When the President, early in the War, was anxious about the defenses
of Washington, he told a story illustrating his feelings in the case.
General Scott, then Commander-in-Chief of the United States Army, had
but 1,500 men, two guns and an old sloop of war, the latter anchored
in the Potomac, with which to protect the National Capital, and the
President was uneasy.
To one of his queries as to the safety of Washington, General Scott had
replied, “It has been ordained, Mr. President, that the city shall not
be captured by the Confederates.”
“But we ought to have more men and guns here,” was the Chief Executive’s
answer. “The Confederates are not such fools as to let a good chance to
capture Washington go by, and even if it has been ordained that the city
is safe, I’d feel easier if it were better protected. All this reminds
me of the old trapper out in the West who had been assured by some ‘city
folks’ who had hired him as a guide that all matters regarding life and
death were prearranged.
“‘It is ordained,’ said one of the party to the old trapper, ‘that you
are to die at a certain time, and no one can kill you before that time.
If you met a thousand Indians, and your death had not been ordained for
that day, you would certainly escape.’
“‘I don’t exactly understand this “ordained” business,’ was the
trapper’s reply. ‘I don’t care to run no risks. I always have my gun
with me, so that if I come across some reds I can feel sure that I won’t
cross the Jordan ‘thout taking some of ‘em with me. Now, for instance,
if I met an Indian in the woods; he drew a bead on me--sayin’, too, that
he wasn’t more’n ten feet away--an’ I didn’t have nothing to protect
myself; say it was as bad as that, the redskin bein’ dead ready to kill
me; now, even if it had been ordained that the Indian (sayin’ he was a
good shot), was to die that very minute, an’ I wasn’t, what would I do
‘thout my gun?’
“There you are,” the President remarked; “even if it has been ordained
that the city of Washington will never be taken by the Southerners, what
would we do in case they made an attack upon the place, without men and
heavy guns?”