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that Lee would be permitted to escape, and that the fruits of the glorious victory would be lost.

The situation can be briefly explained. The Federal army had been occupying the Cemetery Ridge for several days. They were not so foot-sore that a march of thirty-five miles would have been impossible; they had ample supplies for at least three days, as the chief quartermaster informed me; they would have moved toward, not from, their proper base of supplies, the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad; they had two good pontoon-trains with which to bridge the river at any desired point. I was quite familiar with the locations, having resided ten years at Gettysburg and made railroad surveys between it and the Potomac, and had walked over the same ground in one day ten miles further than it would have been necessary for the army

to march.

The Confederates were depressed by defeat, short of ammunition, especially for artillery, they had a swollen stream.not fordable in their front, no pontoon-bridges and no material immediately available for constructing others, no possibility of retracing their route up the Cumberland Valley, as that would have removed them further from their supplies on the south side of the Potomac, and, besides, the Cumberland Valley was occupied by the corps of General Couch, which had not been in action; they were apparently hemmed in a trap. My opinion has always been that if Meade had moved at once to the Potomac, had occupied a defensible position below Lee's army, thrown bridges across and placed a moderate force with artillery on the south side, within supporting distance from the main army, it would have been impossible for Lee to receive supplies or reinforcements; the batteries, properly placed, would have prevented any attempts to construct bridges; and Lee would have been forced to capitulate. It would not have been necessary to risk an engagement; the enemy would have been checkmated.

I left Meade on Sunday, July 5, about noon, and the next morning, as I find from my records, I was in Washington and had a personal interview with General Halleck, in which the situation was fully explained; and this is the reason why no records were found of any letters or telegrams from me to General Halleck or the President referring to the Meade interview. I find, however, a letter to General Halleck, written from my office in Washington, Monday, July 6, referring to the interview with him in the morning, which throws light upon the subjects discussed at that interview. In this letter I assumed that Lee would escape, and suggested that, as a successful pursuit up the Shenandoah Valley would be hopeless, it was desirable at once to occupy the line of the Orange and Alexandria Railroad with a good cavalry force as far as Lynchburg, destroy telegraph lines and the bridges and tracks on both the roads leading from Richmond, occupy the passes of the Blue Ridge, isolate the army in the Shenandoah Valley, and attack when favorable opportunities offered. These were, of course, mere suggestions for the consideration of the General-in-Chief. The principal value of this letter at the present time is to show that as early as July 6 I had reached the conclusion that Lee would escape, and was occupied with plans of what should be done in that contingency.

The predictions were verified. Lee did escape, but not until July 14, on bridges constructed on the plans

that I had indicated as possible. Meade's army, instead of occupying the line of road east of the Blue Ridge and cutting the communications of the enemy, followed him in a hopeless chase up the Shenandoah Valley, and, when too late to be of efficient service, I was telegraphed to bring all my forces from the line of the Cumberland Valley Railroad and reconstruct with all possible expedition the Orange and Alexandria Railway, which again became the base of supplies.

The records show that even before the interview with General Meade I wrote to General Halleck, expressing apprehension that the pursuit would be so tardy as to lose the fruits of victory. On page 523 of Part III of the Gettysburg records there is a letter to General Halleck, dated Oxford, Pennsylvania, July 4, "II A. M." This date is an error in the printed records; it should have been P. M., as the letter commences-"Night has overtaken me at Oxford. . . . Persons just in from Gettysburg report the position of affairs. I fear that while Meade rests to refresh his men and collect supplies Lee will be off so far that he cannot intercept him. A good force on the line of the Potomac to prevent Lee from crossing would, I think, insure his destruction." This letter, it will be perceived, was written from Oxford, seven miles east of Gettysburg, before my interview with General Meade at an early hour the next morning. The fear expressed was so greatly intensified by my personal interview with General Meade that I felt it to be my duty to take an engine and proceed to Washington the same night, to make a personal report to General Halleck, who was my immediate superior.

Although the President seems to have been much exercised over the probability of Lee's escape, the communications between Generals Halleck and Meade, as published in the records, do not indicate disapprobation on the part of the authorities at Washington until the escape had been actually effected, on July 14, when the telegrams were of such character as to induce General Meade to ask to be relieved from the command of the army.

