The almost defenceless condition of the city was the occasion of much censure. Some blamed General Halleck; others General Augur, the commander of the Department; others the Secretary of War; and still others the President. Subsequently the rebel force returned to Richmond almost unharmed. I saw no one who appeared to take this more to heart than Mrs. Lincoln, who was inclined to lay the responsibility at the door of the Secretary of War. Two or three weeks later, when tranquillity was perfectly restored, it was said that Stanton called upon the President and Mrs. Lincoln one evening at the “Soldiers’ Home.” In the course of conversation the Secretary said, playfully, “Mrs. Lincoln, I intend to have a full-length portrait of you painted, standing on the ramparts at Fort Stevens overlooking the fight!” “That is very well,” returned Mrs. Lincoln, very promptly; “and I can assure you of one thing, Mr. Secretary, if I had had a few _ladies_ with me the Rebels would not have been permitted to get away as they did!” LXXV. It was not generally known before the publication of Dr. Holland’s biography of Mr. Lincoln, that he was once engaged in a “duel,” although a version of the affair had been published previous to his biographer’s account of it, which, however, the few who saw it were disposed to regard as a fabrication. One evening, at the rooms of the Hon. I. N. Arnold, of Illinois, I met Dr. Henry, of Oregon, an early and intimate friend of Mr. Lincoln’s. Mr. Arnold asked me in the course of conversation if I had ever heard of the President’s “duel” with General Shields? I replied that I might have seen a statement of the kind, but did not suppose it to be true. “Well,” said Mr. Arnold, “we were all young folks together at the time in Springfield. In some way a difficulty occurred between Shields and Lincoln, resulting in a challenge from Shields, which was at length accepted, Mr. Lincoln naming ‘_broadswords_’ for weapons, and the two opposite banks of the Mississippi, where the river was about a _mile_ wide, for the ‘_ground_.’” Dr. Henry, who had listened quietly to this, here broke in, “That will do for a ‘story,’ Arnold,” said he, “but it will hardly pass with me, for I happened to be Lincoln’s ‘_second_’ on the occasion. The facts are these. You will bear me witness that there was never a more spirited circle of young folks in one town than lived in Springfield at that period. Shields, you remember, was a great ‘beau.’ For a bit of amusement one of the young ladies wrote some verses, taking him off sarcastically, which were abstracted from her writing-desk by a mischievous friend, and published in the local newspaper. Shields, greatly irritated, posted at once to the printing-office and demanded the name of the author. Much frightened, the editor requested a day or two to consider the matter, and upon getting rid of Shields went directly to Mr. Lincoln with his trouble.