November 5 Friday – General James Barnet Fry wrote from N.Y. to Sam:

We will be most happy to have you stay with us when you come to this city to read a paper before the Military Service Insti. on the 11th instant. We are a family of three, a dog, a woman, and a man. If children are necessary to your comfort you had better bring them, as I don’t know that I could even borrow one for the occasion [MTNJ 3: 265n130]. Note: This source says “Clemens probably refused this invitation, preferring to stay at the Murray Hill Hotel, where he intended to meet Livy’s mother.”

Note: After the Civil War, General Fry continued his military career until 1881 when he turned his talents to writing books about the army, including New York and the Conscription of 1863 (1885).