. Grant, Lincoln, and the freedmen; reminiscences of the Civil War with special reference to the work for the contrabands and freedmen of the Mississippi Valley . debate then inprogress. Before the legislation regarding the Bureauhad reached a satisfactory conclusion, I felt that I couldno longer stay away from my work in the MississippiValley. I therefore called on Mr. Lincoln to bid himgood-by, — in how final a sense I had indeed no pre-monition. He was thinner than ever, and his face wasdrawn and sad, bearing the marks of suffering and deepthought. He referred to his re-election, expressing
. Grant, Lincoln, and the freedmen; reminiscences of the Civil War with special reference to the work for the contrabands and freedmen of the Mississippi Valley . debate then inprogress. Before the legislation regarding the Bureauhad reached a satisfactory conclusion, I felt that I couldno longer stay away from my work in the MississippiValley. I therefore called on Mr. Lincoln to bid himgood-by, — in how final a sense I had indeed no pre-monition. He was thinner than ever, and his face wasdrawn and sad, bearing the marks of suffering and deepthought. He referred to his re-election, expressing asense of gratitude, but with great solemnity and iron of the terrible experience of the war had enteredhis heart more and more deeply. He felt evident assur-ance of early peace, but perplexity in regard to its heart was bearing the anxieties of the entire people,— North and South, — and under the pressure of theNational sorrow his dignity and compassion were greatereven than ever before. I had never seen him when hismanner was marked with such great tenderness. He waslike a man seeing visions, and even the little stories of. ^ GRANT, LINCOLN, AND THE FREEDMEN 231 which he was always reminded, and the jokes in which hetook such quaint enjoyment and consolation, had assumeda melancholy tone. Because of the uncertainty as to what Congress woulddo and-the impossibility of outlining any definite programfor the conduct of affairs in the Valley, I asked Mr. Lin-coln if he would give me a word over his own signatureto strengthen me against the difficulties I felt might stillbe encountered. To this he agreed very heartily, andasked me to write out an order which I deemed would bemost useful for my purposes. I wrote the following infor-mal order, summarizing the verbal instructions he hadalready given me, and this he promptly signed: Col. Eaton, — You will continue your supervision of the Freed-men over the same territory and on the same principles as in
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, bookidgrant, booksubjectfreedmen
