The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1885-06-24

was out, he became nervous and excited,
inquiring of every person he met, including
guests of the house, whether they knew
where / was, and bidding them find me and
send me to him at once. About eleven
o'clock returned to the hotel, and on my
way, when near the house, every person
met was messenger from the secretary,
apparently partaking of his Impotence to
see me. i fastened to the room of the sec
rotary, and found him pacing the floor rap
idly, in about the garb Mr.. Jefferson Davis
was wearing, subsequently, when he was
captured-a dressing gown, but without the
shawl and sun-bonnet. He showed me the
dispatch, saying that the retreat must be
prevented. / Immediately wrote an order
assuming command of the military division
of the Mississippi and telegraphed it to
General Rosecrans. then telegraphed him
the order from Washington assigning to
Thomas the command of the Army of the
Cumberland, and to Thomas that he must
hold Chattanooga at all hazards"
He describes his first meeting with
that other distinguished man from
Illinois, President Lincoln, who, like
himself, had risen to fame from OBJ
security and poverty by the force of ma
tive talents, and who had stood faith
fully by him while calumny and detrac-
ton assaulted him after Shiloh and
around Vicksburgh:
a. had never met Mr.. Lincoln until called
to the capital to receive my commission as
acknowledgement. l knew him, however,
very well, and favorably, from the accounts
given by officers under me at the West, who
had known him all their lives. had also
read the remarkable course of debates be-
tween Lincoln and Douglas a few years be-
fAr yhat, tl,axr IA
the United states senate. | was then a resi-
dent of Missouri, and by no means a Lin
coin man in that contest. But | recog-
nized then his great ability. In my first
interview with Mr.. Lincoln alone he stated
to me that he had never protested to be a
military man, or to know how campaigns
should be conducted, and never wanted to
interfere in them, but that procrastination
on the part of commanders, and the press
ure of the people at the North, and of con-
gress, which, like the poor, he had always
with him., had forced him into issuing his
well-known series of executive orders
He did not know but they were all wrong,
and did not know that some of them were.
All he wanted, or had ever wanted, he said,
was that some one would take the RESPONSE
bility and act and call on him for all the
assistance needed"
BY way of spice, funny story of
Bragg, afterwards a rabid rebel gem
eral, is given:
d" 1 have heard story in the old army
very characteristic of Bragg. On one occa-
sion, when stationed at post of several
companies, commanded by a field officer,
he was himself commanding one of the com
panies, and at the same time acting post
quartermaster and commissary He was a
first Lieutenant at the time but his captain
was detached on other duty. AS COM
mander of the company, he made a requi-
sition upon the quartermaster-hims
something he wanted. As quartermaster,
he declined TO fill the requisition and en-
dorsed on the back of it his reason for so
doing. As company commander he re-
sponded to this urging that his requisition
called for nothing but what he was en-
titled to, and that it was the duty of the
quartermaster to fill it. The quartermaster
still persisted that he was right. In this
condition of affairs Bragg referred the
whole matter to the commanding officer.
The latter, when he saw the nature of the
matter referred, exclaimed: My God, Mr..
Bragg, you have quarrelled with every
officer in the army, and now you are quar-
entirely differ ent man.
The familiar story of the grand cul-
mination of his wonderful military ca
reer, the surrender of General Lee at
Appomattox, is told with a modesty and
simplicity that rebound to the glory OF
the man as much as that incompatible
event enhanced the fame of the general