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... Rawlins, too, looks very well, but I notice that his cough still seems very ugly.
During this trip he was asked in the interest of
General Grant to write a criticism of
William Swinton's
Decisive Battles, but on account of the pressure of his engagements he was forced to shift the burden to me, at the same time offering to revise my manuscript and to visit me for that purpose should it become necessary.
About this time he notified me that a successor to
Professor Bache as
Superintendent of the Coast Survey was soon to be appointed, and that I could get the place if it suited me, but he added, the best thing for me was
... to get into the great battle of the world in some active position. ...
The next day he wrote to me from New York:
I don't believe Rawlins has made any alliance with . . . the Copperheads.
The President is an obstinate, stupid man, governed by preconceived ideas, by whiskey, and by women.
He means one thing to-day and another to-morrow, but the glorification of Andrew Johnson all the time.
He is capable of almost any enormity, but he will be foiled and covered with even greater infamy than John Tyler.
Send along Swinton as soon as possible.
I shall be here certainly till the end of next week, and possibly somewhat longer.
Then I shall go to Chicago for a short time. ...
On July 27, 1866, he stopped with me in
Delaware on his way to
Chicago.
While there he sold his house at a profit, and thus made it possible to re-establish his family in New York, although he had not yet secured all of the capital needed for his new venture, and seemed to be quite uncertain as to his ultimate success.
Indeed, that project
