One page, 8 1/4 x 10 3/4 in., significant separation extending horizontally from right edge and vertically at center affecting text, old folds, other tears/separations. On Southern Pacific Company Law Department letterhead. With stamped cover addressed to Captain Sam Chapman of Covington, Virginia, cancelled in San Francisco.

Mosby deals heavily with the subject of "Willie," a mutual friend or acquaintance, who is traveling to Hong Kong, and to whom Mosby has sent a copy of (James Joseph) Williamson's prospectus for his book, Mosby's Rangers. He writes: "I sent him Williamson's prospectus of his book wh. no doubt you have seen: remarked that your picture in it did not suggest the idea of a minister of Peace."

Mosby ends the letter by saying that he hopes Willie is promoted soon, to which end he "put in a word for him yesterday." Mosby also admits that he is so weak that he writes carelessly.

Samuel Forrer Chapman (1838-1919) served with Mosby's 43rd Virginia Cavalry Battalion in early 1863, rising through the ranks from lieutenant to captain, commanding Company E. He earned not only Mosby's respect, but his friendship, and the two remained close correspondents long after the war ended, until Mosby's death in 1916.

When Mosby returned to the United States from his work as a US consul in Hong Kong in 1885, he lived in San Francisco and worked as a lawyer for Southern Pacific Railroad, a position secured for him by his friend, former president Ulysses S. Grant, and which he held until 1901.