which is more than one can say
of the report that a stick thrown by a boy at a dog in front of
Willard's Hotel struck twelve brigadier generals during its flight.

The presiding genius of the whole was Mr. Edwin M. Stanton, Secretary
of War. Before the actual outbreak of the conflict he had been,
I believe, at least a Democrat, and, perhaps, to a certain extent,
a Southern sympathizer so far as the slavery question was concerned.
But when it came to blows, he espoused the side of the Union, and
after being made Secretary of War he conducted military operations
with a tireless energy, which made him seem the impersonation of
the god of war. Ordinarily his character seemed almost savage
when he was dealing with military matters. He had no mercy on
inefficiency or lukewarmness. But his sympathetic attention, when
a case called for it, is strikingly shown in the following letter,
of which I became possessed by mere accident. At the beginning of
the war Mr. Charles Ellet, an eminent engineer, then resident near
Washington, tendered his services to the government, and equipped
a fleet of small river steamers on the Mississippi under the War
Department. In the battle of June 6, 1862, he received a wound from
which he died some two weeks later. His widow sold or leased his
house on Georgetown Heights, and I boarded in it shortly afterward.
Amongst some loose rubbish and old papers lying around in one of
the rooms I picked up the letter which follows.

War Department,
Washington City, D. C., June 9, 1862.

Dear Madam,--I understand from Mr. Ellet's dispatch to you
that as he will be unfit for duty for some time it will be
agreeable to him for you to visit him, traveling slowly so
as not to expose your own health.

With this view I will afford you every facility within
the control of the Department, by way of Pittsburg and
Cincinnati to Cairo, where he will probably meet you.

Yours truly,
Edwin M. Stanton,
_Secretary of War._

The interesting feature of this letter is that it is entirely in the
writer's autograph, and bears no mark of having been press copied.
I infer that it was written out of office hours, after all the clerks
had left the Department, perhaps late at night, while the secretary
was taking advantage of the stillness of the hour to examine papers
and plans.

Only once did I come into personal contact with Mr. Stanton.
A portrait of Ferdinand R. Hassler, first superintende