Omaha daily bee., 1896-06-28

that he was never to be disturbed after
midnight. This statement made me very
angry. The idea of the command
ing general of the great army giving
orders that he was to be awakened
under no circumstances when such vital in
terests were under his charge seemed to
me simply awful. | was so wrought up over
the matter that | thought l would go to the
president and tell him about the Halleck
order. In the first place. however. l de-
Cided to ask General Stager, who was, you
know, my superior officer. l did so, and
told him that | was going to see the pres
ident. He replied by asking me what bus
mess it was of mine whether the order was
sent or not. Said he: My boy, you have
nothing to do with General Halleck's orders.
We have done our duty. 1t is our business
to receive and deliver dispatches, and that
is all we can do was still angry, but
after General Stager's making such a re-
mark, l could do nothing. He was my
superior officer, and his answer was in the
nature of an ORDER
GENERAL BURNSIDE'S VIGILANCE.
was this the case wi h the other officers?"
l asked.
No" replied Mr.. Rosewater. MANY of
| Take General Burnside, for instance. He
often remained up all night. i could not.
in fact. tell when he slept. and | often wired
him dispatches as late as 5 o'clock in the
morning. lat hiOHH Jul oih Nioi' .
met Halleck. and | did not think much of a
man who could not stay awake upon great
occasions all night. General Burnside was
in command at the battle Of fredericksburg.
where he had, you know, such a disastrous
defeat. He did not wish to be commander
of the army. and he told President Lincoln
that he was not competent to take charge
of it. Lincoln insisted, however, and he at
last accepted the place, Burnside main
tanned that there was treachery In the War
1oDortp,ant and that the rpDply got the
| orders sent out from the War department as
soon as he did, and that in this way they
we're able to counteract his proposed move
ments before he executed them,
LINCOLN IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE.
"Was Lincoln in the office at the time of
the battle of Fredericksburg?' | asked.
yes" replied Mr.. ii came
into the office at 8 o'clock that morning,
and remained there until long after dark.
He came over from the white house In ms
slippers, | remember. 1t was Sunday, and
the dispatches We're going and coming all
day. President Lincoln stood behlnd me
much of the time and dictated the dis
patches to me, which | wrote and sent. !
took the answers as they came from the
wires and handed them to him. We were
sending and receiving news all morning
At noon the dispatches were stu coming
and instead of getting a lunch, secretary
stanton sent his ice pitcher over to the
Ny lnlNI Dhliulbb oiA hH' - '''
and this beer, with some crackers, made
up the lunch of the party, General Eckert'
| Captain Fox, acting secretary OF the navy,
all taking their turn at the pitcher Ires-
ident Lincoln took his share OF the beer
and am, ] venture, one OF the few men
who have ever taken a drink of beer with
President Lincoln"
How did President Lincoln act at such
times?"
ii A.. Dn.,n4atar hITn did mt
seem at all nervous during the battle,
though it was going against us The result
was. you know, an awful defeat, and we
lost more than 10 900 in killed and wounded
Burnside did not want to make the attack'
hut he was oyerruled by Secretary stanton
and President Lincoln. After the battle II
seemed to me that President Lincoln was
very much depressed and worn lie was
never, however, averse to a JOKE ana a
laugh seemed to relieve him. Shortly after
the battle Of Fredericksburg Burnside WAS
released from command and Frank Leslie's
newspaper published an illustration in
which Lincoln was represented as the high
chief executioner with a great big axe in
his hand chopping of heads. On the ground
near him In this picture lay McClellan's
head. which had just been chopped off. Be
side this was the head Of Burnside and
there were other heads at hand ready to he
cut on. 1t was not long after this fight
that one OF these papers was lying on one
Of the telegraph tables when President
Lincoln came in. As he was looking at it
General Burnside entered. They discussed
the picture together and both laughed
heartily over it."
b LINCOLN AND TOM THUMB.
81 suppose there were many funny things
happening even during the darkest days
of the war, were there not?"
Yes" replied Mr.. ROsewater, there were
many little interesting things which seemed
silly to me at the time The war was to me