The letters dating from 1869-1875 were sent from Fort Abercrombie, the 1876 letter was sent from Fort Totten, Dakota Territory. Hunt and Thomas had both been Union brigadier generals during the Civil War, and were now regimental officers on frontier duty in the downsized postwar army. Hunt wrote most of these letters from Fort Abercrombie in North Dakota, a half-abandoned post with a company or two under his command. The first letter is meant to encourage a struggling old comrade with a message of patience: “The result of my experience of life, its ups and downs, has led me to adopt the rule of doing nothing whenever I was in doubt. … You certainly have been very unlucky in losing your post. … I mourn my removal, which I presume by fighting I might have avoided” (July 4, 1869). Thomas soon secured transfer to Hunt’s regiment, and was stationed at remote Fort Totten. The other letters reflect an old friendship of kindred spirits–sharing volumes of Augustine’s Confessions and Voltaire, and rumors of the regiment’s internal politics. The final letter is written after Hunt’s transfer to Fort Totten and the promotion of Hunt to major: “I congratulate you on your promotion and your luck in escaping a black regiment.” Commenting on politics, he adds that “Ulysses is driving the last nail into the coffin of the Republican Party … A party that might, decently managed, have ruled the country for 40 years.” Hunt consistently addresses Thomas by his old rank of “General.”.