Concerning Congressmen

It is stated that he was much disgusted at the crowd of officers who some time ago used to loiter about the Washington hotels, and he is reported to have remarked to a member of Congress: “These fellows and the Congressmen do vex me sorely.”

Another member of Congress was conversing with the President, and was somewhat annoyed by the President’s propensity to divert attention from the serious subject he had on his mind by ludicrous allusions.

“Mr. Lincoln,” said he, “I think you would have your joke if you were within a mile of hell.”

“Yes, said the President, “that is about the distance to the capitol.”

When informed that General Stoughton had been captured by the rebels at Fairfax, the President is reported to have said that he did not mind the loss of the brigadier as much as he did the loss of the horses.  “For,” said he, “I can make a much better brigadier in five minutes, but the horses cost one hundred and twenty-five dollars a piece.”

SOURCE: New York Daily Herald, New York, New York, Friday, February 19, 1864, p. 5, and copied from the New York Evening Post, New York, New York, Wednesday, February 17, 1864.

Edwin M. Stanton to Major-General Joseph Hooker, May 7, 1863 – 9:30 p.m.

WASHINGTON, D. C.,

May 7, 1863 — 9.30 p.m.

Major-General HOOKER:

Richmond papers of Tuesday received at this Department are full of accounts of the panic and destruction accomplished by Stoneman. From the several papers, and the statement of General Stoughton, just arrived, the following, among other facts, appear:

1. That a portion of Stoneman's force was within 2 miles of Richmond on Monday. This is stated by the Richmond papers. General Stoughton reports that there was not at that time a single soldier in Richmond.

2. The road was torn up at various points, and General Stoughton says the canal broken, but the papers assert it was not broken.

3. Stoneman's force is represented to be divided into detachments, operating in different directions, and producing great panic everywhere in that region.

Other details are given at great length, but the above are the principal points. The result at Chancellorsville does not seem to have produced any panic. Gold has only risen 6 per cent. in New York, and at the close to-day had gone down 4. The public confidence seems to remain unshaken in the belief of your ultimate success.

EDWIN M. STANTON,

[Secretary of War.]

SOURCE: The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Volume 25, Part 2 (Serial No. 40), p. 439