The letter's central anecdote describes the arrival in camp of Pvt. James W. S. Himmelwright, a Company H veteran. Himmelwright is now presenting himself as a substitute for William H. Richard, a conscript from Mountain Falls, Frederick County. In keeping with long-standing European and American military traditions, the 1862 Confederate conscription acts permitted conscripts to hire substitutes to serve in their places. Abuses and fraud in the system were rampant, and the indignation of volunteers and those unable to afford substitutes naturally followed. In response to increasing public resentment, Congress abolished substitution in December 1863, rendering "principals," or conscripted men who had hired substitutes, liable to military service. According to White, Himmelwright will soon be leaving for home because Pierce has refused to keep him. This is understandable given the recent repeal of the substitution provision. But it is also true that volunteers typically regarded both conscripts and substitutes as unreliable and prone to desertion. Even before substitution was outlawed and in the midst of enlistment shortfalls, contemptuous officers sometimes refused to admit substitutes into their units. There is nothing to suggest that Himmelwright's service continued past the date of White's letter. However, surviving records indicate that Richard did eventually join the regiment; he was paroled in Winchester, Virginia on 28 April 1865.