were the most important of my career. The grand scheme which I labored to promote was a failure, but the work which I was assigned to do, in connection with it, was thoroughly well done, and, had the others performed their part as well as I performed mine, the ending of the war would probably have been very different from what it was. It would, however, scarcely have been possible for me to have worked with the signal efficiency I did, had I not secured the aid of Colonel Baker; and, that the chief detective officer of the Federal government should have been induced, unconsciously and unsuspectingly, to assist a rebel enterprise of the dangerous character of this one, was one of the most curious of the many curious things that happened during the war.
Before embarking in this enterprise, I succeeded in making the acquaintance of a number of influential people in Washington and elsewhere, and was engaged in operations of no little importance, the recital of which will, I think, prove both entertaining and edifying to the public, as it will show what consummate scoundrels were filling high places under the Federal government during the war, and how the people who believed the war to be a just one, and were making every sacrifice to carry it on, were betrayed by some of these most trusted servants.
As these operations, however, were connected with others of a much later date, I will, in order not to break the thread of my story, defer narrating them at present, merely stating here that the detection of the gigantic frauds that were being perpetrated was one of the most creditable events of Colonel Baker's career. I say this, notwithstanding that I was working against him at the time, and was implicated in the transactions alluded to. My position with regard to these matters was very different from that of the men with whom I cooperated. I did certain things, and would do them again under similar circumstances, because I think that in time of war it is right and proper to take every advantage of the enemy; but I had so little regard for my chief associates, that, although I took good care to keep out of Baker's sight, and had no desire to have him capture me, I could not help wishing, when I heard that he had his clutches on them, that he would succeed in having them punished according to their deserts.
It was most discreditable in certain of the principal officers of the government, and in certain members of Congress, that
