Excerpt from Abraham Lincoln: Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States; Commandery of the State of Pennsylvania; Memorial Meeting, February 12, 1908

I did not see President Lincoln again until after the Atlanta campaign. While I was convalescing from wounds received at Atlanta, General Grant invited me to visit him at City Point. It was at a time when everything around Petersburg looked blue. The desertions from our army were about equal to the enlistments, and there was a general demand that Grant should move. I spent two weeks looking at the Army of the Potomac, the finest and best equipped army I ever saw. I visited all the commands of the Armies of the James and Potomac as they surrounded Petersburg and held the north side of the James River, and became acquainted with most of its army and corps commanders. Evenings we would sit around the camp fire at City Point, and General Grant in that comprehensive and conversational way he had of describing any event, when he felt at liberty to talk freely, which is shown so plainly in his Memoirs, told me of his campaign from the Wilderness to City Point, of many of his plans that failed to materialize for various reasons that he gave. After listening several evenings to the discussion of these matters I asked General Grant very innocently and naturally who was responsible for the failure of these plans, and looking at me in that humorous way which was in his disposition he replied: That, General, has not yet been determined.

While at City Point I visited the Army of the James, then commanded by General Butler, when he attempted to break through the enemy's lines on the north side of the James, and saw the attack and failure. I was greatly im pressed as I saw the troops move up to the attack, and stand so steadily, and receive the destructive fire of the enemy without taking cover. In the West, under similar conditions, our men would have gone to cover when they saw there was no possibility of carrying the works before them, but here they seemed to wait for an order, and my anxiety for them was such that I could not help expressing my surprise that they did not either charge or cover, but they st00d there taking a murderous fire until the command to retire was given. In the West while they stood there our whole line would have found shelter behind trees, or buried themselves. As I was leaving City Point Gen eral Grant suggested I should call on' President Lincoln as I returned to my command in the Army of the Tennessee. General Rufus Ingalls, Chief Quartermaster of the Army of the Potomac, and major-general Burk, of the British Army, who commanded in Canada, were on the headquarters boat that took me to Washington. When I arrived I went immediately to the White House. In the ante-room I met Senator Harlan of Iowa, who took me im mediately to President Lincoln. He had a room full of callers, and asked me to sit down until he disposed of the waiting crowd. I sat there and watched President Lincoln dispose of one after another, always in a kindly way. After waiting a long time I felt that, perhaps, he had disposed of me in the same way he had the others, and I took occasion to say to him that I had only called to pay my respects, and unless he desired me to wait longer, I would bid him good-bye. He immediately asked me to wait, saying he desired to see me if I had the time to spare. After the crowd had gone the doors were closed.

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