I can readily understand the situation from my relations to General Halleck and familiarity with his policy. Contrary to the generally received opinion, he was unwilling to give any other than very general instructions to the generals in the field. A single illustration will make this clear. At the battle of Fredericksburg I was with Burnside nearly all day in an upper room of the Phillips House overlooking the battle-field. After the battle I took an engine, ran to Aquia Creek, twelve miles, then boarded a steamer and proceeded as rapidly as possible to Washington. I called on President Lincoln and explained the situation. He asked me to walk with him to General Halleck's quarters on I street, near the Arlington. On arrival we found General Halleck at about II P. M. in his drawing-room with several officers. These were requested to withdraw, and the President then asked me to repeat my report to General Halleck, which I did. The President then directed General Halleck to telegraph orders to Burnside to withdraw his forces from the south side of the river. General Halleck rose from his seat, paced the room for some time in meditation, and then, standing in front of the President, said emphatically, “I will do no such thing. If such orders are issued, you must issue them yourself. If we were personally present we might assume such responsibility. I hold that a general

in command of an army in the field is, or ought to be, better acquainted with all the conditions than parties at a distance, and by giving peremptory orders a serious error might be committed." The President made no reply, but seemed much dejected. I then ventured the remark that I did not consider the situation so serious as he supposed. I explained more in detail the topographical features of the locality and the relative positions of the two armies. Our troops could not be fired upon, nor our bridges enfiladed by the batteries on Marye's Heights, without destroying the city, and I had no doubt that Burnside would retire his army during the night. When I finished, the President, with a deep sigh, remarked, “What you have just told me gives me a great many grains of comfort."

There can be, I think, no doubt that the President from the first shared with me the apprehension that Lee would escape and the war be indefinitely prolonged, but was deterred from interfering with General Meade by the position taken by General Halleck, who would not, unless personally present, assume the responsibility of giving orders.

General M. C. Meigs, Quartermaster-General, had great influence with the President, Secretary of War, and General Halleck, and was often present at their councils. I find among my papers a telegram to General Meigs, dated Frederick, July 8, in which I endeavored to secure his coöperation to induce more prompt action, in which this language is used, “I could build trestle-bridges of round sticks and floor with fencerails. It is too much to assume that the rebels cannot do the same." I had previously made a similar remark to General Meade.

On July 9, General Halleck telegraphed to General Meade that "the evidence that Lee's army will fight north of the Potomac seems reliable."

This seems to me, under the circumstances, a very remarkable opinion for an officer of so much intelligence as General Halleck; but he may have had reasons for the opinion of which I am not advised. Lee was of necessity short of ammunition. With nearly 300 pieces of artillery in action for three days, it would seem to have been an impossibility for Lee to have retained sufficient ammunition to renew the offensive, and he could get neither ammunition, supplies, nor reinforcements until he could establish communications with the south side of the Potomac. In fact, it was not until July 10 that Lee succeeded in getting some ammunition via Martinsburg, probably carried over the river in rowboats, and this could have been intercepted by a small force on the south side. To me it seems extremely probable, in fact almost certain, that if Lee could have been prevented from getting ammunition to renew an attack, or from constructing bridges on which to cross the river, he would have been forced to capitulate without another battle. If he had attempted to escape by moving up the river, the difficulties of the position would not have been relieved. Meade, having the great advantage of pontoon-bridges, could always safely have maintained a sufficient force on the south side to intercept supplies. Lee's forces were certainly in no condition to renew the contest when they reached the Potomac, and although it might not have been wise to attack them in a strong, defensive position, it is certain that, without supplies, such position could not have been long maintained, and the Federal army could never again hope

for conditions more favorable for themselves. If no decisive move could be made north of the Potomac, it was vain to expect more favorable results on the south side, with the enemy reinforced, supplied, rested, and on their own territory, with communications intact and popular sympathy in their favor.

The records show that the opinions herein expressed are not afterthoughts, but were entertained at the time when the events occurred, and that no efforts were spared on my part to avert the great calamity of the escape of the Confederate army and the prolongation of the contest for two years, with the losses of life and treasure consequent thereon.

