"* * * * Mr. Bachelder has accumulated a vast amount of official and reliable testimony on our side, and I am of the opinion his work will be as truthful as the data in his possession will admit; I am greatly interested in his application being granted, and would most earnestly recommend permission being given him to examine the Confederate Reports, in case you do not see any strong reasons preventing it. "Very truly yours, "GEO. G. MEADE, "_Major-General, U. S. A._ "GENERAL U. S. GRANT. "_Sec. War, ad interim._" PERMISSION GRANTED. * * * * * [Extract of a letter from Major-General Humphreys, Chief of the Corps of Engineers.] "WASHINGTON, D. C., _Nov. 14, 1867_. "GENERAL:-- "* * * The information which Mr. Bachelder has collected concerning the Battle of Gettysburg, is extraordinary in amount and correctness. So far as I am able to judge, there is no battle of any war respecting which so many truthful accounts, so many exact details, have been collected and compiled. From every source, from the private to the general commanding the army, facts have been collected, and where discrepancies were found, evidence was multiplied, and in this way errors have been dissipated. Mr. Bachelder has peculiar qualifications for the task he has undertaken, and has devoted four years to it. * * * "A. A. HUMPHREYS, "_Major-General_. "GENERAL U. S. GRANT. "_Sec. of War, ad interim._" [Illustration: DEATH OF PRIVATE RIGGIN, GUIDON BEARER, RICKETTS' (PA) BATTERY] NOTE.--The wood-cuts interspersed through this circular have been engraved to illustrate scenes in the Battle of Gettysburg, and with many others will appear in the History of that Battle. "THE LAST HOURS OF LINCOLN." ORIGIN OF THIS HISTORICAL PAINTING. ABRAHAM LINCOLN, President of the United States, was assassinated by JOHN WILKES BOOTH on the night of April 14, 1865, at Ford's Theater, Washington, D. C. This night, fraught with woe to the peoples of two continents, sombered by its halo of diabolism, must forever remain the Golgotha of American history. At the threshold of the temple of peace--the High Priest was stricken down--and the great heart whose every throb was a pulsation of love for his country's enemies, was robed in silence. In company with Mrs. LINCOLN, Miss HARRIS, and Major RATHBONE, Mr. LINCOLN had sought a brief respite from the iron wheel of State toil, and in the search, through the medium of the assassin's bullet, found a respite for all time.