d,
and where the ground was soft and marshy. Being challenged by the guard
I answered who I was, but as he could not plainly distinguish my uniform
in the twilight and did not know me personally, he ordered us, with
leveled gun, to stand still until he could call the officer of the
guard. It was no easy matter to obey his orders, for the horses
continually sank down in the soft ground, but finally the officer
arrived, and we succeeded in getting to the camp without further
trouble. I was not the first officer who thus got into trouble by
neglecting to write out a pass for himself.

On a fine April day, which can never be forgotten, the news came that
our president, Abraham Lincoln, had been murdered. Stricken with
consternation I hurried down to the Third regiment in person to tell the
sad news. Never, either before or since, have I witnessed such a scene
as the one that followed. Some of the men went completely wild with
sorrow, weather-beaten veterans, embracing each other, wept aloud,
others swore and cursed. In the prison yard, which was guarded by men
belonging to my regiment, a rebel prisoner took off his cap, waived it
in the air and cried, "Hurrah for Booth!" A man by the name of Stark
immediately loaded his gun and shot the rebel dead on the spot. Many
others, both inside and outside the camp, were shot because they
expressed joy at the death of Lincoln. Passions were strong, and all
tolerance and patience exhausted among the Union soldiers on that
occasion. The main army of the Confederates had already surrendered
when this calamity occurred, and the war was in fact over. A few days
afterward we sent our families home.

CHAPTER VII.

Reconstruction in the South--Third Regiment Mustered Out--The Farewell
Order--Sacrifices and Costs of the War.

A very important work still remained to be accomplished by the union
army, namely, the restoration of law and order in the southern states. I
had the honor to be entrusted with a portion of that work, an account of
which was given in a paper prepared and read by me before the commandery
of the military order Loyal Legion, at one of its meetings in St. Paul,
in March, 1889, from which I quote as follows:

"After listening to the many interesting addresses on battles and
campaigns that have been read before the commandery at our monthly
meetings, I fear that you will be disappointed, not only with the
subject of this paper, but also with the commonplace inc