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During these two years Edgar had become a friend of Lieutenant Howard which he described as; compassionate, a fatherly man who acted from the \"goodness of his heart\", and as Edgar also stated: \"He has always been kind to me\". Edgar even trusted him with his real name and age. Even though he progressed in the army, Edgar felt that he wanted to leave. He had signed for five years but Howard promised to discharge him since he had heard about Edgar\'s problems with his orphanhood, and the problems at the University and John Allan. Howard would only let him leave if he settled his differences with John Allan though.
Lieutenant Howard wrote a letter to John Allan explaining the situation to which John Allan replied: \"he had better remain as he is until the termination of his enlistment\". Edgar then wrote to John Allan himself explaining that he made a mistake when he joined the Army but partly blamed Allan for it. He also stated that he had become a better man. Edgar\'s sense of poetry could be noticed in this letter in the folowing quote:
\"I have thrown myself on the world, like a Norman conqueror on the shores of Britain &, by my avowed assurance of victory, have destroyed the fleet which could alone cover my retreat -- I must either conquer or die --- succeed or be disgraced\"
John Allan did not reply and three weeks later Edgar wrote him again summarizing what he had said before and pretended like Allan never would have received the letter. Once again Edgar did not get a reply. After another six weeks, now after Edgar\'s 20th birthday, he wrote again but this time he asked for John Allan\'s help to enter West Point, stating that he wished to advance his career as a soldier. No one knows if he received a reply to this letter but a reconciliation was in the offing.
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