and of all he saw at Richmond had all of that quaintness and originality for which he was distinguished. Full of anecdote and reminiscence, he never flagged during the whole evening. His son Robert was in the military service and with the advancing army, and knowing that I was bound for the "front" the next morning, he said to me :

"I believe I will drop Robert a line if you will take it. I will hand it to you in the morning before you start."

I went to the wharf the next morning, and soon Mr. Lincoln came ashore from his steamer, with the letter in his hand. He was erect and buoyant, and it seemed to me that I had never seen him look so great and grand. After a few words of conversation, he handed me the letter, and I bid him what proved to be, alas! a final adieu. I made my way with all diligence and through much tribulation to the ""front," and arrived at Appomattox in season to see the final surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia, and General Lee and his associate generals prisoners of war.

Returning to City Point, I found awaiting me there a small Government steamer which was to take me to Washington. On arriving there I met the

That was

most terrible news that had ever shocked the civilized world: Mr. Lincoln had been assassinated. Saturday night, April 15, 1865. I gave directions

to have the steamer proceed directly to Washington, where I arrived early Monday morning, April 17th, and in season to participate in the stupendous preparations to do honor to the memory of the dead President.

I was on the Congressional Committee to escort his remains to Springfield, Illinois, where I followed his colossal hearse to the grave.

E. B. WASHBURNE.

MY

III.

GEORGE W. JULIAN.

Y first meeting with Mr. Lincoln was in January, 1861, when I visited him at his home in Springfield.

I had a curiosity to see the famous "rail-splitter," as he was then familiarly called, and as a memberelect of the Thirty-seventh Congress I desired to form some acquaintance with the man who was destined to play a conspicuous part in the impending national crisis. Although I had zealously supported him in the canvass, and was strongly impressed by the grasp of thought and aptness of expression which marked his great debate with Douglas, yet, as a thorough-going Free Soiler and a member of the Radical wing of Republicanism, my prepossessions were against him. He was a Kentuckian, and a conservative Whig, who had supported General Taylor in 1848, and General Scott four years later, when the Whig party finally sacrificed both its character and its life on the altar of slavery. His nomination, moreover, had been secured through the diplomacy of conservative Republicans, whose mor

bid dread of "abolitionism" unfitted them, as I believed, for leadership in the battle with slavery which had now become inevitable, while the defeat of Mr. Seward had been to me a severe disappointment and a real personal grief. Still, I did not wish to do Mr. Lincoln the slightest injustice, while I hoped, and believed his courage and firmness would prove equal to the emergency.

On meeting him, I found him far better-looking than the campaign pictures had represented. These, as a general rule, were wretched caricatures. His face, when lighted up in conversation, was not unhandsome, and the kindly and winning tones of his voice pleaded for him, as did the smile which played about his rugged features. He was full of anecdote and humor, and readily found his way to the hearts of those who enjoyed a welcome to his fireside. His face, however, was sometimes marked by that touching expression of sadness which became so generally noticeable in the following years. I was much pleased with our first Republican Executive, and returned home more fully inspired than ever with the purpose to sustain him to the utmost in facing the duties of his great office.

The chief purpose of this visit, however, related to another matter. The rumor was then current and generally credited, that Simon Cameron and Caleb B. Smith were to be made Cabinet ministers, and I