RICHMOND SCENES IN ’62.

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executive office in the morning, not to return until late in the afternoon, orriding just before nightfall to visit one or another of the encampments nearthe city. He was tall, erect, slender, and of a dignified and soldierly bearing,with clear-cut and high-bred features, and of a demeanor of stately courtesyto all. He was clad always in Confederate gray cloth, and wore a softfelt hat with wide brim. Afoot, his step was brisk and firm; in the saddlehe rode admirably and with a martial aspect. His early life had been spentin the Military Academy at West Point and upon the then north-westernfrontier in the Black Hawk War , and he afterward greatly distinguishedhimself at Monterey and Buena Vista in Mexico ; at the time when we knewhim, everything in his appearance and manner was suggestive of such atraining. He was reported to feel quite out of place in the office of President,with executive and administrative duties, in the midst of such a war; Gen-eral Lee always spoke of him as the best of military advisers; his own incli-nation was to be with the army, and at the first tidings of sound of a gun,anywhere within reach of Richmond, he was in the saddle and off for thespot — to the dismay of his staff-officers, who were expected to act as anescort on such occasions, and who never knew at what hour of the night or ofthe next day they should get back to bed or to a meal. The stories we weretold of his adventures on such excursions were many, and sometimes amus-ing. For instance, when General Lee had crossed the Chickahominy, Presi-dent Davis, with several staff-officers, overtook the column, and, with theSecretary of War and a few other non-combatants, forded the river just asthe battle at Mechanicsville began. General Lee , surrounded by members ofhis own staff and other officers, was found a few hundred yards north of thebridge, in the middle of the broad road, mounted and busily engaged indirecting the attack then about to be made by a brigade sweeping in lineover the fields to the east of the road and toward Ellerson’s Mill, where in afew minutes a hot engagement commenced. Shot, from the enemy’s gunsout of sight, went whizzing overhead in quick succession, striking everymoment nearer the group of horsemen in the road as the gunners improvedtheir range. General Lee observed the President’s approach, and wasevidently annoyed at what he considered a foolhardy expedition of needlessexposure of the head of the Government, whose duties were elsewhere. Heturned his back for a moment, until Colonel Chilton had been dispatched ata gallop with the last direction to the commander of the attacking brigade;then, facing the cavalcade and looking like the god of war indignant, heexchanged with the President a salute, with the most frigid reserve ofanything like welcome or cordiality. In an instant, and without allowanceof opportunity for a word from the President, the general, looking not athim but at the assemblage at large, asked in a tone of irritation:

“ Who are all this army of people, and what are they doing here ? ”

No one moved or spoke, but all eyes were upon the President; everybodyperfectly understood that this was only an order for him to retire to a placeof safety, and the roar of the guns, the rattling fire of musketry, and thebustle of a battle in progress, with troops continually arriving across the