others imprisoned. President Johnson on July 4 fixed the execution for Friday, July 7, but the warrants were not issued or known until the following morning, so that the culprits had only forty hours in which to prepare for death.

The friends of Mrs. Surratt made a strenuous effort for at least a reprieve, but Johnson refused to see any one in her behalf, directing General R. D. Mussey, his private secretary, to say to all callers that if they possessed additional evidence to present it to Judge Holt. Mrs. Stephen A. Douglas alone succeeded in reaching the President, but her appeal was futile.*

Father Walter of Washington, believing Mrs. Surratt, who was a member of his church, had been too severely condemned, was particularly active in her interest. Knowing his sincerity, Stanton sent General James A. Hardie (also a Catholic) to suggest to him the inadvisability of continuing efforts in her behalf in the absence of fresh and exculpating evidence. Father Walter refused to desist, whereupon Stanton sent General W. S. Hancock, in command of the post where Mrs. Surratt was confined, to consult with Bishop Spalding in Baltimore, who, seeing the ineptitude of an attempt to personally interfere with the processes of a duly constituted court, forwarded a telegram to Father Walter which had the desired effect. Thereupon Mrs. Surratt's attorneys presented to Judge Andrew Wylie, of the court of the District of Columbia, at 2 o'clock in the morning of the day fixed for the execution, a petition for a writ of habeas corpus, which was granted, commanding General Hancock, who had charge of the several prisoners, to produce her body in court. Hancock repaired with the writ to Stanton, who directed him to Attorney-General Speed. Without hesitation that officer drafted a proclamation, which the President signed at 10 A. M., suspending the writ of habeas corpus in the District of Columbia. At 12 o'clock the execution took place.

*Later, President Johnson changed completely. On February 8, 1868, as if to give his official approval to the assassination of Lincoln, he pardoned Dr. Mudd and on March 1, 1869, just as he was retiring to private life, pardoned Arnold and Spangler. O'Laughlin died in the military prison on the Dry Tortugas, an island off the coast of Florida.

GRAND

CHAPTER L.

REVIEW-SHERMAN'S

MENT.

AFFRONT-DISBAND

The magnificent though partial exhibition of national strength known as the Grand Review, was projected by Stanton. It was his original design to have all the armies, one million in number, in review under arms and mustered out at the capital, making a demonstration vast beyond conception; but the cost of transportation and subsistence rendered that plan, he thought later, inadvisable.

As the different corps, divisions, and regiments passed before him, he recited to the distinguished reviewers near him their battles, losses, valor, and victories. "You see in these armies," he exclaimed, "the foundation of the Republic-our future railway managers, congressmen, bank presidents, senators, manufacturers, judges, governors, and diplomats; yes, and not less than half a dozen presidents"-which prophecy has been fulfilled practically, Grant, Hayes, Garfield, Harrison, and McKinley having been elected to the presidency from the Union armies.

Detailed reports of the review and of the splendid equipment of the Federal troops were made by the foreign representatives to their respective governments, establishing in Europe the first adequate conception of the enormous fighting strength of a free and spirited nation; and that was precisely Stanton's purpose.

The Grand Review developed many interesting incidents, but only one that fixed for itself a place in history-Sherman's affront to Stanton for reversing the Sherman-Johnston "agreement." The story is told by the Reverend Justin D. Fulton of Brooklyn, as follows:

Through Jay Cooke I had seats at the left of the grand stand. The first day of the review was given up to Grant's army. The second was given to Sherman, who rode his celebrated war-horse and looked every inch a soldier. Beside him rode the one-armed Major-General Howard. The first corps had passed. General Sherman gave his horse to his aide and

walked up to the stand. All rose to greet him. He shook hands with all until he came to Stanton, when he turned away. Quick as lightning-leap I rose within twenty feet of General Sherman and all, and shouted:

"Edwin M. Stanton, savior of our country under God, rise and receive the greetings of your friends!"

Sherman's face was black. President Johnson motioned Stanton to rise. He did not come until the words were repeated: "Edwin M. Stanton, savior of our country under God, rise and receive the greetings of your friends." He then came forth into the presence of at least 100,000 people, when I cried out aloud once more:

"Nine cheers for the savior of his country under God!"

The multitude joined in the acclaim and the great War Secretary received a recognition which would not have come to him had Sherman acted the gentleman.

For days the press teemed with accounts of the affront, some thinking General Sherman should resign and others that he should receive military punishment; but Stanton did not even refer to the incident. He regarded it as merely the involuntary ebullition of an infirm temper in a soldier who had struck telling blows for his country.

While this hostile clamor was at its height, Mrs. Sherman sent to Stanton, with her autograph card in the midst of it, a bouquet of beautiful flowers*—a rare offering of peace, a delicate plea for consideration. She did not justify her husband's discourtesy and wanted Stanton to know it. Afterward, when a military commission of which Sherman was a member was sitting in the War Department, Stanton, who harbored no personal animosity, invited the General into his private room, where the two sat for some time in friendly chat.

On April 13, previous to ordering the Grand Review and less. than four days after Lee's surrender, Stanton gave public notice that he would shortly issue orders: "(1) To stop all drafting and recruiting in loyal States; (2) To curtail the purchase of arms, munitions, etc.; (3) To reduce the number of generals and staff officers to the actual necessities of the service; (4) To remove all military restrictions upon trade and commerce so far as consistent with public safety."

The assassination of Lincoln on the following day and the pursuit of the conspirators prevented issuing the promised orders until

*"I put Mrs. Sherman's gracious offering in water," says Major A. E. H. Johnson, "intending to send it to Mr. Stanton's house; but when the Secretary went, the flowers went, too."

the 28th, when he promulgated General Orders 72, consisting of ten sections, reducing the entire military establishment to a peace basis.

"That," says General Thomas M. Vincent, who prepared the details for and had immediate charge of disbandment, "is one of the Secretary's remarkable feats. As he stood at his high desk consulting and conversing with several important officers upon various other topics, he composed and wrote the paper-on which we all acted-to disperse our great armies and close up the enormous business of the military establishment. Copies of the paper were taken by photography for preservation and as an illustration of Mr. Stanton's wonderful range and accuracy of knowledge of military affairs."

Extra and expert clerks were sent wherever necessary, and if available buildings for offices were insufficient, wall-tents were provided. In the meantime, paymasters and quartermasters were despatched to the various State rendezvous, where salaries were paid and equipage received. Transportation for any emergency had been provided.

During June and July and five days in August, 650,000 soldiers were mustered, paid, and transferred bodily to their homes10,000 a day, 1,000 an hour, Sundays included! "Had it been possible to spare all the volunteers, the entire number, 1,034,064, could easily have been disbanded and returned to their homes within three months," says General Vincent. This would have been 1,150 per hour for the entire period.

Disbandment did not mean simply dispersing 1,000,000 armed men and 250,000 salaried employes, but also reversing the entire momentum of the war, and turning into channels of private activity 1,288 ships and transports-700 of them ocean-going; 15,389 miles of telegraph lines; 2,630 miles of railway and its equipment; 204 general hospitals; 32 military prisons; 4,000 barracks and war structures; 237,000 hospital beds; 600,000 horses and mules; enormous streams of supplies; and the products of hundreds of factories running night and day on military contracts.

During the war 2,865,028 Union men were called into the service. Nearly three-quarters of a million fugitive blacks were wholly subsisted and about 2,000,000 other blacks aided, while wide sections of rebellious territory were successfully cultivated, protected, and governed.