The request that American war vessels should accompany the expedition was made in the early spring, as is shown by this correspondence: "NEW YORK, _March 1, 1865_. "_Sir_,--The undersigned honorary directors of the Atlantic Telegraph Company have the honor to transmit to the President of the United States the draft of a letter to the Honorable the Secretary of the Navy, deeming it a matter of propriety that an application of so interesting a character shall be made to the Navy Department of the United States through the chief executive of the nation, whose interest in behalf of the enterprise thus presented is earnestly invoked. "We have the honor to be, "Very respectfully, "Your obedient servants, "W. E. DODGE, PETER COOPER, "WILSON G. HUNT, A. A. LOW, "E. M. ARCHIBALD, CYRUS W. FIELD, "Honorary Directors in America. "To his Excellency ABRAHAM LINCOLN, President of the United States." [Illustration: ATLANTIC TELEGRAPH CABLE · 1865] "NEW YORK, _March 1, 1865_. "_Sir_,--Under an act of Congress approved March 3, 1857, the government of the United States detailed the steam frigates _Niagara_ and _Susquehanna_ to assist in laying the cable of the Atlantic Telegraph Company from Ireland to Newfoundland, and the following year sent the _Niagara_, under the command of Captain Hudson, to co-operate with the _Agamemnon_, of her Britannic Majesty's navy, in the further prosecution of this enterprise. These vessels meeting in mid-ocean on the 28th day of July, 1858, after connecting the wire, separated, the _Agamemnon_ sailing for Valentia, on the coast of Ireland, and the _Niagara_ for Trinity Bay, on the coast of Newfoundland. They reached their respective destinations on the 5th day of August, and the work of uniting the two continents by telegraphic communication was successfully accomplished. "For a brief time messages were transmitted from one continent to the other, among the most interesting being the announcement of peace between Great Britain and France and China. The success, as happily achieved, but only temporary, was still sufficient to assure the parties engaged of a final and perfect fulfilment. "The capital of the Atlantic Telegraph Company has once more been filled up, and a new cable is now in course of shipment, on board of the _Great Eastern_, and will be wholly embarked on or before the 1st of June next. During that month we have every reason to think it will be successfully laid, seven years of experience, with the added teaching of science, affording very ample grounds for this conclusion.