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YALE UNIVERSITY

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Personal Notes

AND

Reminiscences of Lincoln

H. S. HUIDEKOPER

PHILADELPHIA
BicKiNG Print, S.E. Cor. Tenth and Market
1896

Personal Notes

AND

Reminiscences of Lincoln

H. S. HUIDEKOPER

PHILADELPHIA
BiCKiNG Print, S.E. Cor. Tenth and Market
1896

preface,

Everyone who lived during war times owes to posterity
and to history a narrative of what he saw or heard in that
eventful period, and with that thought, the following lines
record some matters with which the writer was especially
connected. The allusions to family, or to events which occurred
previous to the war, must be considered to be written only
for my relatives, more particularly for the younger members
of the family, although the facts may not be without in
terest to some friends, and may serve to while away the
leisure half-hour of some comrade, who will thus have, at
his own hearth, as it were, for a camp-fire, a soldier's short
story of some of the things which happened a third of a
century ago.
H. S. HUIDEKOPER.
Philadelphia, Pa., December, 1896.

PERSONAL NOTES AND REMINISCENCES
OF LINCOLN.

When at Harvard College, from 1858 to 1862, I had
strong anti-slavery feelings and was a Republican, although
unable to vote, as election days in Meadville, Pennsylvania,
where I lived, occurred during term time, and in those former
days punctuality in attendance was so necessary that a stu
dent could not be absent for a week without being missed
and called to account.
As a boy, I had been interested in the political parties
to which my father belonged, and had seen and shaken hands
with General Zachary Taylor, Giddings, Carter, John A.
Bingham, Judge Sherman, Senator Wade, Tom Corwin, and
other prominent men of that period, for my father was fond
of having such men, when they came to Meadville in political
campaigns, stay with him, or at least dine at his table.
About a century ago, the then agent of the Holland
Land Company in Northwestern Pennsylvania resigned his
position, annoyed by the threats and demonstrations of the
squatters on their lands, and my grandfather, a very young
man and only a few years from Holland, was sent from
Philadelphia to Meadville to take his place in managing the
large affairs of the company. He lived to be over seventy-
eight, and was vigorous enough, up to the last, to be able to
shoot woodcocks on the wing, a sport he keenly enjoyed.
When a boy, for the purpose of instruction, I was often
called in from my play, and always for two full weeks in
January, taken into the office of my grandfather to help
him calculate the interest due on contracts, to copy letters,
which was then done with a quill pen, or to record the num
bers, letters and dates-of-issue of the bank bills of those

days received by the office. It was there I first heard the
name of John Brown, although later I heard from my
father, who passed John Brown's door four times a year on
his way to Warren, Pa., and often called upon him, much
about the peculiarities of the man and many incidents of
his life, among them that he had been refused membership
of the Church in Meadville, because he had attempted to
have a negro admitted at the same time, and that he had
been married there to a Miss Annie Day.
From a different standpoint I had heard praises of
James Buchanan, in whose administration John Brown met
his doom, who was described by my maternal grandmother
as a most elegant, courtly gentleman, he having resided
near her in Lancaster County, and officiated as groomsman
at her marriage to Judge Shippen, under whom, as captain
in the war of i8i2, Buchanan served as an enlisted cavalry
man. My grandmother talked more about Buchanan than
she did about another gentleman of great military ability,
who was a friend and guest of the Philadelphia branch of the
family in Revolutionary times, and who married the Tory
beauty Peggy Shippen, whose portrait that versatile officer.
Major Andre, sketched, and to whom he wrote verses during
the winter that Howe had possession of the Quaker City
and reveled in luxury, while Washington's men were suffer
ing at Valley Forge.
Meadville, although not then settled, was on the route
between Presque Isle and Fort Duquesne, with Fort Le-
Bceuf above it and Fort Venango below, and Washington
and Armstrong and Duquesne, and the French troops with
their Indian allies, passed and repassed the site of the future
town in their movements in pre-Revolutionary times. One
century later it was still a highway, over which squads of
human beings of another color, escaping from the operations
of the Fugitive Slave Law, followed each other for weeks
on their way to Canada and freedom. The road passed our
grounds, and many an hour did I hold on to my grandfather's
hand as he walked up and down the road in front of his

