THE TRUE STORY TOLD BY L. E. CHITTENDEN REGISTER OF THE TREASURY, 1861-65 AND AUTHOR OF “RECOLLECTIONS OF PRESIDENT LINCOLN AND HIS ADMINISTRATION” WITH PORTRAITS NEW YORK AND LONDON HARPER & BROTHERS PUBLISHERS MCMIX HARPER & BROTHERS PUBLISHERS MCMIX Copyright, 1909, by Harper & Brothers . All rights reserved. Published January, 1909....

ITHOUT any attempt at biographical details or an appreciation, a few chief facts in Abraham Lincoln’s great career may be helpfully recalled to the minds of readers. His ancestors were Quakers in Berks County, Pennsylvania. His parents, born in Virginia, were influenced by the current of migration across the Alleghanies, and were carried first to Kentucky and afterward to Indiana. It was in Hardin County, Kentucky, that Abraham Lincoln was born, February 12, 1809, the child of these humble settl

LINCOLN IN 1857 From a photograph in the collection of Charles Carleton Coffin The other members of the committee had a definite if not a practicable plan. They insisted that Scott had not been tried, and gave this account of the proceeding. He was asked what he had to say to the charge, and said he would tell them just how it all happened. He had never been up all night that he remembered. He was “all beat out” by the night before, and knew he should have a hard fight to keep awake; he thought

HE more I reflected upon what I was to do, the more hopeless the case appeared. Thought was useless. I must act upon impulse or I should not act at all. “Come,” I said, “there is only one man on earth who can save your comrade. Fortunately, he is the best man on the continent. We will go to President Lincoln.” I went swiftly out of the Treasury over to the White House, and up the stairway to the little office where the President was writing. The boys followed in a procession. I did not give the

ITHIN a day or two the newspapers reported that a soldier, sentenced to be shot for sleeping on his post, had been pardoned by the President and returned to his regiment. Other duties pressed me, and it was December before I heard anything further from Scott. Then another elderly soldier of the same company, whose health had failed, and who was arranging for his own discharge, called upon me, and I made inquiry about Scott. The soldier gave an enthusiastic account of him. He was in splendid heal

HE next scene in this drama opens on the Peninsula, between the York and the James rivers, in March, 1862. The sluggish Warwick River runs from its source, near Yorktown, across the Peninsula to its discharge. It formed at that time a line of defence, which had been fortified by General Magruder, and was held by him with a force of some twelve thousand Confederates. Yorktown was an important position to the Confederates. On April 15th the division of General Smith was ordered to stop the enemy’s

OME days passed before I again met the President. When I saw him I asked if he remembered William Scott. “Of Company K, Third Vermont Volunteers?” he answered. “Certainly I do. He was the boy that Baldy Smith wanted to shoot at the Chain Bridge. What about William Scott?” “He is dead. He was killed on the Peninsula,” I answered. “I have a message from him for you, which I have promised one of his comrades to deliver.” A look of tenderness swept over his face as he exclaimed: “Poor boy! Poor boy!