ficent staff, approached
the President, who joined them, and away they dashed to a distant part
of the field. The artillery began to thunder, the drums beat, and the
bands struck up 'Hail to the Chief,' while the troops cheered. Mr.
Lincoln, holding the bridle-rein in one hand, lifted his tall hat from
his head, and much of the time held it in the other hand. Grandly did
Lincoln receive the salute, appearing as little disturbed by the dashing
movements of the proud-spirited animal as if he had passed through such
an ordeal with the same creature many times before. Next came a further
test of endurance--a long dash over very rough untraveled ground, with
here and there a ditch or a hole to be jumped or a siding to be passed.
But Mr. Lincoln kept well up to McClellan, who made good time. Finally,
the 'riding down the lines' was performed, amidst the flaunting of
standards, the beating of drums, the loud cheering of the men and rapid
discharges of artillery, startling even the best-trained horses. Lincoln
sat easily to the end, when he wheeled his horse into position to
witness the vast columns march in review. McClellan was surprised at so
remarkable a display of horsemanship. Mr. Lincoln was a great lover of
the horse, and a skilled rider. His awkwardness of form did not show in
the saddle. He always looked well when mounted."

After the President's return to Washington he began urging McClellan to
resume active operations; desiring him to "cross the Potomac, and give
battle to the enemy or drive him south." On the 13th of October he
addressed to him the long letter quoted at the end of the preceding
chapter. Subsequent communications from the President to McClellan
showed more and more impatience. On the 25th he telegraphed: "I have
just read your despatch about sore-tongue and fatigued horses. Will you
pardon me for asking what the horses of your army have done since the
battle of Antietam that fatigues anything?" And the next day, after
receiving McClellan's answer to his inquiry, he responded: "Most
certainly I intend no injustice to anyone, and if I have done any I
deeply regret it. To be told, after more than five weeks' total inaction
of the army, and during which period we had sent to that army every
fresh horse we possibly could, amounting in the whole to 7,918, that the
cavalry horses were too much fatigued to move, presented a very
cheerless, almost hopeless, prospect for the future, and it may have
forced som