5
house, I not then knowing why he pressed silver money
into the hands of these refugees, and thus showed them
that the whole world was not against them.
I had thus become interested hi politics in a general
way, had seen the Whig party go down, and had watched
the rise of the Republican party and its ineffectual efforts
to develop under Fremont, in the campaign of 1856. The
campaign was an enthusiastic one, but there was something
wanting — the keynote had not been struck.
Later I heard Wendell Phillips deliver his funeral ora
tion on John Brown, in Boston Music Hall ; and Caleb
Gushing, from Faneuil Hall, plead to the North for law and
order, — an unnecessary appeal, for Massachusetts and her
sister States above " the line " never did, and never meant
to, forget their duty to their country.
Alive to the issues of that period and interested in all
public matters, on February 28, i860, I read the morning
paper, as was my custom before beginning my studies, and
the great speech made the night before at the Cooper Insti
tute, which, in one day, raised a local Illinois politician to
the head of the Republican party. Turning from my win
dow seat in HoUis Hall to my brother, who was my room
mate and classmate, I remarked that I had never before that
moment heard of Abraham Lincoln, but that there was in
his words just what the North had been yearning for, and
that that speech would make him the next President of the
United States. The doctrine he taught, — Lincoln's yf^.?^ mis
sion, as it were, — that a " house divided against itself could
not stand, and that this government could not exist with
one-half slave and the other half free, that it would become
all slave or all free," — touched a responsive chord in every
patriotic heart, — the keynote had been sounded, and the
Republican party was electrified into a great political power.
Robert Lincoln entered Harvard College in i860, and
was a sturdy, whole-souled, modest fellow, of strong affec
tions and friendships, and to his closer friends he was with
out reserve and delightfully entertaining. It was my good

6,
fortune to count myself as one of these, due largely to his
special intimacy with my younger brother, of Lincoln's
class, who died soon after the war from disease contracted
in Texas, where he was with Sheridan's army until it was
recalled from watching Maximilian's forces, then over the
line in Mexico.
During freshman year Robert Lincoln boarded at a
private house, which brought him, to some degree, in ac
quaintance with the town-folk of Cambridge, one of whom
desired to be po.stmaster under the new regime. He suc
ceeded in interesting Bob (as many of us affectionately
called him) in his efforts to obtain the position, and probably
young Lincoln's first real political work was to write to his
father in this man's behalf. With the promptness which
characterized Mr. Lincoln, he replied somewhat in these
words, — " If you do not attend to your studies and let matters such as
you write about alone, I will take you away from college."
" Bob " carried this letter in his pocket, and on many
an occasion afterward, when other aspirants for office im
portuned him for assistance, it served him a good turn.
In April, 1861, when the first call for troops was made.
Harvard men responded promptly, and among those who
obtained commissions and in time commanded regiments,
brigades or divisions, were Wadsworth, Barlow, Vincent,
Bartlett, Forbes, Devens, Palfrey, Revere, Lowell, Quincy,
Sherwin, Abbot, Weld, Russell, Crowninshield and Holmes,
all of whom, had life and time permitted, would, with their
abihty, have been promoted to higher commands. Equally
good and patriotic men to the number of six hundred Har
vard graduates took part in the war before its close.
Anxious to do my part, but m the branch of the service
to which I was inclined, I sought enlistment in Nimms'
Boston Artillery Company, but the fullness of the company
and my father's admonition that my services would be more
needed later on than then, sent me back to the books I had

thrown aside, and I increased my library by the purchase
of Hardee's Tactics, DeHart on Courts-Martial, and a musket.
The lawns of Harvard College became drill grounds. Officers
of the Cadet Corps of Boston took charge of the United
States Arsenal, with undergraduates for enlisted men. A
competent French drill-master, named Sahgnac, under whom
General Miles took his first military lessons, had his school,
and between recitations in physic and astronomy. Professor
 took a hand at military instruction with more spirit
than would be evinced by the command he once gave :
" G-e-n-t-1-e-m-e n, you will please A-D-V-A-N-C-E ! " In
the bayonet exercise, Ward of '62 was instructor, and most
competent he was.
I left college before commencement, called to the bed
side of my sick father, who died in less than a week after I
reached Washington with my regiment, of which I was then
the lieutenant-colonel. I, however, had had his blessing,
and having selfishly '• detailed " my classmate brother (who
was a year younger than I, and equally anxious to go to
the front) to remain at home and look after the other six
children and the estate, I felt that I was prepared to devote
myself to the work I had undertaken.
On September 6th, 1862, the regiment ( which I com
manded for the first two weeks after its organization) reached
Washington from Harrisburg, and after marching northward
for a few miles, towards McClellan's army on its way to An-
tietam, and back again to Washington, was given guard duty
to perform. It fell to Companies D and K to be sent to
the Soldiers' Home, two miles north of Washington, where
President Lincoln spent the summer, and where it was
thought necessary he should have military protection.
Company K had been my own company, although I think
I had not been mustered as its captain because of my ap
pointment as a field officer on my arrival at Harrisburg. I
had, however, a special interest in it, and while we lay in
Washington I visited it more frequently than I did any
other of the ten companies.

