The President at Fort Stevens was the mark for a rebel battery. A
colonel in command was diffident about ordering the superior about, but
he was averse to letting the "dare" bring on a fatality, as the
sharpshooters had an easy butt in the Lincoln exceptional figure. So he
took the advice of Mr. Registrar Chittenden, on the staff, and bade the
President retire, or he would move him by a file of men.
"And you would do quite right, my boy!" acquiesced the chief. "I should
be the last man to set an example of disobedience."
* * * * *