"I have been to him, and he said I should come to you."
Well, I signed the order; I agreed with General Augur in his view of the question. At about eleven o'clock the next day I met the general. "The President got home at two o'clock this morning," he said, "and he stopped it all."
But it was not only in matters of life and death that Mr. Lincoln was merciful. He was kind at heart towards all the world. I noticed his sweetness of nature particularly with his little son, a child at that time perhaps seven or nine years old, who used to roam the departments and whom everybody called "Tad." He had a defective palate, and couldn't speak very plainly. Often I have sat by his father, reporting to him some important matter that I had been ordered to inquire into, and he would have this boy on his knee. While he would perfectly understand the report, the striking thing about him was his affection for the child.
He was good to everybody. Once there was a great gathering at the White House on New Year's day, and all the diplomats came in their uniforms, and all the officers of the army and navy in Washington were in full costume. A little girl of mine said, "Papa, couldn't you take me over to see that?" I said, Yes; so I took her over and put her in a corner, where she beheld the gorgeous show. When it was finished, I went up to Mr. Lincoln and said, "I have a little girl here who wants to shake hands with you." He went over to her, and took her up and kissed her and talked to her. She will never forget it if she lives to be a thousand years old.
back to the front.
I remained in Washington the entire winter of 1863-64, occupied mainly with the routine business of the Department. Meantime the Chattanooga victory had made Grant the great military figure of the country, and deservedly so. The grade of lieutenant-general had been immediately revived by act of Congress, and the President had promptly promoted him to the new rank, and made him general-in-chief of all the armies of the United States. His military prestige was such that everything was put into his hands, everything yielded to his wishes. The coming of Grant was a great relief to the President and the Secretary. Halleck, the late general-in-chief, consented to serve as Grant's chief-of-staff in Washington, practically continuing his old service of chief military adviser to the President and the Secretary of War, while Grant took the field in active direction of operations against Richmond. Halleck was not thought to be a great man in the field, but he was nevertheless a man of military ability, and by reason of his great accomplishments in the technics of armies and of war was almost invaluable as an adviser to the civilians Lincoln and Stanton. He was an honest man, perhaps something lacking in moral courage, yet earnest and energetic in his efforts to sustain the national government. I have heard Halleck accused of being unjust to his inferiors, especially Grant. I believe this wrong. I never thought him unjust to anybody. He always had his own ideas, and insisted strenuously on following his own course, but I never detected a sign of injustice in his conduct towards others. I think this false impression came from the fact that he was a very critical man. The first impulse of his mind towards a new plan was not enthusiasm; it was analysis, criticism. His habit of picking men and manners to pieces to see what they were worth gave the idea that he was unjust and malicious towards certain of his subordinates.
It was March when Grant came to Washington to receive his new grade of lieutenant-general. Soon afterwards he joined the Army of the Potomac. On the 4th of May he had moved out from Culpeper, where the army had been in winter quarters since the previous December, and crossed the Rapidan with an effective force of 120,000 men. General Lee, his opponent, had about 70,000.
For two days after Grant moved we had no authentic reports from the army, although it was known that great events were transpiring. Mr. Stanton and Mr. Lincoln had begun to get uneasy. The evening of May 6th I was at a reception, when a messenger came with summons to the War Department. I hurried over to the office in evening dress. The President was there, talking very soberly with Stanton.
"Dana," said Mr. Lincoln, "you know we have been in the dark for two days since Grant moved. We are very much troubled, and have concluded to send you down there. How soon can you start?"
"In half an hour," I replied.
In about that time I had an engine fired up at Alexandria, and a cavalry escort of a hundred men awaiting me there. I had gotten into my camp clothes, had bor-
