When General Halleck was Commander-in-Chief of the Union forces, with
headquarters at Washington, President Lincoln unconsciously played a big
practical joke upon that dignified officer. The President had spent
the night at the Soldiers’ Home, and the next morning asked Captain
Derickson, commanding the company of Pennsylvania soldiers, which was
the Presidential guard at the White House and the Home--wherever the
President happened to be--to go to town with him.
Captain Derickson told the story in a most entertaining way:
“When we entered the city, Mr. Lincoln said he would call at General
Halleck’s headquarters and get what news had been received from the
army during the night. I informed him that General Cullum, chief aid to
General Halleck, was raised in Meadville, and that I knew him when I was
a boy.
“He replied, ‘Then we must see both the gentlemen.’ When the carriage
stopped, he requested me to remain seated, and said he would bring the
gentlemen down to see me, the office being on the second floor. In a
short time the President came down, followed by the other gentlemen.
When he introduced them to me, General Cullum recognized and seemed
pleased to see me.
“In General Halleck I thought I discovered a kind of quizzical look,
as much as to say, ‘Isn’t this rather a big joke to ask the
Commander-in-Chief of the army down to the street to be introduced to a
country captain?’”