The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1897-04-07
SOLDIERS BUDGET.
Lincoln at the Front,

Mr.. Lincoln wore very high black
silk hat and black trousers and frock-
coat. Like most men who had been
brought up in the West, he had good
command of horse, but it must be &C.
knowledged that in appearance he was
not very dasbing rider. On this &C.
casion, by the time he had reached the
troops, he was completely covered with
dust, and the black color of his clothes
had changed to Confederate gray. AS
he had no straps, his trousers gradually
worked up above his ankles, and gave
him the appearance of country farm
er riding into town wearing his Sunday
clothes. A citizen on horseback is al
ways an odd sight in the midst of a
uniformed army, and the picture pre-
scented by the president bordered upon
the grotesque. However, the troops
were so lost in admiration of the man
that the humorous aspect did not seem
TO strike them. The soldiers rapidly
passed the word along the line that
"Uncle Abe" had joined them, and
cheers broke forth from all the COM
mands, and enthusiastic shouts and
even words of familiar greeting met
him on all sides.
After a while General Grant said:
"Mr. President, let us ride on and see
the colored troops, who behaved so
handsomely in Smiths attack on the
works in front of Petersburg last week."
ooh, yes" replied Mr.. Lincoln. Z" l
want to take a look at those boys. l
read with the greatest delight the &C.
count given in Mr.. Dana's dispatch to
| lo Of nf hA,xy 11o nt1
they behaved. He said they took six
out of the sixteen guns captured that
day. L was opposed on nearly every
side when l first favored the raising of
colored regiments; but they have
proved their efficiency, and l am glad
they have kept pace with the white
troops in the recent assaults. When
we wanted every able-bodied man who
could be spared to go to the front, and
my opposers kept Directing to the ne
groes, used to tell them that at such
times it was just as we'll to be little
color-blind. 1 think, general, we can
say of the black boys what country
fellow, who was an old-tme abolition
list in Illinois, said when he went to
theater in Chicago and saw Forrest
playing Othello. He was not very we'll
up in Shakespeare, and didn't know
that the tragedian was white man
who had BACKED up for the purpose.
After the play was over the folks who
had invited him to 60 to the show
wanted to know what he thought of the
actors, and he said: WAL, layin'
aside all sectional prejudices and any
partially l may have for the race,
derned if don't think the niger held
his own with any on 'em." The
Western dialect employed in this story
was perfect.
The camp of the colored troops of
the Eighteenth Corps was soon reached,
and scene now occurred which defies
description. They beheld for the first
time The liberator of their race--the
man who by stroke of his pen had
struck the shackles from the limbs of
their fellow-bondmen and proclaimed
liberty to the ensalved. Always i'm
questionable, the enthusiasm of the
cheered, laughed, cried, sang hymns
of praise, and shouted in their negro
dialect, "God Dress Massa Linkum I"
" De Lord save Fader Abraham!" De
day OBJ jubilee am come, shuah." They
crowded about him and fondled his
horse; some of them kissed his hands,
while others ran off crying in triumph
to their comrades that they had touched
his clothes. The President rode with
barred head; the tears had started to
his eyes, and his voice was 80 broken
by emotion that he could scarcely ar
ticulate the words of thanks and con-
graduation which he tried to speak to
the humble and devoted men through
whose ranks he rode. The scene was
affecting in the extreme, and no one
could have witnessed it unmoved.