Soon after the battle of Gettysburg, for reasons not pertinent to this article, I ceased to be an active participant in the operations of the army; but the construction-corps that I had the privilege of organizing continued, under other officers, to perform most efficient service, and contributed greatly -- perhaps it would not be too strong an expression to say was indispensableto the success of General Sherman in his celebrated march to the sea. The facility with which bridges were reconstructed and broken communications restored enabled him to advance with confidence, leaving hundreds of miles of unprotected railroad communications in his

rear.

Colonel Lazelle, formerly in charge of the publication of the records of the war, declared that the services of the Military Railroad Construction Corps had been of the greatest value to the Government, but that they had never been recognized or appreciated.

Herman Haupt.

Francis Davis Millet.

"BETWEEN TWO FIRES" is a good example of the work of one of the best-known of American painters. The story is well told, the painting is conscientious and unobtrusive, the figures are well drawn, and the composition is pleasing in color. It shows, perhaps, as well as any of Mr. Millet's pictures, what the qualities are that distinguish his work and have contributed to the painter's excellent position in contemporary art. He seems to have the same desire not to omit detail, and yet not to insist too much upon it, that appears in the work of the great Dutchmen. There is no dash or showy brush-work, though technically Mr. Millet's work is not tame; but the chief characteristic is a certain thoroughness, a straightforward earnestness of intention to be realistic, and the accomplishment of this purpose without making realism the only, or even the predominant, quality. There are charm of expression, healthy sentiment, very clever workmanship, and completeness in all that he does.

In a large picture of "Anthony Van Corlaer, the Trumpeter of New Amsterdam," a fine composition of six or seven figures; in "Rook and Pigeon," an excellent group of two men, with the scene in an English inn in the time of the Stuarts; in "A Waterloo Widow"; in "The Duet"; and in the picture of the traveler at the inn, which belongs to the Union League Club of New York, the painter's admirable qualities are well shown. The picture "Between Two Fires " has been purchased this year from the Royal Academy Exhibition by the Chantrey Fund.

In another line of subjects-those depicting scenes

of Greek and Roman life and single figures of womenMr. Millet is as successful as in the treatment of English genre, and he has also won a reputation as a painter of portraits. Mr. Millet passes the winter season in New York, but lives the rest of the year in London and at his charming home at Broadway in Worcestershire, where he has for neighbors Alma-Tadema, Alfred Parsons, Sargent, and other Englishmen and Americans of note. He was born at Mattapoisett, Massachusetts, and was graduated at Harvard in the class of 1869. He is vice-president of the National Academy of Design, a member of the Society of American Artists, of the American Water Color Society, and of the Royal

Institute of Painters of London. He obtained his art schooling at the Antwerp Academy, and received firstclass medals at the Antwerp exhibitions in 1873 and 1874. A prize of $2500 was awarded to him at the

American Art Association Exhibition in 1886 for the picture, mentioned above, which is in the Union League Club, and at the Paris Exhibition of 1889 he received a silver medal in the British section. Mr. Millet is widely known as the brilliant war-correspondent of the London "Daily News" in the Russo-Turkish war, and as a clever writer of fiction and descriptive articles. In the field of illustration he has contributed to the magazines a large number of excellent drawings, those of

life and campaigns in the Balkans being particularly noticeable for freshness and vividness in transcription, and marked by great truth of observation and artistic feeling for the picturesque. William A. Coffin.

Corrections with Regard to the Washington Family. MR. THOMAS M. GREEN of Danville, Kentucky, writes to correct two errors in the article on “The Mother and Birthplace of Washington" in THE CENTURY for April, 1892. On page 833 it is stated that Augustine Washington died April 12, 1740, the writer having supplied the last figure, which is obliterated in the entry in the family Bible, with a cipher. Mr. Green quotes from General Washington's letter to Sir Isaac Heard to show that the correct date of Augustine Washington's death was April 12, 1743. Mr. Green

also

says:

In a note at the bottom of page 832 referring to the godmother of General Washington, who held him in her arms at the baptismal font, the statement is made that "the godmother, Mrs. Mildred Gregory, was an aunt of the infant. She was the daughter of Lawrence Washington, brother of Augustine. The word "brother" in the note was evidently an inadvertence or a misprint. Lawrence Washington was the father of Augustine and of Mildred. EDITOR.

