This letter was submitted by Greg Wickenburg, Stillman Grandy's great great grandson.
Co. G 9th Regt. NY HA 2nd Brig. 3rd Div. 6th AC Cedar Creek, Va Nov. 3rd 1864 Lt. Col. [?] Kingsbury A.A. [?] Middle Mil. [?] Div. Sir - I would most respectfully tender my resignation as 2nd Lieut. in the 9th Regt. N.Y. Heavy Artillery for the following reasons. My mother who is very old and helpless has been for a long time and since I arrived at the age of ten years, dependent upon me for support. When I enlisted in the service, I perfected [?] an arrangement as well as I could for to be well cared for during my absence, by remitting for her benefit my earnings. Recently, and after much other ill treatment and abuse, she has been by a cruel and unfeeling husband, a devotee of mine [?], turned out of doors and driven from the house, of which I am the owner and which I had provided expressly for her. I know of no other way of fulfilling the duty I owe to her, who has been ever a kind parent to me, but to attend to it in person. My attempts to do it otherwise for the two years that I have been in the service, have resulted in much anxiety and perplexity to me, and unkindness and suffering to her. - As an additional reason having been deprived in early life of the privilege of an education that I might have availed myself of, had not the care of my mother and her family of several children younger than myself, dissolved upon me, I feel myself incompetent to properly meet the responsibilities of the position satisfactorily to myself and to the interests of the service. Your most obdt. servant Stillman J Grandy 2nd Lieut. Co. G 9th NY HA P.S. I would further state that I could never have consented to entering the service voluntarily, had I not left with my mother a widowed sister, who I expected would, with the aid of my remittance, be able to take care of her, but who has since married a poor man with a large family and left; And, as a consequence, of which I did not foresee, and since the acceptance of my commission, my mother has been driven from the house which I had provided for her, and I am sincerely desirous of saving her from the discomfort and shame of seeking meager charity. She has one other son in the service, but no one out of the army, to whom to look for protection or assistance. Cedar Creek, Va Nov 5th 1864 Very respectfully your most obdt. servant Stillman J Grandy 2nd Lt 9th NY HA
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