November 10 - Referred to Lieutenant Colonel Richard H. Jackson, the assistant inspector general, as ordered by Major General Alfred Terry (in General Benjamin Butler’s absence), as commander of the Army of the James, signed by Butler’s adjutant, Colonel Edward W. Smith.

• In an undated signed endorsement, Colonel Jackson (later a brevet major general) writes, “I have not, up to the present time, received the monthly Inspection Report for October of the District of N.C. If Major Clarkson has rendered the report of the Sub-District to the District Inspector, I respectfully request that his application be granted.”

• November 14 - Returned with “attention called to endorsement of Lt. Col. Jackson, A.I.G.,” by command of Major General Benjamin F. Butler, signed by Colonel Edward W. Smith.

• November 19 - Returned by General Palmer, signed by his adjutant Captain John A. Judson.

• November 22 - Returned by Brigadier General Edward Harland, commanding the Sub-District of New Berne, and signed by Captain Edward T. Parkinson, assistant adjutant general.

The request was twenty-six days in transit before returning to Major Clarkson.

The letter was written on a four-page letter sheet measuring about 8” x 9 3/4”. It bears an attractive heading for “Head-Quarters, Sub-District of New Berne.” Creased at the original folds, with a 3” separation at one end of the centerfold, but otherwise very stable. The full transcript appears below.

Head-Quarters, Sub-District of New Berne
Act’g Assistant Inspector General’s Office,
New Berne, N.C., Oct 27th 1864.

Lt. Col. Edw. W. Smith
Asst. Adj’t. Gen’l.
Dept. Va. & N.C.

Colonel
On the 24th of Sept, I made an application for a leave of absence for Thirty Days, to attend to some important private business in New York City. This application was approved by the Commanding officers of the Sub Dist. & District; but on the 5th of this month was returned from Dept. Hd. Qrs. with this action, “not approved at present.”

A few days after my application was made, but before it left this Post, I was taken sick with the epidemic that has prevailed here for some time past.

I would respectfully renew my application for a leave of absence for Thirty days. I am now well, but feel that a change of climate would strengthen me. At the same time, I would be able to attend to those interests that require my presence in New York.
I am very Respectfully
Your Obt. Servant
Floyd Clarkson
Major & A.A.I.G.