The captain of Company K was a middle-aged man,
who weighed probably two hundred and twenty-five pounds.
He was faithful in church matters, and had had some success
in politics about the time they began to take their place in
Pennsylvania as a high art. Being of pleasant address, he
soon found favor with the President, and was required to
breakfast with him every morning and accompany him oc
casionally, in his carriage, to the White House. Derickson
says the President was an early riser, and that they often had
a half hour's talk before their seven o'clock breakfast. It
was probably on one of these occasions that the President
gave the following letter, which the captain made good use
of some months later, as will appear :
" Executive Mansion,
" Washington, Nov. i, 1862.
" To whom it may concern : —
" Capt. Derickson, with his company, has been, for sometime,
keeping guard at my residence, now at the Soldiers' Retreat. He
and his company are very agreeable to me, and while it is deemed
proper for any guard to remain, none would be more satisfactory to
me than Capt. D. and his Company. " A. Lincoln."
In a day or two after the two companies reached the
Soldiers' Home, I was presented by Captain Derickson to
the President, and my youthfulness and small stature must
have struck the good man, for he at once remarked, " Well,
I expected to see a very tall man, weighing three hundred
pounds, in the lieutenant-colonel, and the difference in the
size and rank of you two reminds me of a story. You know
that Douglas was a short man. When he was to speak the
people always collected from far and near, and on occasion
of one of his appointments a seven-foot Illinois giant came in
town to hear him. As this giant was wending his way along
to the public square, another man threw himself on his
knees in front of him and, putting his arms about his legs,
said he was very glad to see him, for he had heard so much

about him, and had admired him for so long. The giant
asked what this all meant, and sajd there was a mistakp
somewhere, to which the other replied, ' Ob, no ; surely you
are Douglas, for they say he is the biggest man in HJinQis,
and no one can be bigger than you.' " We were st3ji(ding
on the front porch on this occasion, and after talking about
other things, Mr. Lincoln laid his huge hand on my sjioulder,
and, in the most serious manner, said, " Will you answer nie
a question which I asked the captain, and which he said he
could not answer ? " I replied in some cautjous way, and
he then said, " When the captain told me about your family
and its Dutch origin, I asked where the difference lay
between an Amster-dam Dutchman and any other damn
Dutchman ? " It was thus I first met the greatest man of
the age. • I was constantly about him afterward?; and his
manner was always so easy, so simple, and so friendly that
I had no hesitation in going into his office, pr in passing
through the White House to the camp of the two compan
ies, which followed the President to the city when he gave
up his summer abode, and when I dropped into his room or
met him he always had a pleasant word of greeting for m^-
It was while our men were at the Soldiers' Home, in
September, 1862, that the second battle of Bull Run was
lost, after which disaster the American people, wjth Lincoln
as their mouthpiece, reappointed McClellan to tjifi com
mand of the army. In our conversation on one occasion,
after the battle of Antietam had been fought and WOO i>y
McClellan with the recently demoralized army, the Presi
dent exhibited some uneasiness as to what wpuld be the
result of th^ pursuit of the rebel army, and I asked him
plainly what the plans were, and whether there was to
be another battle. He answered that he was really di§"
heartened, for he had been urging the general to another
blow, but only to be answered, one time that his hor,gcs
were fatigued, and another time that he had too fpw troops.
In a couple of weeks after this General McClelJan was re
lieved of the command of the Army of the Potproac.

