St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1879-05-16
Letter from Florida.
CRYSTAL LAKE, May 2, 1879.
ToIoInniun

States History Questions, No. 5, you
ask ''What display marked Lincoln's
Inauguration ?" Ianswer that one thing
was the President himself, arrayed in a
fashionable swallow tailed coat, such,
presume, as he never had on before /;
and last Saturday saw and put on that
identical coat. 1t was pretty good
fit, only as the japanese said of the late
Stephen A. Douglass, ''his coat-tails
come too near the ground" 1t is the
property of Lieut.. JamisOn, formerly
commanding the Presidents body guard
and now living near the south end of
lake Como.
We all rode over to Dusenberry's in
the Florida "Phaeton," and then Palmer
rowed us down there in a boat. Mrs.
Jamison is a little bit of woman,
formerly of Hanover, Pa. She remem-
bers the Both of June, 1863, very well,
as she was one of the ladies who were
engaged in feeding Kilpatrick's cavalry
which had just arrived there in pursuit
of Stuart's Rebel cavalry, who were
cutting up generally, all over the great
state of Pennsylvania. We arrived in
that town about noon, and halted in
the streets for some time, while the
ladies brought us pies and things mot
pisen things) good to eat and drink, and
as soldiers are like Oliver Twist (O con-
stantly crying for more, presume they
thought that we had not had anything
to eat since leaving Virginia. How
ever, while we were in the midst of
this good time, bang went a big gun.
Some one says "The people are firing a
salute in honor of our arrival. Just
then the shell burst, and we came to
the conclusion that it was not the regu-
lar thing to put shells in gun, and fire
them towards a person, simply to do
ing in hot haste" and the column
moved on at walk. Stuart began to
capture our ambulance, stragglers, ETC.,
and those he didn't get began to run by
us. The rear of the column had nearly
all passed us as we moved slowly on
till Just as we neared the toll gate, we
saw the enemy's column appear, with
battle-fag at the head. The order
was given to our squadron Zoos D and
NJ to right about wheel, which we did.
A. H. Curtice fired at them, but the
Adjutant says, "don't fire, they are our
men, Curtice says "Our men don't
carry that kind of flag" Then the
order was given to charge, and away
we went, driving the rebel cavalry I'D
n. c. out of town faster than they
came in, except the Colonel in COM
mand, whose horse fell, and as he at
tempted to escape on foot across a tan
yard, fell into a vat and was captured.
1t was here that Geo. Cook made his
famous charge on a telegraph pole,
striking it square in front, and knock
ing either it or his horse down, l forget
which.
But to return to the coat: Jamison
keeps it and other keepsakes locked up
in valise, but after great deal of
trouble he unlocked it and pulled them
out. The coat is made of the finest
broad cloth that | ever saw and is lined
with satin, stitched in various shapes
like arrows, etc. In one sleeve was
printed, "NO North, no South )" in the
other, mo East, no West; :" with coat
of arms. 1t was presented to Lieut..
Jamison, by Mr.. Lincoln in 1864. He
also has patent saddle cloth or pad,
presented by Robert Lincoln, accom-
panied by letter which he now has.
Then he produced a card with this
written upon it by the Martyr Pres
ident: 'Lieut. Jamison has leave of alb
sence for one week. (signed) A. Lin
coin" His little child lay at the point
of death, and having applied to the
Secretary of War (Stanton) for a fur
Tough, and been refused, he went direct
to the President, and succeeded. He
was first on the ground with his guard,
when Lincoln was assassinated, and
escorted the remains at the funeral.
He next pulled out a mysterious look
ing package, about eighteen inches
long, and undoing it, produced an
orange cane, jointed in the middle, and
curiOusly carved. He calls it the Eman-
cipation Proclamation. At the bottom
of the carving is a negro, supposed to
represent the freedman next is a
broken chain; then comes the Goddess
OF Liberty with flag, cord and tassels
very neatly done at the end of the
handle is bale of cotton, and lowe1
down on the cane, silver plate in
scribed as follows Presented by Mrs
Abraham Lincoln" The whole is nice
ly polished and joined at the middl,
with a silver ferrule.
Perhaps the most magnificent obiec
IN nature now to be seen in Florida, i
the magnolia tree in full bloom. l
grows about the shape and size of on
bass wood, but 1 think the wood i
harder. The leaves are of a dark greer
color and shine like silver. 1t has grea
numbers of white or red flowers, some
times as large as a saucer. They las