The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1888-03-23
CHAPTER XVIII.
INTERVIEW WITH SECRETARY OF WAR
STANTON AND PRESIDENT LINCOLN.

was uAeu IOr an interview WIFI DeCictary
Stanton. Ohio State Agent Wetmore and
Ma. Gen. Hitchcock accompanied us. Gems.
Sigel and Stahl, with many other distin-
guished persons, were in the ante room
waiting but as we were there by appoint
ment, they continued to wait, while we
were at once admitted. Stanton had long
resided in my county town of Steuben-
vile, and / had seen him, and knew him
well by reputation, though could then
rlaim no personal acquaintance. We
were seated, after he had shaken each OF
Us warmly by the hand and uttered
words of greeting and compliment. We
talked for a considerable time, not SO
much on the subject of our expedition
for took it fot granted that, lawyer like,
he had looked over the evidence In the
case and made up his mind about it-as
upon general topics, such as our impress
sions of the south and the Union men in
it, and of our hope and feeling about the
war. was especially struck by his ask
ing us how we had liked Gen. Mitchell as
a commander; and when we spoke OF him
with unstinted enthusiasm he seemed
greatly pleased, and said: '"That's the
way all his men talk about him." He
told us that he had been aware OF our ex-
petition ut the time, but had no accurate
information Of the fate Of the party. His
impression was that all had persisted at
first. On the escape Of the eight in Octo-
| Der he had made official inquiries Of the
| Confederate government about us, but
had been answered that they had no in
formation of the hanging Of any Of the
party.
He had then threatened retaliation In
case any more were put to death, and had
endeavored to effect our exchange; he was
very glad indeed that these efforts had
succeeded and surprised US by saying,
"You will find yourselves great heroes
when you get home;" then added many
kind words about the high appreciation
of our services by the government, which,
coming from the secretary of war of a
great nation to private soldiers, was most
| fiattering. Stanton seemed especially
pleased with PARROT. He was the young
est of our number and of very quiet and
simple manners. Stanton gave him the
offer of q complete education II. he would
accept i'll understood him to mean at
West Point. PARROT answered that while
the war lasted he did not wish to 60 to
school, but would rather go back and fight
the rebels who had used him so badly.
At this Stanton smiled, as If he greatly
approved his spirit, and said to him, "If
| u
apply to me-" Then going into another
room he brought out medal and handed
it to Parrot, saying, Congress has by a
recent law ordered medals to be prepared
on this model, and your party shall have
the first; they will be the first that have
been given to private soldiers in this war. +"
Later all the survivors of the party re-
| ceived similar medals. Then he gave us
a present of 800 each from the secret SER
| vice fund, and ordered all the money and
the value of arms and property ta1n
from US by the rebels to be refunded.
Finally he asked us about our wishes and
intentions for the future. Finding that
we were all resolved to return to active
service he offered us commissions as first
lieutenants in the regular army. We
expressed preference for the volunteer
service, saying that we were soldiers only
for the war, and would wish to resume
our usual pursuits when peace returned.
He promised to request Governor Todd,
of Ohio, to give us equivalent commits
sions in our own regiments. Then with
hearty goodby we left him.
We had been invited to call upon the
president the same day, and Gen. Hitch
cock accompanied US on this pleasant
mission. My companions had done a lit
tie jesting about being able now to show
me how much / was mistaken in try
ing to impose upon them the tall, plain
stranger we had met at the Smithsonian
institution without any guard, such as
the southern papers said always attended
him, for the great and good Abraham
Lincoln, which enjoyed as much as they
did. A still greater crowd than at the
war Office was awaiting admission; but as
we came by appointment we had the
preference and were conducted i'm
mediately to the private Office of the presi-
dent. We did feel some little embarrass-
ment, but this scarcely accompanied us
over the threshold.
The Office was very plainly furnished.
There was long table and some chairs,
but scarcely anything else. Lincoln met
us at the door, greeted US warmly, and
told us how much he had been interested
in hearing of our adventures and how
glad he was that we had at last escaped
from the hands of the enemy. We
answered as we'll as we could. I remem-
Der telling him that we were very glad to
see him, though we had been hearing a
great many things not complimentary
about him for the past year. He smiled,
saying: "Indeed, there are a good many
people up here that say about as bad
things of me-" 1 also mentioned the
reason that the other members of the
party would not belieye that he was the
man we met at the Smithsonian, which
caused him to laugh heartily and ask
If we really imagined he went everywhere
with a great guard parading after him,
and if the people of the south believed all
the stories printed in their papers9 While
talking he did not keep one nafition, but
shifted from place to place, going from one