ID

On Saturday, February the 14th, 1863, the regiment
was ordered to report the next morning at Seventh Street
Wharf for transportation to Acquia Creek, to join thi
Army of the Potomac. In getting the companies ready
fof the movement, we discovered that it had been arranged
that Company K should remain at the White House, and,
as we were anxious to go into the field with the full regi
ment of ten companies, I was sent to see the President to
learn whether the retention of the hundred men was by his
wish, or because of some unwillingness on the part of the
officers to leave him for others to guard.
My call was made early "Sunday morning, before Mr.
Lincoln had come down stairs, and, of course, without my
knowledge of the existence of the " to whom it may con
cern " letter above given. Unfortunately for my mission,
the President came down with his young son Tad holding
onto his hand, who was entreating him that Company K.
might riot be allowed to leave them. As we talked the
situation over, little Tad sat on his father's knee, and while
Mr. Lincoln was writing a short note for me to carry to
General Heintzleman, I could not feel otherwise than that
the boy's interest in the company would have much to do
with its remaining in Washington until its muster out, which
occurred three years later.
The note, which the President read to me before en
closing it, began by stating that he was unwilling that able-
bodied men should be kept on duty at the White House
when there was so much need of them in the field, and that
he had often so stated when the question was under discus
sion. Tad having burst into tears while the President was
writing, and sobbed until his father had to stop his work
and comfort him, the letter wound up with the damaging
clause that Company K was composed of men of such
excellent habits and good deportment, as to make it agree
able to them all to have it remain, provided the Department
Commander thought its retention in Washington, as his
guard, advisable.

II
Considering the question one of Httle concern to the
President himself, and that he would really prefer to have
soldiers who had been disabled in the field (the Invalid
Corps) furnish the necessary guard, I hastened to General
Heintzleman's assistant adjutant-general — "Big Johnson"
we called him — to get him to issue the desired order to the
company. Johnson, however, said the communication was
too much a personal one for him to act on without refer
ring it to his chief, and when the general came in, later in
the morning, he emphatically said, " No, sir," in the peculiar
nasal voice he had, which so many soldiers remember, and
which I shall never forget.
Several men of Company K made application for serv
ice with the regiment, and were taken with us to the front,
where they performed duty as clerk, wagon master, etc.
While we lay at Belle Plain, Va., one of the enlisted
men of the regiment, who had probably concealed from the
recruiting officer the fact of his being under age, wrote a
most pathetic letter to the President, appealing to his
" humanity, " to his " fondness for the soldier," and to his
" sense of justice " to see that he should be discharged from
the service and allowed to return to his widowed mother,
who needed his support. The communication made some
pretense to penmanship, and the words " To the President "
formed an arc over the top, with each letter embeUished.
The postscript, in a hopeful strain, stated that there were
many more such slowly-dying boys in the regiment, all of
whom ought to have their discharge. Mr. Lincoln sent the
letter through the military channels to our regimental head
quarters, first noting on it, in a humorous strain, something
about some officers being so inconsiderate as not to let
men go home when they wished to. The man recovered
and became one of the best of soldiers, but did not get
home until after he was wounded in the Wilderness.
Having somewhat recovered, by October, from wounds
received on July ist, 1863, at Gettysburg, I called upon the
President, who kindly asked what he could do for me. I

12
answered that I was on my way to the War Department, to
ask for light duty in Philadelphia for a month or two, until
I should be strong enough to return to the regiment,
that my papers were in good shape, and that no influence,
beyond a letter I had from General Doubleday, was required.
He, however, said, " Oh, let me fix that," and wrote the
following : "Executive Mansion,
Washington, October 23d, 1863.
"To the Adjuta.nt-General:
" Please grant such request as Col. Huidekoper may make.
" A. Lincoln."
I carried the letter to Colonel Hardee, who asked me
what I wanted. He was much surprised at the common
place character of my request, and remarked that a
carte-blanche • order like that had never come from the
President to the War Department before. Hardee then
urged me to ask for a commission as brigadier-general, and
said they would send me to Maine, where an officer of rank
was required, and where I could remain until the end of the
war. To my answer that it would not be fair to the Presi
dent to thus abuse his confidence, he replied that it would
probably gratify Mr. Lincoln to have me thus provided for.
The post was subsequently filled by a general officer of
good fighting quahties whom I had served under, but who
had heen relieved from active service after Gettysburg and
assigned to duty at Portland, Maine.
It had so happened that Tad Lincoln, whom the men
of Company K had provided with a uniform, colonel's
shoulder straps, and a hat marked " 1 50 P. V.," followed me
from the camp of his company to Hardee's office. When
he heard me give the designation of my command to the
clerk, he cracked the whip he held in his hand and said,
" No, sir J I am colonel of the 1 50th."

