l lines. Two days
after, with the enemy in front, he wrote this "private" letter on the
subject of going home to canvass:

CAMP OF SHERIDAN'S ARMY,

NEAR CHARLESTOWN, VA., _August_ 24, 1864.

FRIEND S.:--Your favor of the 7th came to hand on Monday. It was
the first I had heard of the doings of the Second District
Convention. My thanks for your attention and assistance in the
premises. I cared very little about being a candidate, but having
consented to the use of my name I preferred to succeed. Your
suggestion about getting a furlough to take the stump was certainly
made without reflection. An officer fit for duty who at this crisis
would abandon his post to electioneer for a seat in Congress ought
to be scalped. You may feel perfectly sure I shall do no such
thing. We are, and for two weeks past have been, in the immediate
presence of a large rebel army. We have skirmishing and small
affairs constantly. I am not posted in the policy deemed wise at
headquarters, and can't guess as to the prospects of a general
engagement. The condition and spirit of this army are good and
improving. I suspect the enemy are sliding around us toward the
Potomac. If they cross we shall pretty certainly have a meeting.

Sincerely,

R. B. HAYES.

An incident of this canvass caused at the time it occurred intense
feeling and indignation. The Democrats were having a large mass meeting
in Cincinnati, with an immense procession. Among the banners or
transparencies carried in the procession was one large,
coarsely-executed affair, representing General Hayes dodging bullets
while running from the enemy. As Hayes was at that very moment at the
front fighting the enemy, this assault in the rear was not deemed by
Union-loving men to fall within the rules of legitimate political
warfare. Some soldiers of the "Old Kanawha" division happening to be at
home recovering from wounds, had their indignation aroused to such an
uncontrollable pitch that they insisted upon ignominiously trampling
down the libelous transparency and its bearer. They had seen General
Hayes bare his breast a hundred times to the bullet-storm of battle, and
thought they were better judges of what constituted courage than men who
stayed at home occupying their time in passing resolutions that the war
was a "failure." These old veteran comrades of Hayes were moving in
compact li