In a July 21, 1849 letter to General George W. Gordon, Edmund Dillahunter discusses a number of matters related to Middle Tennessee. He begins the letter by praising E. B. Smith of Pulaski, who has asked Gordon to write a letter of recommendation to the Secretary of War regarding Smith's desire to be made a naval agent in Memphis. Dillahunter then describes the waning of the cholera epidemic which had plagued Middle Tennessee. He notes that "the Cholera has left Middle Tennessee pretty much. There is an occasional case at Nashville and the neighborhood, but it no longer prevails as an epidemic."

Dillahunter concludes his letter with local political news, discussing the "slavery question" and the talks of secession. He argues that "no man should ever be tolerated as a public leader who can seriously talk about the dissolution of our union as a remedy for visiting evils." Fearing that the question involved may at any time be made a legal one, Dillahunter states that the people of Tennessee are not prepared either for anarchy or civil war.