n, he matured on enterprise almost as soon as he
conceived it. His language and manner were often very expressive of this
peculiar constitution of mind. In consultation with those whom he
admitted to his confidence, he never cared to hear arguments, he would
listen only to opinions. In stating his plans, he entered into no
explanations, and his expressions of his views and declaration of his
purposes sounded like predictions. At such times his speech would become
hurried and vehement, and his manner excited but remarkably impressive.

He evidently felt the most thorough and intense conviction himself, and
he seldom failed to convince his hearers. Advice volunteered, even by
those he most liked and relied on, was never well received, and when he
asked counsel of them he required that it should be concise and
definite, and resented hesitation or evasion. Without being in the
ordinary sense of the term an excellent judge of character, he
possessed, in a greater degree than any of his military associates, the
faculty of judging how various circumstances (especially the events and
vicissitudes of war) would affect other men, and of anticipating in all
contingencies their thoughts and action. He seemed, if I may use such
expressions, capable of imagining himself exactly in the situations of
other men, of identifying his own mind with theirs, and thinking what
they thought. He could certainly, with more accuracy than any one,
divine the plans and wishes of an enemy. This was universally remarked,
and he exhibited it, not only in correctly surmising the intentions of
his own immediate opponents, but also in the opinions which he gave
regarding the movements of the grand armies. He sought all the
information which could however remotely affect his interests and
designs with untiring avidity, and the novel and ingenious expedients he
sometimes resorted to in order to obtain it, would perhaps furnish
materials for the most interesting chapter of his history. It was a
common saying among his men, that "no lawyer can cross-examine like
General Morgan," and indeed the skill with which he could elicit
intelligence from the evasive or treacherous answers of men unwilling to
aid, or seeking to deceive him, was only less astonishing than the
confidence with which he would act upon information so acquired. In army
phrase, he was a capital "judge of information," that is, he could
almost infallibly detect the true from the false, and determ