IN LIGHTER VEIN.

Lincoln's Goose Nest Home.

found the six-foot boy in the back yard lying on a board

EAR the graveyard where Lincoln's father and reading. The boy consented, and the man slept with

Illinois, in a place then known as Goose Nest, the Lincolns made their final settlement on removing from Indiana. Here Abraham Lincoln assisted his father in "getting settled," as they called it. He helped him build a log cabin, and cleared for him a patch of ground, and when he saw him "under headway" in the new country, bade him good-by and started north afoot. He found employment not far from Springfield, Illinois, where the active part of his early life was spent. Though he did not linger long in the Goose Nest cabin, he was there long enough to stamp his individuality on every heart for miles around, and many are the stories told of his sojourn among these people. It was my lot to be born and reared a few miles from the early home of the Lincolns, and the incidents I shall relate were picked up in conversation with the old settlers about our neighborhood, all of whom knew Lincoln well. I was shown a bridge he helped to build, and many other relics of his boyhood days.

One very old man told me that he once rode up to Thomas Lincoln's cabin and inquired if he could spend the night there. He was informed that the house afforded only two beds, and one of these belonged to a son who was then at home; but if he would get the consent of this boy to take him in as a bedfellow, he could stay. The stranger dismounted, and soon

the other never tires of telling how he spent the night with the future President.

Tarlton Miles, a veterinary surgeon of Charleston, told me that he had seen Lincoln driving an ox-team into town with cord-wood to sell. One night Lincoln was detained till late selling his wood. It grew dark, and "Abe" thought best not to attempt to drive home. As the Miles homestead was just out of town toward the Lincoln cabin, Lincoln stopped there overnight. His entire outfit, in the way of wearing-apparel, consisted of homespun jeans trousers, knit "galluses," a linsey shirt, and a straw hat. Miles's father sat up till midnight talking with Lincoln, and was amazed at the wisdom he displayed.

I spent four years in Charleston, as salesman in a large dry-goods house there, and as most of the country folks traded at this store, I often enjoyed rare treats in the way of chats with the old settlers about " Abe," as they loved to call him. As I measured off calico for them they measured off “yarns” for me. I said to one old settler, "Did you ever have a hint of Lincoln's greatness while he lived near you?" "No," he said, as he took a chew of "Lincoln green," "I never did. I had six boys, an' any one of 'em seemed as peart to me as Tom's Abe did-'cept perhaps in book-readin'. He always did take to that, an' on that account we uns uset to think he

would n't amount to much. You see, it war n't bookreadin' then, it war work, that counted. Now, talkin' about rail-splittin', any of my boys could beat Abe any day he lived, an' any one of 'em could run him a middlin' tight foot-race; an' thess why he should beat 'em in the big race for fame, I can' tell."

"Uncle Johnny" Gordon is an odd character known in Charleston as the " Sassafras Man." In the spring months he may be seen offering for sale neat little bunches of sassafras root, which he has carefully gathered, and which he declares is a "balm for all wounds." For "yarns" of the early days on Goose Nest prairie, and for recollections of Thomas Lincoln, one has only to buy a bunch of sassafras, then make his wants known, and Uncle Johnny will supply them, heaped up and running over. The quality of Gordon's recollections may not be the best, but the quantity can't be questioned.

At the time the Lincolns settled at Goose Nest Dan Needham was the champion wrestler in Cumberland County. This county joins Coles, the one in which the Lincolns lived. Needham had often been told that he would find his match in Tom Lincoln's boy Abe, but he would boast that he could “ fling him three best out of four any day he lived." At last they met. It was at a house-raising on the Ambraw River. "Raisin's" at that time brought "neighbors" from many miles around, and I am told that at this one they came from as far south as Crawford County, more than forty miles away. Thomas Lincoln came, and with him his boy Abe. After the work of the day, in which Abe and Dan matched handspikes many times, a "rassle was suggested. At first Abe was unwilling to measure arms with Dan, who was six feet four and as agile as a panther; but when Thomas Lincoln said, "Abe, rassle 'im," Abe flung off his coat, and the two stood face to face. Four times they wrestled, and each time Needham was thrown.