13
In the early spring of 1864, my brother, Herman, who
was to graduate at Harvard that year, appeared before the
Casey Board in Washington for a commission in the U. S.
Colored Troops, in competition with hundreds of ofificers
and private soldiers who were then in the field and thus
sought promotion. The Board placed his name on the list
for a captaincy. Anxious to put him in the line of promo
tion at not too late a day, one of his friends. Judge Pettis, of
Meadville, promptly made application for a commission
which would make him the senior captain of one of the new
regiments. Knowing the President intimately, the judge carried the
paper to Mr. Lincoln, who endorsed it as follows :
" I know nothing of the young man within named, except by
hearsay, which is all in his favor. His brother, Lt.-Col. Huide
koper, who lost an arm at Gettysburg, I do know, and for his
sake I would be very glad for the advancement of the young man.
"A. Lincoln.
"April 27, 1864."
Through this favor on part of Mr. Lincoln, it fell to the
lot of Captain Huidekoper, not yet of age, to organize, equip,
and to drill for several weeks, with colored sergeants as com
pany commanders, the One Hundred and Twenty-seventh
Regiment U. S. C. T. He received, the following March,
after a winter's service in front of Richmond, promotion
by a. commission as major in the Twenty-ninth Regiment
U. S. C. T.
Herman possessed soldierly ability, and though modest
in demeanor, had force of character and was not unequal
to the care of one thousand negro recruits at Camp Penn —
an unusual task for a boy just past twenty.
In August, 1864, a man named Wilson, with whom 1
had gone to school in my younger days, and who had been
in the rebel army, returned to Meadville and stated that the
majority of his associates in the military prison at Rock
Island, where he had been confined after his capture by our

14
troops, were tired of fighting the United States, and so were
averse to their exchange and return to the South. It oc
curred to Judge Pettis that these men might be used by the
government to advantage against the Indians, who had
recently invaded Minnesota and massacred the inhabitants,
thereby causing a numerous force of soldiers then under
command of General Sibley, to be kept on the frontier. He
talked to me about the scheme, and I encouraged him in
seeing what could be done in the matter. For this purpose
he went to Washington, and soon interested Mr. Lincoln in
his proposition. - Mr. Lincoln asked Pettis whether he had
discussed the question of the employment of released pris
oners with me, and having been answered in the affirmative,
he said he would like to talk to me about it.and, if I assured
him that the plan was feasible, he would issue the necessary
orders to carry the measure into effect.
Judge Pettis telegraphed to me to come to Washington,
and on the last day of August met me at the station and
drove with me to the Soldiers' Home, where the President
was then spending the summer.
When we arrived Mr. Lincoln was at dinner, but he
soon came into the parlor and, stretching tiis long body on
the sofa-lounge started a general conversation. During the
call a carriage drove to the door, and when the servant
brought the card in Mr. Lincoln directed her to say that he
was engaged for the evening. In answer to that message,
the caller sent word that he must see the President. Mr.
Lincoln told the servant to say that he could not see him.
The servant came back the third time and said the man
would remain outside and await the convenience of the
President. Mr. Lincoln hastily said, " Tell the man I will
not see him." As the wheels rumbled down the roadway,
Mr. Lincoln gave a short laugh of relief, and remarked,
" That is a most persistent man. As an officer he was dis
missed from the army, and now wishes me to reinstate him,
so as to relieve him from the imputation of ' conduct unbe
coming an officer and a gentleman. ' " Mr. Lincoln added

