He  knew  no  more  of  the  way  than  I  did,  and  a
very  bad  way  it  was.  I  made  my  first  acquaint-
ance with  the  sacred  soil  of  Virginia  then  and
there.  We  lost  ourselves  sometimes,  and  then  we
found  ourselves ;  the  greater  part  of  the  road  being
the  worst  possible  country  road,  all  cut  to  pieces
by  the  heavy  army  work,  through  woods,  not  of
large  trees,  but  which  were  close  enough  on  both
sides  to  darken  the  passage.  It  was  nine  o'clock
or  later  when  we  saw  the  welcome  sight  of  the
headquarters  camp-fires.
We  rode  up,  and  I  jumped  from  my  horse  to
shake  hands  with  General  Butler,  Colonel  Shaffer,
and  the  other  gentlemen.  They  asked  instantly
how  we  had  passed  the  batteries.  I  told  the  story,
and  General  Butler,  who  was  always  effusively
polite,  and  to  his  other  gracious  ways  added  ex-


304  Sixty  Years

quisite  facility  in  flattery,  said  to  me:  "We  are
greatly  obliged  to  you,  Mr.  Hale.  I  have  been  very
anxious  for  two  or  three  hours.  I  was  afraid  my
despatches  were  cut  off."  I  had  already  handed
to  him  the  utterly  unimportant  letter  from  the  War
Department,  which  had  been  my  talisman  thus  far.
Then  and  there  I  first  heard  soldiers  talk  of
what  had  been  done  and  what  had  not  been  done
in  that  day.  I  knew  beforehand  that,  in  the  push
toward  Richmond,  we  had  been  flung  back  at  Fort
Darling.  I  did  not  know,  till  I  came  there,  exactly
how  the  command  was  impressed  by  this  delay.
