M^rs Warren Rogers
Sing sing, Post office — New York

My dear Fanny

     I have now your letter of the 11 Jan^y with its New Year's greetings and cheerful accounts of yourself and little ones —
     The same mail which brought this letter brought a telegram from London dated the 4 March giving us the joyful news of the capture of Wilmington and Charleston —
     Particulars of these triumphs we may not receive for a month yet — Only think of being only 25 (twenty five) days behind London & under favorable circumstances we might get advices from London in 19 days & from New York in 26 days —
     We are expecting now to learn that Richmond has been evacuated by the rebels — Surely the end of the War draws near.

M^r Tucker came passenger in the steamer from Hong Kong which brought us this glorious news and we therefore were several hours ahead of the Post office delivery — I took great pleasure in showing the telegram to our John Bull friends, & I don't think it made them very happy — One of the English merchants said "this news is awful", awful do you call it; we think it glorious," was my rejoinder. I was thinking of the triumph of freedom & law; he that cotton was down to a shilling, & to do him justice, also, of the many business failures in England —
     The last of the Anglo Rebel pirates is now supposed to be coming this way & by any mail we may hear that the "Shenandoah" has burned some ship from Manila, perhaps one commanded by one of our old friends The "Iroquois" US Steamer was on the 9 March at Singapore looking out for the 'Shenandoah' but

I hardly expect that the Shenandoah will be caught, we ought to have ten steamers instead of one after her.
     Kitty is well over her accident now and is again her own jolly self. Yesterday she was playing in her mother's room and in the midst of her play broke out with "Papa is Kitty's darling," and Kitty is mamma's darling said Nellie, yes said K. and Papa is Kitty's darling, Papa is Kittys pet, — Frequently the little lass suggests that "Papa not go to the office today" — Papa's holidays being rather red letter days for the little one —
     There has been a severe gale in the china sea and the steamer which left here on the 24. ult. with the mail but back on the 30 dismasted — You will not get Manila letters therefore in due course this mail & the previous one going on together — I wrote Annie a long epistle last post and do not write her this

time so make this sheet do double duty please — I have Annies letter of the 7 Jan^y and hope the vaccination turned out all right —
     The first quarter of our last year in Manila is past, I hope it is our last & feel pretty certain of it — Neither Nellie nor myself care to accumulate a large fortune and I guess we can say good bye to the Tropics when Palmer gets back here
     Palmer does not like any place so well as Manila & declares that nobody Westward of the Cape of Good Hope knows how to live — No accounting for tastes in this world.
     Good bye dear Fan, with love to you and your chicks from Nellie and Kitten & myself [illeg] affectionately yours

Ogden E. Edwards