n reads them aloud. The answers, as they are given,
are reduced to writing. The questions or objections of the prisoner's
counsel must be made in writing and given to the judge-advocate, to be
read to the court. In trials where a large number of witnesses must be
examined, it is now the custom to make use of "short-hand" writers. In
this way the length of a trial is greatly reduced.

The members of a court-martial sit in full uniform, including sash and
sword, and preserve a most severe and becoming dignity. Whenever the
court wishes to deliberate upon any point of law or evidence, the
room is cleared, neither the prisoner nor his counsel being allowed to
remain. It frequently occurs that the court is thus closed during the
greater part of its sessions. With the necessity for recording all
its proceedings, and frequent stoppages for deliberation, a trial by a
military court is ordinarily very slow.

In obedience to the order of the court, I left the vicinity of the
Army of the Tennessee, and proceeded North.

In departing from Young's Point, I could not obey a certain Scriptural
injunction, as the mud of Louisiana adheres like glue, and defies all
efforts to shake it off. Mr. Albert D. Richardson, of The Tribune,
on behalf of many of my professional friends, called the attention
of President Lincoln to the little affair between General Sherman and
myself.

In his recently published book of experiences during the war, Mr.
Richardson has given a full and graphic account of his interview with
the President. Mr. Lincoln unbent himself from his official cares,
told two of his best stories, conversed for an hour or more upon
the military situation, gave his reasons for the removal of General
McClellan, and expressed his hope in our ultimate success. Declaring
it his inflexible determination not to interfere with the conduct of
any military department, he wrote the following document:--

EXECUTIVE MANSION,
WASHINGTON, _March_ 20, 1863.

WHOM IT MAY CONCERN:

Whereas it appears to my satisfaction that Thomas W. Knox, a
correspondent of _The New York Herald_, has been, by the sentence of a
court-martial, excluded from the Military Department under command of
Major-General Grant, and also that General Thayer, president of
the court-martial, which rendered the sentence, and Major-General
McClernand, in command of a corps of that department, and many other
respectable persons, are of opinion that Mr. Knox's offense was
te