Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1890-01-02

Messrs. Hay and Nicolay narrate theil
idea of what happened at the war depart
ment on the evening after the second cleo
ton of President Lincoln in 1864. As they
were not present their report must be {
matter of hearsay. | do not know that any
OF the particulars they relate are deficient
IN accuracy. though | can testify that while
| wa there at that time | did not observe
them.
| was not usually ON duty in the war de
partment at night, but Mr.. Stanton had
directed me to come over that evening and
| arrived pretty early, say at 8 or $50
o'clock. The excitement of the struggle
had been intense. In all my experience ]
had never witnessed any other election
that had so much politics in it. All the
resources of partisan science, backed by
the immense power of the vast and wide
spread expenditures of the war department
then about 81, 600, 900 a day, had been en-
ployed by the astute and relentless states
man at the headof the wal Office, and he
did it with a p~ertinacity and skill that
never have been surpassed. Of course no
great step had been taken without the
knowledge and consent of Mr.. Lincoln.
himself a politician of a very fertile and
superior order, but the engineer whose
hand was never taken off the machine and
whose purpose never relaxed its high-pres-
sure energy was Mr.. Stanton, and his ar
dent and excitable nature was kept at fever
heat to the very last moment of the contest
and aftefward.
The president, apparently as serene as a
summer morning, was IN Mr.. Stanton {
large private room, and no one was with
him except the secretary and Gen. Eckert,
who came continually with kilograms.
The result of the voting was of such a
decisive character that the news arrived
much earlier than had been expected, and
when | went In | learned both from the
president and the secretary that the ques-
ton seemed already to be substantially
settled. Each dispatch that was received
seemed only to add to the apparent certain
ty, and by 9 o'clock there was no longer
any doubt. But without waiting for that
hour Mr.. Lincoln drew from his breast a
thin, yellow-covered pamphlet. Dana"
said he to me, 'have you ever read Petro-
leum Y. Nasby?" -pronouncing Nasty as
though the first syllable were spelled with
the letter e. No, sir, said |, mot much;
but know he writes from the Confederate
CROSSROADS and prints his things in the
Toledo Blade"
Yes" said Mr.. Lincoln, that's 50.
but that is not the whole. Pull up your
chair and listen" | drew up to him and
he began to read aloud-to me only and
not to Stanton-one after another of
Petroleum's funny hits, and between each
Of them we had a quiet little laugh all to
ourselves. But the lion head of the Sec
rotary showed plainly that he had no
sympathy with this amusement; in fact,
his face wore its darkest and sternest ex-
preston. However, the reading went on,
occasionally broken by Gen. Eckert's en-
trance with another telegram, to which
Mr.. Lincoln paid no very serious attention.
and he quickly turned back to the reading
every time. In this way he read para
graphs and even pages of Nasty until
finally a dispatch was brought in of a more
important nature, and he laid the pamphlet
down to attend to it.
While he was thus engaged Mr.. Stanton
motiOned to me to come with him into
Gen Eckert's room, and when the door
was shut he broke out in fury: Cd d-n
it to h" said he, twas there ever such
nonsense? Was there ever such inability
to appreciate what is going on in an aw-
full crisis? Here is the fate of this whole
republic at stake, and here is this man
around whom all ~centers, on whom it all
depends, turning aside from this moment
Gus, this incompatible issue, to read the
Cd id trash of a silly m~ountebank!''
This fiery speech of the enraged secretary
was interrupted by Gen. Eckert, and with
which we all went back into Mr.. Stanton's
own office, IN order that the president
might see it.
Hardly had he begun to read it, how
ever, when a new occasion of irritation
arose. The messenger brought in a card
and handed it to the president, who said
at once, as he passed the card over to the
secretary, "Show him in!'' Stanton read
1t. and, turning to me, exclaimed in a low
voice: God in heaven, it is Whitelaw
Reid!' | understood the point of the ex-
plosion at once. Mr.. Reid, who was then
the correspondent of the Cincinnati Gazette
and a great friend of Secretary Chase in
Washington, was not liked by the secretary
of war. This dislike had gone so far that
the doorkeepers at the war department
had received directions that Mr.. Reid was
not to be admitted. But when he sent his
card IN TO the president they could not re-
fuse it. Mr.. Reid came in and was greet
ed by Mr.. Lincoln, but not by the secretary.
His purpose was merely to obtain from
headquarters and from the highest author
lty the assurance that the election had
certainly gone in favor of Lincoln, and
after expressions of thanks and congratu-
lations he withdrew. Just then Judge
David G.. Carter came in with two or three
other gentlemen, among them Mr.. Fox of
the navy department, and the reading of
Petroleum V. Nasty from the Confederate
CROSSROADS was not resumed.
These incidents of memorable historical
event are not recorded in any annals of the
time that have seen, and yet they appear
to me interesting and characteristic enough
not to be forgotten.