The situation was saved by the fact that General Halleck had a namesake in Captain Sloan's family. The Captain's "Uncle Jerry" (otherwise General Jerry Gilmer, of South Carolina) had called a son "Henry Halleck" in honour of his one-time class-mate at West Point. When the idea of the namesake as basis of appeal dawned on Captain Sloan, day was passing. Miss Wortham's father, who, before the Federal Government had interfered with his dominion as a parent, had been anxious that his very youthful daughter and her betrothed should defer their union, was now quite determined that the rights of the lovers should not be abrogated by Uncle Sam. As member of the Confederate Ambulance Committee, he had been in close touch with Colonel Mulford, Federal Commissioner of Exchange; Judge Ould, Confederate Commissioner, was his personal friend; in combination with these gentlemen, he arranged a meeting twixt lover and war lord. General Halleck received Hymen's ambassador with courtesy. The story of the namesake won his sympathetic ear. When told what consternation his order was causing--Captain Sloan plead other cases besides his own--the war lord laughed, scribbled something on a slip of official paper and handed it to Captain Sloan, saying: "Let this be known and I suppose there will be a good many weddings before Monday." The slip read like this: "Order No. 4 will not go into effect until Monday morning. H. W. Halleck, General Commanding." Alas! there were no Sunday papers. The news was disseminated as widely as possible; and three weddings, at least, in high society, happened Sunday in consequence. Mrs. Sloan, a prominent member of Baltimore society, gave her own account of the whole matter in Mrs. Daniel's "Confederate Scrap-Book," which any one may see at the Confederate Museum. "The gown I wore the day after my marriage," she relates, "was a buff calico with tiny dots in it, and as it was prettily and becomingly made, I looked as well, and I know I was as happy, as if it had been one of Worth's or Redfern's most bewildering conceits--and I am sure it was as expensive, as it cost $30 a yard." General Halleck's order was not unique. Restrictions on marriage had been incorporated in the State Constitution of Missouri, 1864, a section prescribing that "No person shall practice law, be competent as bishop, priest, deacon, minister, elder, or other clergyman of any religious persuasion, sect, or denomination, teach, preach, or solemnise marriage until such person shall have first taken the oath required as to voters." "Under these provisions," commented Senator Vest, from whom I borrow, "the parent who had given a piece of bread or a cup of water to a son in the Confederate service, or who had in any way expressed sympathy for such son, was prohibited from registering as voter, serving as juror, or holding any office or acting as trustee, or practicing law, or teaching in any school, or preaching the Gospel, or solemnising the marriage rite."[8]