At the close of the fourth round the combatants again stood face to face, Abe flushed but smiling, Dan trembling with anger. However, one glance at the honest, good-natured face of his opponent cooled his rage, and, extending his rough palm, he said, "Well, I'll be!" Ever after this they were warm friends. Needham survived Lincoln many years, and though he was a strong Democrat, he had nothing but good words for Abe. Several of his boys still live near the old homestead in Spring Point township, Cumberland County, Illinois. One daughter, the wife of W. P. Davis, a brother of the writer,- resides on a farm near Roseland, Nebraska. Uncle Dan, as we called him, now sleeps in a quiet churchyard hidden away in a deep forest. A braver heart never beat; and though his life was humble, I am sure that he did not lack for a welcome into the Eternal City.

Alonzo Hilton Davis.

A Counter.

So knavishly they played the game of hearts,
She counted him a victim to her arts,

He thought her snared. So, pleased both went their way;

And yet, forsooth, old strategists were they!

Edith M. Thomas.

An Experience.

Tempo Moderato.

I HAD a dream last night in which I seemed
To see myself a man immortal deemed.
My poems, lately placed upon the mart,
Had gone straight home to every reader's heart,
And fairly falling o'er each other's feet,
Demanding copies, mortals thronged the street
Before the doors of him who had to sell
The dainty verses that I loved so well.
Then, as I watched the scramble for my work,
An angel came and beckoned with a smirk -
"Fitz-Alfred Massinger De Greene," she said,
Lift up your optics blue and look ahead."
The which I did -
for you must understand
At all times I obey the soft command
Of angels, whether winged ones or those
Who here do lighten or increase our woes.
And as I looked I saw a wondrous sight
That dazzled, 't was so marvelously bright,
As well it might be, for the scroll of fame
Stood straight before my eyes, and there the name-
Sensation sweet! Sensation, oh, how blest!
Fitz-Alfred M. De Greene led all the rest.

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Joe Jefferson, our Joe.

JOE JEFFERSON, our Joe Jeff.,
When first we knew your form,
You traveled round the country,
And took the barns by storm.
But now 't is hearts you hold, Jeff.—
You took them long ago;
God's blessings on your kindly phiz,
Joe Jefferson, our Joe.

Joe Jefferson, our own Joe,
We 've followed you around;
But though a trifle old now
We yet in front are found.
And still beyond this stage, Jeff.,
We'll follow where you go,

And greet you when the curtain's raised,
Joe Jefferson, our Joe!

Charles Henry Webb.

Never Despair.

UNTO a great big magazine I took one sunny day
A light and airy symphony, and I was greatly shocked
To hear the editor in honeyed accents softly say,

"It is lovely, it is beautiful, but we are overstocked." Then to another editor I took my symphony:

He read it with a smile that showed his joy and happiness.

"It is just the thing for August, and I like it, but you see Our August number 's all made up and ready for the press."

"I'll try again," I shouted in my dire extremity, As I took it to an editor who read it, all elate, While he murmured, "It 's delightful, oh, delightful, but, dear me,

We printed something similar in eighteen sixtyeight."

I smiled a very wicked smile, and like the hand of fate Came down upon that editor who called my ode divine. "How could you, sir, have printed aught like this in sixty-eight,

When your magazine first saw the light in eighteen sixty-nine?"

The editor looked foolish, for he knew that he was caught,

And he chuckled, oh, he chuckled like the greatest fiend alive;

But like a worthy man he sent me from him rapturefraught,

With my fingers wound about a purple checklet for a five. R. K. Munkittrick.

To an American Rab.

(FROM HIS FRIENDS.)

NOR Byron's "Boatswain " nor the silken “Flush '
Of England's laureled poetess; nor he
That watched by dying Ailie's bed to see
The knife's swift issue and to feel the hush
Of life's still sea-I say thou need'st not blush
With these to have compared thy pedigree,
Thy virtues, or thy beauties rare. For we
Know well thy Gordon line, thy sudden rush
O'er stubbled field, thy quivering nose low-bent,
Thy flag-like tail flung wide; and well we know
Thy deep-set, solemn eye aglow - attent
Upon the family or the field. We owe
Thee praise for love, and faith magnificent,
And bless thy heart's perpetual overflow.

THE DE VINNE PRESS, NEW YORK.

Horace S. Fiske.

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