Jordan's letter was written on 5 February 1865 to a young woman in Milton, Kentucky named Martha ("Mattie") Fearn, whom he addresses as his cousin. Confederate pension records indicate that after the war, Jordan and Mattie Fearn were married. Since the letter states that the two had not met since Mattie was a "little girl", and since Jordan's prose bespeaks fondness but no real intimacy, we are left to assume that Mattie's kindnesses to her imprisoned cousin did indeed prove to be "bread cast upon the waters". Soldiers, especially prisoners, found it expedient to solicit aid from whoever would supply it. That such relationships might provide the foundation for a greater intimacy after the war is scarcely surprising, and was not in fact uncommon. Prison correspondence was, of course, subject to censorship. Article XVII of a 20 April 1864 Federal circular specifies that outgoing and incoming letters are to be examined by non-commissioned officers, and must be no more than one page in length (Official Records, Series II, Volume 7, p. 75). Hence Jordan's statement in concluding his letter that "I have just so many lines." More stringent restrictions were imposed at other Union prisons, but it is not apparent that they applied to Johnson's Island.