The times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1882-1897, 1888-02-24

visited us ard carried tho invitation,
which we gratefully accepted. Here we
lived in fine style, with all soldiers
comforts, and excellent company We
had now received suit of army blue and
made bonfire of our Confederate rags;
SO that we were little less afraid Of lady
visitors. Our hostess made an evening
reception for us, where there was an
abundance Of ice cream and cake-which
did not remind us of anything in Dixie
and had the privilege of telling our story
to many sympathizing ladies. Having a
very comfortable ambulance always at
command-the property of our kind
friend, and kept with u driver for the use
Of her soldiers-we were able to visit the
places of interest in Washington with
great comfort. OF this privilege we freely
awaited ourselves when business per-
mitted.
On one of these occasions when we were
at the Smithsonian institution, l saw tall
man of striking appearance, and at once
said to my comrades, "That is President
Lincoln" But they were incredulous.
They had read in southern papers that he
never stirred out of the White House
without heavy guard, and at once they
said, "You are trying to deceive us; don't
yOu SCS JHIIC 10 llO Buulu LCIC! WAS "
little puzzled by the absence of the guard
myself, for / had believed the story, and
there were only one or Two civilians with
him; but had seen lincoln, who could
not easily be forgotten. / said, "Come
up and let us speak to him!' A little re-
luctantly they advanced, and when we
were near enough i said, "Can you tell us
the name of this animali' pointing to the
skeleton Of the geologic monster he was
looking at. He smiled in his kind, sad
way and answered, That's its name
written on that card; but / won't under
take TO pronounce it. don't know much
about such things.n One or two remarks
were exchanged OH indifferent topics and
then we parted. When at safe distance
Buffum said, "Pittenger, you can't play
such u joke on us as to make us believe
that man who will speak to common
folks in that off hand way is President
Lincolnw But only replied, Gwen 60
and see him at the White House soon and
then you can judge"
The first Sunday of our stay irDNash-
ington we gladly accepted the invitation
of our kind hostess to accompany her to
the Baptist church, of which she was
member. This led to a great trial on my
part. The preacher seeing five men in sol
der uniform in her pew-Mason, who was
sick, remained Ut home-came down and
spoke to her. A few words were ex-
changed, and then he turned to us and
said: Cant you tell us little about
your strange deliverance? will make the
other services very short" The faces of
all our party turned toward me, and the
minister, taking the hint, repeated his
question to me individually. Something
like this was just what had feared when
| had the great mental struggle in At
lanta prison. / wished to refuse but in
the freshness of deliverance such q refusal
would have seemed little less than q
crime. The minister was better Tor worse)
than his word, for he did not preach at all,
but on finishing the opening services
spoke u few words about the great suffer-
ings and lessons of the war, and the hard
ships and temptations Of the army; then
added that there were some men present
that morning whose experiences were
marvellous beyond the common lot Of men,
and one of them had consented to give
some account Of them.
I rose at the call and scarcely could
have felt worse for moment if in Swim's
prison. But the people were so kind and
attentive that embarrassment vanished. L
passed very lightly over the military part
of the enterprise, and spoke especially of
Gods goodness in delivering us. When l
told of the sudden death of our comrades
in Atlanta, and of their regrets for not
being better prepared for death, there was
weeping over all the church. At the close
Of the meeting kindly greetings and prof
fers of service were showered upon us.
We lodged in the tent provided by this
lady during the whole Of the ten days of
-tD hon
sons wished TO take us as guests, bUt she
refused unless we would say that we
wished to leave her care Mason, being
sick, was taken into the house and nursed
most carefully.
On our first morning in Washington ]
had written note to Secretary Stanton
giving notice of our arrival and of my be-
lief that the government, If not already
fully informed ought to know our story.
| supposed this would produce more speedy
results than to let the matter pass through
the ordinary channels, and was not disap-
pointed. He gave written orders to Hon.
Joseph Holt, judge advocate general, to
investigate the whole matter, provide for
all our wants in the meantime, and then
bring us TO him. Hon. j. G. Wetmore, of
the Ohio military agency, attended to pro-
curing us the legal allowance for commu
tatiou of rations during the time of inn
prisonment, so that we were soon in funds.
Regular pay with arrearages could not be
given till we returned to our regiments.
Our first visit to Judge Holt was q
merely friendly one, and the time was
spent in familiar conversation. Maj. Gen.
Hitchcock, commander of the post at
Washington, was also present.
The next day we went again, being taken
each time in n government carriage, and
found Justice Callan, Of Washington,
ready to administer an oath, with u pho
nographer to take down the testimony as
given. was examined first, telling the
whole story, and then each one followed,
confirming what was said, and adding
omitted particulars. The evidence that
we were telling u true story was far
stronger than we knew. The story of
Wood and Wilson had been on file in the
department since the preceding November
1t was far less full than ours, but con-
firmed It in every essential particular.
Indeed, the certainty that we were giving
o simple, plain and uncolored narrative
was so complete that no one save Gen.