“‘Tell Shields,’ was the chivalric rejoinder, ‘that I hold myself responsible for the verses.’ The next day Mr. Lincoln left for a distant section to attend court. Shields, boiling over with wrath, followed and ‘challenged’ him. Scarcely knowing what he did, Mr. Lincoln accepted the challenge, seeing no alternative. The choice of weapons being left to him, he named ‘broadswords,’ intending to act only on the defensive, and thinking his long arms would enable him to keep clear of his antagonist. “I was then a young surgeon,” continued Dr. Henry, “and Mr. Lincoln desired me accompany him to the point chosen for the contest,--‘Bloody Island,’ in the Mississippi, near St. Louis,--as his ‘second.’ To this I at length consented, hoping to prevent bloodshed. On our way to the ground we met Colonel Hardin, a friend of both parties, and a cousin of the lady who was the real offender. Suspecting something wrong, Hardin subsequently followed us, coming in upon the party just as Lincoln was clearing up the underbrush which covered the ground. Entering heartily upon an attempt at pacification, he at length succeeded in mollifying Shields, and the whole party returned harmoniously to Springfield, and thus the matter ended.” This version of the affair coming from an eye-witness is undoubtedly in all respects correct. It subsequently came in my way to know that Mr. Lincoln himself regarded the circumstance with much regret and mortification, and hoped it might be forgotten. In February preceding his death a distinguished officer of the army called at the White House, and was entertained by the President and Mrs. Lincoln for an hour in the parlor. During the conversation the gentleman said, turning to Mrs. Lincoln, “Is it true, Mr. President, as I have heard, that you once went out to fight a ‘duel’ for the sake of the lady by your side?” “I do not deny it,” replied Mr. Lincoln, with a flushed face; “but if you desire my friendship you will never mention the circumstance again!” LXXVI. In August following the rebel raid, Judge J. T. Mills, of Wisconsin, in company with ex-Governor Randall, of that State, called upon the President at the “Soldiers’ Home.” Judge Mills subsequently published the following account of the interview, in the “Grant County (Wisconsin) Herald”:-- * * * * * “The Governor addressed him: ‘Mr. President, this is my friend and your friend Mills, from Wisconsin.’ “‘I am glad to see my friends from Wisconsin; they are the hearty friends of the Union.’ “‘I could not leave the city, Mr. President, without hearing words of cheer from your own lips. Upon you, as the representative of the loyal people, depend, as we believe, the existence of our government and the future of America.’ “‘Mr. President,’ said Governor Randall, ‘why can’t you seek seclusion, and play hermit for a fort-night? it would reinvigorate you.’