“Good morning, Abe!” was the greeting addressed to the President, as
we sat together in his office one morning,--he absorbed at his desk,
and I with my pencil. I looked up in astonishment at the unaccustomed
familiarity.
“Why, Dennis,” returned Mr. Lincoln, “is this you?”
“Yes, Abe,” was the rejoinder; “I made up my mind I must come down and
see you once while you were President, anyhow. So here I am, all the
way from Sangamon.”
Sitting down, side by side, it would have been difficult for one
unfamiliar with democratic institutions to tell, by the appearance or
conversation, which was the President and which the back-countryman,
save that from time to time I overheard the man addressed as “Dennis”
refer to family trials and hardships, and intimate that one object
of his journey so far, was to see if his old friend “could not do
something for one of his boys?”
The response to this was: “Now, Dennis, sit down and write out what you
want, so that I can have it before me, and I will see what can be done.”
I have always supposed that this was “Dennis Hanks,” the early
companion and friend of Mr. Lincoln; but my attention at the time
being diverted, the matter passed out of my mind, and I neglected
subsequently to inquire.
About this period--it may have been the following evening--the house
was thrown into an uproar by a performance of little “Tad’s.” I was
sitting in Mr. Nicolay’s room, about ten o’clock when Robert Lincoln
came in with a flushed face. “Well,” said he, “I have just had a great
row with the President of the United States!”
“What?” said I.
“Yes,” he replied, “and very good cause there is for it, too. Do you
know,” he continued, “‘Tad’ went over to the War Department to-day, and
Stanton, for the fun of the thing,--putting him a peg above the ‘little
corporal’ of the French Government,--commissioned him ‘lieutenant.’
On the strength of this, what does ‘Tad’ do but go off and order a
quantity of muskets sent to the house! To-night he had the audacity
to discharge the guard, and he then mustered all the gardeners and
servants, gave them the guns, drilled them, and put them on duty in
their place. I found it out an hour ago,” continued Robert, “and
thinking it a great shame, as the men had been hard at work all day, I
went to father with it; but instead of punishing ‘Tad,’ as I think he
ought, he evidently looks upon it as a good joke, and won’t do anything
about it!”
“Tad,” however, presently went to bed, and then the men were quietly
discharged. And so it happened that the presidential mansion was
unguarded one night, at least, during the war!
The second week in July the whole country, and Washington in
particular, was thrown into a fever of anxiety by the rebel raid upon
that city under Early and Breckinridge. The night of Sunday, the 10th,
I have always believed the city might have been captured had the
enemy followed up his advantage. The defences were weak, and there
were comparatively but few troops in the city or vicinity. All day
Monday the excitement was at the highest pitch. At the White House the
cannonading at Fort Stevens was distinctly heard throughout the day.
During Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday, the President visited the forts and
outworks, part of the time accompanied by Mrs. Lincoln. While at Fort
Stevens on Monday, both were imprudently exposed,--rifle-balls coming,
in several instances, alarmingly near!
The almost defenceless condition of the city was the occasion of
much censure. Some blamed General Halleck; others General Augur, the
commander of the Department; others the Secretary of War; and still
others the President.
Subsequently the rebel force returned to Richmond almost unharmed. I
saw no one who appeared to take this more to heart than Mrs. Lincoln,
who was inclined to lay the responsibility at the door of the Secretary
of War.
Two or three weeks later, when tranquillity was perfectly restored,
it was said that Stanton called upon the President and Mrs. Lincoln
one evening at the “Soldiers’ Home.” In the course of conversation
the Secretary said, playfully, “Mrs. Lincoln, I intend to have a
full-length portrait of you painted, standing on the ramparts at Fort
Stevens overlooking the fight!”
“That is very well,” returned Mrs. Lincoln, very promptly; “and I can
assure you of one thing, Mr. Secretary, if I had had a few _ladies_
with me the Rebels would not have been permitted to get away as they
did!”