15
that the man was related to a former political antagonist of
his, mentioning names, for which reason he would like to
befriend him, but discipline in the army required that he
should not listen to all grievances brought to his door.
After a half-hour Mr. Lincoln turned to me and said,
" Pettis has been talking to me about making use of the
rebel prisoners at Rock Island, and I wish you would call at
the White House exactly at nine to-morrow morning, that I
may talk the matter over with you."
At the appointed time the following morning, we, Mr.
Lincoln and I, only, met as he stepped from his carriage,
and taking hold of my arm he led me to an ante-room in
the War Department building, and sitting down on a bench,
said, " Tell me what you think of Pettis's suggestion about
enlisting rebel prisoners-of-war.''
In enumerating the possible advantages in the use of
these men, I said that the draft was pressing hard upon
families where the men could not easily be spared, and that
where money could be raised to hire substitutes, the market
price for which was ^i,ooo,each, rough, worthless men, gen
erally foreigners, were secured. I also stated that it took
one year to make a good soldier out of a recruit, and that
the cost to the government in pay, rations and clothing,
during training, was not a small sum, and that if a brigade
of seasoned, efficient troops could be relieved from watching
the Indians, it was worth trying to do so with reconstructed
rebel soldiers, who could be made ready for the field almost
at once. The question of there being many who would thus en
list was discussed, and also whether they would remain in
our service. I said I had confidence in Wilson's statement,
but of course it would be better if the men could be stationed
where desertion would endanger their scalps. I said, further,
that the plan was to give these men a bounty of ^lOO each,
which the drafted men in the Crawford County district would
gladly pay to them as substitutes.

i6
The President then left me and went into a private
office, where it took him some time to draft an order. On
his return he read to me what he had written, and seeing
that he had brought me into the business, which I had not
wished or intended, I suggested some changes in the word
ing of the paper, particularly in the clause that referred to
the bounty-money the men were t« receive. The President
made, without hesitation, the alterations I suggested, and I
then accepted the responsibility of the novel scheme, the
details of which were left, almost entirely, to Judge Pettis.
The order read as follows :
" Executive Mansion,
" Washington, D. C, September i , 1864.
" It is represented to me that there are at Rock Island, 111., as
rebel prisoners of war, many persons of northern and foreign birth,
who are unwilling to be exchanged and sent south, but who wish to
take the oath of allegiance and enter the military service of the Union.
Colonel Huidekoper, on behalf of the people of some parts of Penn
sylvania, wishes to pay the bounties the Government would have to
pay to proper persons of this class, have them enter the service of
the United States and be credited to the localities furnishing the
bounty money. He will, therefore, proceed to Rock Island, ascer
tain the names of such persons (not including any who have
attractions southward), and telegraph them to the provost marshal
here, whereupon direction will be given to discharge the persons
named upon their taking the oath of allegiance, and when they shall
have been duly received and mustered into the service of the United
States, their number will be credited as may be directed by Colonel
Huidekoper. *
"Abraham Lincoln."
The President then said, " Now we will take this into
the Secretary of War's office, and I wish you to notice how
they treat me in there. They do not think I know anything
in their line of business, or should ever give them any
direction concerning it.''
The President seemed to know where to go, for he went
straight to the desk of Provost-Marshal-General Fry and
told him what he had done, and asked to have the matter

17
attended to, according to the intent of the paper. General
Fry remonstrated vigorously, telHng the President that Mr.
Stanton had considered the question some time before and
had decided against the measure, and that he (the President),
must withdraw the order. As we left the room, Mr. Lincoln
remarked upon the want of deference shown him, evincing
some amusement at the opposition.
The continued objection made by the Department to
the plan required, three weeks later, Mr. Lincoln's interfer
ence, and he endorsed the following on the original paper :
" The bearer will present the list of names contemplated within.
The provost-marshal-general will please take the proper steps to
have them examined, mustered in and discharged from prison, so as
to be properly credited ; all according to the within. "A. Lincoln.
"September 20, 1864."
This he himself carried to Mr. Stanton's office.
General Fry described the scene which occurred on this
occasion, in an article he wrote, entitled " Lincoln at his
best," in these words :
i< * * * But the Secretary of War refused to have the credits
allowed. * * * Then Lincoln went in person to Stanton's
office, and I was called there by the latter to state the facts in the
case. I reported to the two high officials, as I had previously done
to the Secretary alone, that these men belonged to the United
States, being prisoners of war; that they could not be used against
the Confederates; that they had no relation whatever to the county
• to which it was proposed they should be credited; that all that was
necessary toward enlisting them in our army for Indian service was
the Government's release of them as prisoners of war ; that to give
them bounty and credit them to a county which owed some of its
own men- for service against the Confederates would waste money,
and deprive the army operating against a powerful enemy of that
number of men, etc.
" Stanton said : ' Now, Mr. President, those are the facts, and
you must see that your order cannot be executed.'
" Lincoln sat upon a sofa with his legs crossed, and did not say
a word until the Secretary's last remark. Then he said in a some
what positive tone : " Mr. Secretary, I reckon you will have to exe
cute the order.'

