CHICAGO, December 4, 1886.
MAJ. GEN. RÉgis de TrobRIAND, WASHINGTON, D.C.
General,- Having read and enjoyed very much your "Quatre ans à l'Armée du Potomac," I thought it might be a pleasure to soldiers, especially of our old corps, to read it. I have accordingly translated it, but before revising it I wish to ask your consent to its publication. Trusting your favorable consideration, I am, Very truly yours,
Late Commanding Twelfth N. Y. Battery, Third and Second Army Corps.
MR. GEORGE K. DAUCHY, CHICAGO.
NEW ORLEANS, La., December 14, 1886.
Dear Sir, I feel much gratified with your favorable appreciation of my "Quatre ans de Compagnes à l'Armée du Potomac," as shown by your translation of the work, in view of the pleasure which the old comrades of the Third and the Second Corps who don't read French may find in reading it in English.
Your asking my consent to its publication is an act of courtesy which I duly appreciate, and to which I can answer only by my thanks and full authorization. There are two things only to which I beg leave to call your attention:1st. To try and keep as much as possible the color and form of the style of the original, by using the equivalent in preference to the literal "mot à mot." 2d. To leave intact, without modification or extenuation, my judgments upon men and things- for, whatever may be otherwise their value, they have at least the recommendation in their favor that they are the honest expression of seasoned convictions based upon facts, and which I did not find cause to modify since the book was published.
I need not point out to you the many misprints in the French edition, especially in the spelling of the English names. It was published in Paris while I was in command in Dakota, which made it impossible for me to revise the proofs, so was it that some letter or speech of Mr. Lincoln, which I had called "modéré," appeared in print as "médiocre," quite another thing.
With hope that your publication will be successful in every respect, and that I will hear from you again,