Allan Pinkerton, The spy in the rebellion; being a true history of the spy system of the United States Army during the late rebellion, revealing many secrets of the war hitherto not made public, compiled from official reports prepared for President Lincoln , General McClellan and the Provost-Marshal-General .

[397] quite free in expressing her desire for a speedy Union triumph. The Captain was firm in his belief that the South was wrong, and that the masses had been led into the war by designing and ambitious politicians, and that she must eventually fail. Moreover, he said, that, while born in a slaveholding State, he believed the institution to be wicked and cruel, and that the South should have given up her slaves rather than have gone out of the Union.

Loyal as he was, the Captain understood the Southern people thoroughly, and he felt sure that they would fight long and stubbornly, rather than yield to the blacks the boon of freedom. Many days thus passed in quiet enjoyment and in these stolen discussions upon the important topics of the day. Mrs. Baker found herself very comfortably situated beneath the Captain's hospitable roof, and nearly a week was passed in viewing Richmond and the strange sights it then afforded.

On every hand she saw preparations for war, and at every street she turned, she was confronted with armed soldiers, whose measured tread kept time to the music of fife and drum. In company with the Captain, she also visited the earthworks and fortifications around Richmond, and gained many valuable points of information in regard to their number and extent.

As yet, however, she had been unable to discover anything concerning the special object of her mission, and feeling the necessity of accomplishing something