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PERSONAL

RECOLLECTIONS

LINCOLN.

BY HENRY W. KNIGHT.

OF ABRAHAM

My first recollection of Mr. Lincoln was at the review of the Army of the Potomac in the spring of 1863, just preceding the battle of Chancellorsville. This noble army had been in winter quarters since the fatal affair under Burnside at Fredericksburg, and Gen. Joseph Hooker was now Commander-in-Chief. Our forces were never in better condition than at this time. Three corps of the armythe Sixth, commanded by Gen. John Sedgwick of Connecticut, "Uncle John," as he was familiarly called by his corps; the Third, commanded by General Sickles; and the Second, under command of General Hancock were drawn up in one grand line, and numbered fully 5000 men.

I had the honor of belonging to the Sixth Corps. As Mr. Lincoln approached to review our corps I had a fine opportunity of seeing him. He rode, in a very awkward manner, a magnificent black horse, was dressed in a suit of plain black clothes, with a much-worn black silk hat. His pale, sad face, in strong contrast to his dark apparel, certainly looked singularly out of place by the side of bluff Joe Hooker, whose florid countenance, splendid uniform and beautiful white horse, fairly glittered by the side of the plain man who rode at his right hand.

In the campaign of 1864 I became disabled, and was transferred to the Veteran Reserve Corps. This body of men was composed of wounded and disabled soldiers

too much disabled to stand active service, and yet good for garrison and guard duty. I was assigned to duty at Washington. I was placed in charge of the guard at the War Department, and here it was that I frequently saw Mr. Lincoln. His favorite time for visiting the War Department was between eleven and twelve at night, and when there was no one in the building but the telegraph operator and his two or three messengers and the guard in charge of the building. We were all quite sure of one thing - the harder it rained or the fiercer the winds blew, the more certainly would he come; for he seemed to love to go out in the elements, and to commune with Nature in her wildest moods.

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I seem to see him now, as his tall, ungainly form wrapped in an old gray shawl, wearing usually a "shockingly bad hat," and carrying a worse umbrella — he came up the steps into the building. Secretary Stanton, who knew Mr. Lincoln's midnight habits, gave a standing order that, although Mr. Lincoln might come from the White House alone (and he seldom came in any other way), he should never be permitted to return alone, but should be escorted by a file of four soldiers and a noncommissioned officer. I was on duty every other night. When Mr. Lincoln was ready to return we would take up a position near him, and accompany him safely to the White House. I presume I performed this duty fifty times. On the way to the White House, Mr. Lincoln would converse with us on various topics. I remember one night when it was raining very hard that he came over, and about one o'clock he started back. As he saw

us at the door, ready to escort him, he addressed us in these words: "Don't come out in this storm with me to-night, boys; I have my umbrella, and can get home safely without you." "But," I replied, "Mr. President, we have positive orders from Mr. Stanton not to allow you to return alone; and you know we dare not disobey his orders." "No," replied Mr. Lincoln, "I suppose not; for if Stanton should learn that you had let me return alone, he would have you court-martialed and shot inside of twenty-four hours." I recollect another very pleasing incident that took place in the same building. Those who may have been in the old War Department may remember that there were two short flights of stairs which had to be ascended in order to reach the second floor. At the head of the first flight was a platform or landing, and here the non-commissioned officer in charge of the guard had a desk and chair. Mr. Lincoln had to pass me whenever he came up these stairs, and as he did so I always arose, and, taking off my hat, remained standing till he passed. The taking-off of the hat was a mark of personal respect simply, for no soldier on duty, under any circumstances, is required to raise his hat. On one occasion, Mr. Lincoln, who always had a pleasant "Good-evening," and sometimes stopped to pass a word or two, hesitated on this landing, and, looking at the wall, where hung a pair of axes to be used in case of fire, asked what they were there for. I replied that they were to be used in case of fire. "Well, now,' said he, "I wonder if I could lift one of those axes up by the end of the handle?" and, suiting the action to the word, he took one down, and, laying the heavy end on the floor, he commenced raising it till he held it out at arm's length, and kept it there several seconds. "I

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thought I could do it,” he said, as he put it down. try it." I did try it, and failed. Mr. Lincoln laughed, and as he passed on he said: "When I used to split rails, thirty years ago in Illinois, I could lift two axes that way; and I believe I could do it now, and I will try it some other time."

Soon after this circumstance General Grant took command of the Army of the Potomac, and in order to have all the available forces at command he ordered every able-bodied soldier to the front, and this included a detachment of cavalry which, for a long time, had been President Lincoln's body guard to and from the Soldiers' Home. I was detailed on one occasion to escort the President to the Home. While on our way we had to pass Carver Hospital. As we approached the front gate, I noticed what seemed to be a young man groping his way, as if he were blind, across the road. Hearing the carriage and horses approaching, he became frightened, and walked in the direction of the approaching danger. Mr. Lincoln quickly observed this and shouted to the coachman to rein in his horses, which he did as they were about to run over the unfortunate youth. I shall never forget the expression of Mr. Lincoln's face on this occasion. Standing beside the carriage was the young man, dressed in the uniform of a private soldier. He had been shot through the left side of the upper part of the face, and the ball, passing from one side to the other, had put out both of his eyes. He could not have been over sixteen or seventeen years of age, and, aside from his blindness, he had a very beautiful face. Mr. Lincoln extended his hand to him, and while he held it he asked him, with a voice trembling with emotion, hist name, his regiment and where he lived. The young

man answered these questions, and stated that he lived in Michigan; and then Mr. Lincoln made himself known to the blind soldier, and with a look that was a benediction in itself spoke to him a few words of sympathy and bade him good-by. A few days after this incident, an old "chum" from my own regiment wrote me that he was at Carver Hospital, and asked me to come and see him. I went, and while there I asked after the blind soldier who had lost his eyes. I then learned that the following day, after his interview with the President he received a commission as a First Lieutenant in the Regular Army of the United States, accompanied by an order of retirement upon full pay; and if he is living to-day, he is doubtless drawing the salary of a First Lieutenant in the United States Army on the retired list.

I never shall forget that dark hour in our nation's history, the fourteenth of April, 1865. I was on duty at the War Department. Everything seemed peaceful, and nothing was heard but the quiet tread of the sentinel as he paced his beat. Suddenly a great commotion was heard outside, and in a moment the soldier on duty at the Pennsylvania Avenue front came rushing in, and, with a face pale as death, broke to us the tidings of the most accursed crime in modern history. The excitement, the madness and the sorrow that filled our souls on that occasion was simply indescribable. I wanted to run down to the theatre, but I dared not leave my post. While waiting, amid the most intense anxiety, Colonel Pelouze, one of the Adjutant-Generals at the War Department, rushed into the building and ordered me to take my men as fast as I could to the front door of Ford's Theatre. In less time than it takes to tell it, we started on the "double quick" for the theatre. As we

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