General Wadsworth, in his anxiety about the President's safety in
Washington, swarming with insurgent agents, set a cavalry guard over
the President's carriage. He went and complained to General Halleck, in
charge of the capital, saying only partly facetiously:
"Why, Mrs. Lincoln and I cannot hear ourselves talk for the clatter of
their sabers and spurs; and some of them appear to be new hands and
very awkward, so that I am more afraid of being shot by the accidental
discharge of a carbine or revolver than of any attempt upon my life by
a roving squad of 'Jeb' Stuart's cavalry."
(Since Stuart came twenty miles within the Union lines, he was the
criterion of rebel raiders' possibilities.)
* * * * *