I went with Postmaster-General Dennison and a portion of our families and a few friends on board the Santiago de Cuba, one of our fast vessels of about fourteen hundred tons, on a trip to Savannah. The late President had suggested to me some weeks before his death that he would be pleased to go on such an excursion to Charleston, and visit Dahlgren, who was, with him, a favorite. Subsequent events and his protracted visit to the upper waters of the James and Richmond altered this plan, and might have defeated it, even had his life been prolonged.
His death postponed
and seemed at times likely to defeat it altogether, but after repeated delays
we on this day embarked and went down the Potomac. Of the voyage and its
incidents I make here brief mention, for what is written is penned after our
return, and from memory chiefly.