nterchanged, and earnest
inquiry was made whether any information had been received from General
Sherman. General Grant, who was invited to remain, said he was expecting
hourly to hear from Sherman, and had a good deal of anxiety on the
subject. The President remarked that the news would come soon and come
favorably, he had no doubt, for he had last night his usual dream which
had preceded nearly every important event of the war. I inquired the
particulars of this remarkable dream. He said it was in my
department--it related to the water; that he seemed to be in a singular
and indescribable vessel, but always the same, and that he was moving
with great rapidity toward a dark and indefinite shore; that he had had
this singular dream preceding the firing on Sumter, the battles of Bull
Run, Antietam, Gettysburg, Stone River, Vicksburg, Wilmington, etc.
General Grant remarked, with some emphasis and asperity, that Stone
River was no victory--that a few such victories would have ruined the
country, and he knew of no important results from it. The President said
that perhaps he should not altogether agree with him, but whatever might
be the facts his singular dream preceded that fight. Victory did not
always follow his dream, but the event and results were important. He
had no doubt that a battle had taken place or was about being fought,
'and Johnston will be beaten, for I had this strange dream again last
night. It must relate to Sherman; my thoughts are in that direction, and
_I know of no other very important event which is likely just now to
occur_.'" "Great events," adds Mr. Welles in his Diary, "did indeed
follow; for within a few hours the good and gentle as well as truly
great man who narrated his dream closed forever his earthly career."

After the Cabinet meeting the President took a drive with Mrs. Lincoln,
expressing a wish that no one should accompany them. His heart was
filled with a solemn joy, which awoke memories of the past to mingle
with hopes for the future; and in this subdued moment he desired to be
alone with the one who stood nearest to him in human relationship. In
the course of their talk together, he said: "Mary, we have had a hard
time of it since we came to Washington; but the war is over, and with
God's blessing we may hope for four years of peace and happiness, and
then we will go back to Illinois and pass the rest of our lives in
quiet." He spoke, says Mr. Arnold, "of his old Springfield home;