Not only at his post of official duty was it that Officer McWatters
rendered efficient service to the government, but throughout the war we
find him frequently making noble appeals for aid to the Union in one
form or another, or setting forth some judicious plan of operations to
secure the same, in able and spirited letters to the Evening Post, the
Tribune, etc. It should give the writer pleasure to copy some of these
letters herein, especially one which appeared in the Evening Post of
October 2, 1861, but the limits of these biographical notes forbid.
In the Tribune of August 5, 1864, appeared a letter from Officer
McWatters, from which, notwithstanding our narrow limits, we cannot
forbear to make a short quotation, since it so well evinces his spirit,
both as a man and a writer, as well as his lofty appreciation of the
honor and glory of his adopted country's institutions. A portion of the
letter is addressed to working-men, urging them to loan to the nation,
in its hour of peril, such sums of money as they could save; and the
letter concludes with these noble words: "Fellow Working-men: I have,
by hard scraping, saved one hundred dollars. I am going to lend it to
the government. I ask you, in the name of humanity and patriotism, to
'go and do likewise.' Your country demands your assistance; respond
generously, quickly; think of the proud eminence on which you stand
before the working-men of the world,--_as American citizens!_--and
acquit yourselves as though you felt your dignity."