kable, was by no
means as complete as it should have been, owing to Miss Carroll's
illness and to the difficulty of now procuring copies of her
pamphlets. Consequently, though the judgment rendered makes notable
admissions and the _moral assent_ runs all through, the court was
enabled, through some legal defects, to retransmit the case to
Congress for its consideration; and having once made its decision, the
case cannot again come before that court without a direct order from
Congress to take it up and try it again.

Looking over the brief at the Court of Claims, made by the late
Colonel Warden, I noted this significant passage:

[37]"It may not be amiss here to submit that the two and only
drawbacks or obstacles that we have met to the immediate, prompt, and
unanimous passage of an act of Congress in recognition of and adequate
compensation for the patriotic services and successful military
strategy of Miss Carroll in the late civil war are found first in an
obstruction which President Lincoln encountered and which he referred
to when he explained to Senator Wade that the Tennessee plan was
devised by Miss Carroll, and military men were exceedingly jealous of
all outside interference." (House Miss. Doc. 58). "The second obstacle
which has stayed us is founded in a (to some men) seemingly
insuperable objection, often demonstrated in words and acts by our
legislators--a misfortune or disability (if it be one) over which Miss
Carroll had no control whatever, namely, in the fact that she is a
woman."

[Footnote 37: Brief of claimant in Congressional
case 93.]

It would appear that the decision of the Court of Claims
retransmitting the claim to Congress was considered by Miss Carroll's
friends to be in her favor.

Erastus Brooks writes her at this time:

Dear Miss Carroll:

Your "Reminiscences of Lincoln" (a work suggested by Mrs. Hussey)
should, as far as possible, bring out the words and own thoughts
of the man. The subject, the man, and the occasion are the points
to be treated, and in this order, perhaps.

Again, my old and dear friend, I am very glad and hope the award
will meet all your expectations--mental, pecuniary, and of every
kind. The hope of the award to yourself and friends must be as
satisfactory as the judgment of the court.

Yours,

ERASTUS BROOKS.

Miss Carro