"'Oh, no,' he said, laughing; 'the commander-in-chief of the army must not show any cowardice in the presence of his soldiers, whatever he may feel.' And he insisted upon riding the whole six miles, which was about the length of my intrenchments, in that position, amusing himself at intervals, where there was nothing more attractive, in a sort of competitive examination of the commanding general in the science of engineering, much to the amusement of my engineer-in-chief, General Weitzel, who rode on my left, and who was kindly disposed to prompt me while the examination was going on, which attracted the attention of Mr. Lincoln, who said,-- "'Hold on, Weitzel, I can't beat you, but I think I can beat Butler.' "In the later summer (1863)," continues General Butler, "I was invited by the President to ride with him in the evening out to the Soldiers' Home, some two miles, a portion of the way being quite lonely. He had no guard--not even an orderly on the box. I said to him,-- "'Is it known that you ride thus alone at night out to the Soldiers' Home?' "'Oh, yes,' he answered, 'when business detains me until night. I do go out earlier, as a rule.' "I said, 'I think you peril too much. We have passed a half-dozen places where a well-directed bullet might have taken you off.' "'Oh,' he replied, 'assassination of public officers is not an American crime.' "When he handed me the commission (as major-general), with some kindly words of compliment, I replied, 'I do not know whether I ought to accept this. I received my orders to prepare my brigade to march to Washington while trying a cause to a jury. I stated the fact to the court and asked that the case might be continued, which was at once consented to, and I left to come here the second morning after, my business in utter confusion.' "He said, 'I guess we both wish we were back trying cases,' with a quizzical look upon his countenance. "I said, 'Besides, Mr. President, you may not be aware that I was the Breckenridge candidate for Governor in my State in the last campaign, and did all I could to prevent your election.' "'All the better,' said he; 'I hope your example will bring many of the same sort with you.' "'But,' I answered, 'I do not know that I can support the measures of your administration, Mr. President.' "'I do not care whether you do or not,' was his reply, 'if you will fight for the country.' "'I will take the commission and loyally serve while I may, and bring it back to you when I can go with you no further.' "'That is frank; but tell me wherein you think my administration wrong before you resign,' said he. 'Report to General Scott.' "'Yes, Mr. President, the bounties which are now being paid to new recruits cause very large desertions. Men desert and go home, and get the bounties and enlist in other regiments.' "'That is too true,' he replied, 'but how can we prevent it?'