APPENDIX See page 18. From the issue of The Christian Advocate (New York), for February 27, 1896: "In the year 1885 General James F. Rusling publicly related an account of an interview with President Lincoln at the sick bed of General Sickles. He had narrated this event to us at his table a number of years before, and we urged him to publish it; which, though he related it publicly in 1885, did not appear in print until October, 1891. It elicited some controversy, but the general informed us that General Sickles would undoubtedly remember it. We expressed the hope to him that in the series of war articles which he had contracted to furnish to The Christian Advocate he would give it in full. This promise he fulfilled; for the first of that admirable series appeared in The Christian Advocate of August 25, 1892, and the subject was "Abraham Lincoln." This is the account as given by General Rusling:" [Here follows the substance of pages 9 to 18, as given in said Advocate article.] "Some time afterward, supposing that as soon as General Rusling died, unbelievers, after their manner, would deny the whole story, we wrote to General Sickles and received from him a response under date of March 2, 1894, inclosing a copy of a note he had written to D. A. Long, D.D., of Yellow Springs, Ohio: "J. M. Buckley, D.D. "HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, U. S. "DEAR SIR: Replying to your letter of the 24th ultimo, I have the pleasure to inclose a copy of a note sent to the Rev. D. A. Long today, replying to an inquiry identical with your own. I have been addressed so often on this subject that I am thinking seriously of having a reply stereotyped. "The Rev. Mr. Long asked permission to print my reply to his inquiry, to which I made no objection. "March 2, 1894. "The Rev. D. A. Long, D.D., LL.D., Yellow Springs, Ohio. "DEAR SIR: Replying to your letter of the twenty-second ultimo, inclosing a newspaper cutting containing General Rusling's narrative of a conversation between President Lincoln and myself, when he visited me in Washington, soon after the battle of Gettysburg, early in July, 1863, I can only say, after the lapse of so many years, that I recall the general purport of what was said without undertaking to verify expressions or words used. "General Rusling is a truthful, intelligent, and trustworthy gentleman; and I have no doubt that he has conscientiously given a faithful report of what took place according to his recollection. If I was sure that General Rusling made a memorandum of the conversation at the time it took place, I would indorse his statement unhesitatingly; but if written recently, and from recollection only, the narrative must be taken with some reservation as to phraseology at least. "My own impression is that President Lincoln expressed a devout confidence and trust in the success of the Union arms at Gettysburg, prayerfully inspired; and that he described his convictions in earnest and touching language, characteristic of him in grave Sincerely yours, D. E. SICKLES.' moments. "This we sent immediately to General Rusling. "J. M. Buckley, D.D. ""TRENTON, N. J., March 10, 1894. "DEAR SIR: In reply to yours of the eighth, I would say the conversation with President Lincoln and General Sickles took place July 5, 1863, precisely as narrated by me, but of course I do not pretend to give the exact phraseology. Doubtless it did not impress General Sickles as much as me, because he was an intimate of President Lincoln's, and often saw and talked with him, and also because he was then greatly suffering from his amputation; whereas it was my first full interview with President Lincoln, and naturally I studied him closely and all he said. Of course, I took no notes in his presence; but I wrote a letter to my father the same day. He preserved the letter, and it is now in my possession. I repeated the conversation to others immediately afterwards; and have since told it hundreds of times in private conversation, but never publicly until 1885. I think you urged me to write it out and give it to the public; but I am not positive. If you did not, many others did. "In the fall of 1885, after the death of General Grant, there were memorial services held at Ocean Grove, at which Dr. Stokes, Gen eral Fisk, and myself made addresses; and in my address I gave the facts. The address was printed and I have a copy of it. In the summer of 1891, while at Ocean Grove, I had a conversation relative to it with Willis Fletcher Johnson, associate editor of the New York Tribune, and he urged me to send it to the Tribune. Accordingly I wrote it out roughly at Ocean Grove, one leisure day there; and after coming home in September or October, 1891, I rewrote it carefully and sent a copy to General Sickles for his consideration, requesting him to alter or amend as he thought best from his own best recollection of the facts. He