He soon became disgusted at the wire-pulling in Washington, and wrote contemptuously of the “American astronomy” then cultivated at the Naval Observatory. But he decided to make the best of a bad bargain; and his own work at Washington has shed a lustre on American astronomy.
When he left Cambridge, thanks to his frugal wife, he had three hundred dollars in the bank, although his salary at the Harvard Observatory was only six hundred a year. The Bonds hated to lose him, and offered him eight hundred in gold if he would stay. This was as good as the Washington salary of one thousand a year in paper money which he accepted, to say nothing of the bad climate and high prices of that city, or of the uncertainties of the war.
The next three years were teeming with great events. In less than a month after his arrival in Washington, the second battle of Bull Run was fought. At the observatory he heard the roar of cannon and the rattle of musketry; and it was his heart-rending task to hunt for wounded friends. His wife, still at the North, wrote under date of September 4, 1862:
Dearest Asaph: ... I wish I could go right on to you, I feel so troubled about you. You will write to me, won’t you, as soon as you get this, and tell me whether to come on now or not. If there is danger I had rather share it with you.
What are you doing now? Does the excitement stop your business?
Little A says he does not want papa to get shot. Cried about it last night, and put his arms round my neck. He says he is going to take care of mamma. There is a terrible excitement in Boston.
To this her husband replied, September 6:
Dearest Angie: I have just got your letter.... You must not give yourself any uneasiness about me. I shall keep along about my business. We are now observing the planet Mars in the morning, and I work every other night.
Don’t tell little A that I am going to be shot. Don’t expect anything of that kind. You had better take your time and visit at your leisure now. Things will be more settled in a couple of weeks.
Capt. Fox [his room-mate at McGrawville] seems to be doing well. The ball is in his chest and probably lodged near his lungs. It may kill him, but I think not....