"Stanton replied, with asperity: 'Mr. President, I cannot do
it. The order is an improper one, and I cannot execute it.'
" Lincoln fixed his eye upon Stanton, and in a firm voice and
with an accent that clearly showed determination, he said : ' Mr.
Secretary, it will have to be done.'
" Stanton then realized that he was overmatched. He had
made a square issue with the President and he had been defeated,
notwithstanding the fact that he was in the right. Upon an intima
tion from him I withdrew, and I did not witness a surrender. A
few minutes after I reached my office I received instructions from
the Secretary to carry's out the President's order.
" Stanton never mentioned the subject to me afterwards, nor
did I ever ascertain the special and, no doubt, sufficient reasons
which the President had for his action in this case."
Nothing can more clearly illustrate Mr. Lincoln's con
trol over the members of his cabinet, or his mastership of
the affairs of their offices when he thought his interfer
ence necessary, than General Fry's statement of the above-
described interview.
The President, the army, and the country were most
fortunate in having Mr. Stanton as Secretary of War dur
ing the rebellion. His staunch loyalty, his cold indifference
to personal entreaties, his untiring energy and the devotion
of his great ability to his work, made him the greatest of
war ministers. Mr. Lincoln recognized this then, as the
world has done since, and admirers and defamers now unite
in regretting that an untimely death, caused by overwork
during the war, prevented this public servant from enjoying
the fruits of his promotion to the Supreme Bench, for which
his early training, intellectual ability and inclinations so
admirably fitted him.
In this matter of recruiting, Mr. Stanton sent one of his
officers privately to Rock Island to watch what was going
on. When the men were mustered in and each had re
ceived his ^lOO bounty. Captain Rathburn made known
the fact that he came there by the direction of the Secretary
of War, himself believing the undertaking was an unwise
measure. He said he had changed his mind in the prem-

19
ises, and would be glad, upon his return to Washingtgn, to
be introduced to the President, so as to assure him of the
success of the enterprise.
The introduction was arranged for, and it was this Cap
tain Rathburn that subsequently married the daughter of
United States Senator Harris, of New York, who were both
in the private box with President and Mrs. Lincoln the
night of the assassination of the President, from the shock
of which tragedy he became a maniac a few years later.
The eighteen hundred soldiers enlisted as above described
were formed into two regiments, which did excellent service
until the end of the war. Not a man ever deserted, and all
proved loyal in their new allegiance. From other prisons,
other men were subsequently enlisted, making in all fifty-
seven hundred and thirty-eight reconstructed rebels who
served under the old flag before the close of the war.
The next time I met Mr. Lincoln was early on the
morning of April 7th, 1865, in the log cabin now standing
in Fairmount Park, Philadelphia, and then known as
" Grant's Headquarters at City Point." I was in search of
a pass to get through the lines to the army, to see my
brother, and, I hoped, to witness the last fight of the Army
ol the Potomac. As I entered the room, a voice from be
hind the open door called my name, and as I turned, Mr.
Lincoln rose from a desk and pleasantly made a few in
quiries about myself. He then said, " Oh ! let me give you
the latest news," and picking up a paper which lay on his
table, he read to me Sheridan's telegram to General Grant,
repeated word for word by the latter to the President, in
which the capture of seven thousand men and five generals,
including Ewell and Custis Lee, was reported. This was the
famous dispatch in which Sheridan said that if the thing
was pushed, he thought Lee would surrender, to which Mr.
Lincoln, in his characteristic style, laconically replied, " Let
the thing be pushed."
Mr. Lincoln was, of course, intensely delighted with

20
the -success of the Army of the Potomac in hemming in
Lee's army, and, rubbing his hands together in his satisfac
tion, said, " The end has almost come." So it proved,
but not as he meant, for a few days later, on April i6th, the
down-boat on the Potomac passed us, bearing the, direful
placard, —

"LINCOLN
ASSASSINATED LAST NIGHT.'

YALE UNIVERSITY
LIBRARY

Gift of
STUART W. JAC3CSON
Yale 1898

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