returned it to me without altering a word, and said that while he could not recall the specific words, he still remembered the interview and some general idea of the conversation, and had no doubt my report was entirely correct. “In October, 1891, I had occasion to make an address before the Young Men's Christian Association here, and as a part of my remarks read the whole paper, and submitted Mr. Lincoln to the young men as an example of a great Christian statesman. That same evening I happened to meet the editor of the State Gazette here, and he asked me about my address, and I told him the substance of it; including the Lincoln conversation, and the next morning he had a half column report in the Gazette concerning it, which presently went the rounds of the newspapers; and it now appears in Coffin's Life of Abraham Lincoln. In November, 1891, I sent it to Mr. Johnson, aforesaid, of the New York Tribune, and it appeared in full in the Tribune for November 29, 1891. I gave all the facts and circumstances and language there ipsissima verba, as nearly as I could possibly recollect; and that is as reliable as it is possible for the human mind to make anything. I gave his exact words to the best of my recollection; and I firmly believe they were his exact words in the main, and wholly his in substance. I had not any cause to do otherwise. I was moved only by a desire to fix what seemed to be an historic conversation that might be deemed of value in the future, and first and last I wrote the article three times before finally dispatching it to the Tribune, testing my recollection in every possible way. Afterward I condensed the statement and embodied it in my article on "Abraham Lincoln," which you printed in your Christian Advocate August 25, 1892. "I have omitted to state that in April, 1892, I had a personal conversation with General Sickles about the matter at Jersey City during a reunion of the Second New Jersey Brigade there, and went over the conversation item by item; and while he could not, of course, remember the exact phraseology, yet he again said he well remembered the interview and conversation generally, and had no doubt of the correctness of my report. "Very truly your friend, JAMES F. RUSLING.' "To our knowledge General Sickles, having refreshed his memory, recently on several occasions told the story himself in public, in particular at the annual dinner of the Loyal Legion of Washington, on February 12, 1895. It was reported in The Press of Philadelphia for February 23 by the regular correspondent. At the request of some of the general's comrades the story was given to The Press correspondent for publication, as follows: “‘I am getting to be a pretty old man, but before I die I want to tell of a meeting I had with President Lincoln shortly after the battle of Gettysburg. I desire to add it as a contribution to the memory of that grand man and as a refutation of the attempts to prove that Mr. Lincoln was not a firm believer in the Deity. I was brought to Washington badly wounded after the fight at Gettysburg. I was taken to rooms on F street, where Mr. Lincoln called on me very shortly after he learned of my arrival. I appreciated his visit very much, and it was one of the many evidences of his kind heart and sympathetic nature. After he had talked to me a few minutes in his kind, gentle way, I said to him: ""Mr. President, what of the future? Will we eventually put down the rebellion and restore the Union?" " "Well, general," he said, "until recently I sometimes had serious doubts, but I have them no longer. A few days ago I felt as if I could not do more than I had done, and that the brave men in the army had struggled long and patriotically; but success seemed as far away as in the beginning of the war. We had had our defeats as well as our victories, and the future looked gloomy. With this feeling weighing me down, I went to my closet, and on my knees I prayed to God for the success of our arms. I told Him from the depths of my soul how I had done all I could and all that human agency seemed capable of. I asked him if it was his will to grant a speedy and successful termination of the war. I prayed thus for hours; and, general, the answer came. "*" When I arose from my knees all doubt had fled. I have from that hour had no fear of the result. We have won at Gettysburg. We have not yet had a word from Vicksburg; but, general, be prepared for great good news when it comes. All is right at Vicksburg." "When Mr. Lincoln was about to leave he took my hand and said very tenderly: "General, you will get well." I replied: "I don't know about that; the doctors give me but little hope." In strong. earnest tones he replied: “I am a prophet to-day general, and I say that you will get well, and that we will have glorious news from Vicksburg." 66 'Several of my staff officers were present at this interview, but |