In his “Campaigning With Grant,” in the Century, Gen. Horace Porter told
of Gen. Halleck’s fear of trouble from enforcing of the draft, and his
desire that Grant should send troops to the Northern cities. Gen. Porter
says:
On the evening of August 17 General Grant was sitting in front of his
quarters, with several staff officers about him, when the telegraph
operator came over from his tent and handed him a dispatch. He opened it,
and as he proceeded with the reading of it his face became suffused with
smiles. After he had finished it he broke into a hearty laugh. We were
curious to know what could produce so much merriment in the general in
the midst of the trying circumstances which surrounded him. He cast his
eyes over the dispatch again, and then remarked: “The President has more
nerve than any of his advisers. This is what he says after reading my
reply to Halleck’s dispatch.” He then read aloud to us the following:
“I have seen your dispatch expressing your unwillingness to break your
hold where we are. Neither am I willing. Hold on with a bulldog grip, and
chew and choke as much as possible.
“A. LINCOLN.”