pronounced the Dred
Scott decision only a few years before; and this was followed a
few days later by a sermon in the hall of the House by Rev. Mr.
Garnett, being the first ever preached in the Capitol by a colored
man. Evidently, the negro was coming to the front.

In the latter part of March I visited New York, where I witnessed
the immense throngs of shouting people on Wall Street, called
together by the news of the fall of Richmond. Broadway, robed in
its innumerable banners, was one of the finest sights I had ever
beheld. On the tenth of April the Committee on the Conduct of the
War left Washington for South Carolina, for the purpose of taking
further testimony, and intending to be present at the great
anniversary of the thirteenth at Charleston. We reached Fortress
Monroe the next evening, where we learned that the "Alabama," which
the Navy Department had furnished us, would be detained twenty-four
hours to coal, by reason of which we proceeded directly to Richmond
on the "Baltimore." At City Point, Admiral Porter furnished us
with a pilot, as there was some danger of torpedoes up the James
River. Our steamer reached the city about bedtime, but we remained
on board till morning, lulled into a sweep sleep by the music of
the guitar and the singing of the negroes below. At eight o'clock
in the morning our party went out sight-seeing, some in carriages,
but most of us on horseback, with an orderly for each to show him
the way. The first notable place we visited was General Weitzel's
headquarters, just vacated by Jefferson Davis. The building was
a spacious three-story residence, with a large double parlor, a
ladies' parlor, and a small secluded library attached, in which
all sorts of treason were said to have been hatched. We next
visited the capitol, an ancient-looking edifice, which would bear
no comparison with our modern State Capitols in size or style of
architecture. The library made a respectable appearance, but I
think it contained few modern publications, especially of our own
authors. I noticed, however, a liberal supply of theological works
of the most approved orthodoxy. The view of the city from the top
of the building was admirable. We could see Libby Prison, Castle
Thunder and Belle Isle, the former of which we afterward visited.
After seeing the rebel fortifications we were glad to get back to
our steamer. Before starting the next morning we saw the "Richmond
Whig," containing an orde