August 28 Friday – Sam wrote from Elmira to William W. Belknap (1829-1890), who had been secretary of war since 1869, in behalf of his nephew, Samuel Moffett, in gaining entrance to the Naval Academy.

“From my experience I should say that there is a sufficiently large proportion of leatherheads in the Navy, now, & what I want to do is increase the proportion of officers with brains….The lad’s head eats up his body, but he has no disease. He ought to pass medical examination” [MTL 6: 211-12]. Note: Sam asked Belknap to see if the Secretary of the Navy, George Robeson, might be able to make an appointment.

Sam also wrote a short note to Orion, telling him that Orion’s check for $9 had been received, but the interest on the $900 loaned was “inaccurate” (too much). Livy had suffered from the trip to Fredonia even though Sam had tried to break it up into smaller trips. Livy was improving some and Sam thought they would finally move to Hartford and into the new house in ten days [MTL 6: 214].