I have already been spoken to on this subject by one high in authority.
Bucksport, Maine, June 24, 1845.
Colonel Joseph G. Totten,
Chief Engineer, Washington:
Sir,—In answer to the confidential circular of the Department of the 28th ultimo, asking if I should desire a transfer with promotion to the new forces, in case of an increase of the military establishment at the next session of Congress, I beg to say generally and comprehensively that I hold myself in readiness to discharge to the best of my ability the duties of any position which shall enlarge my sphere of action and of usefulness, and with which, in the judgment of those intrusted with the administration of public affairs, I may be deemed worthy to be invested; promotion or no promotion, in my own corps or in any other corps or department of the public service, and whether the field of duty be in Oregon, California, or at the North Pole.
I am, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
Isaac I. Stevens, Lieut. of Eng’rs.
This reply evinces a certain impatience, or disapproval, at the idea of consulting the personal wishes and preferences of an officer as to his assignment to duty. Mr. Stevens always held high ideals of public duty,—many would deem them quixotic and overstrained. He ever deemed it the duty of appointing officers to select the ablest and best-fitted man for any post or service that could be found, and that it was the duty of every public officer to serve with complete self-abnegation and patriotic zeal. His whole career proved the sincerity of his convictions on this point.
In consequence of the hostile attitude assumed by Mexico upon the admission of Texas into the Union against her protests, Colonel Totten, on June 8, writes the following confidential order:—
“In all the forts under your charge (including the narrows of the Penobscot) you should, as soon as it can be done advantageously, place all your batteries in a state of perfect readiness for guns, leaving nothing to be done but the mounting of the guns when they shall arrive. It is of infinite importance, should any exigency arise, that the preparation of the country shall not be found deficient in any manner depending on the Engineer Department.”
General Taylor with a small force was thrown into Texas to protect the newly acquired State, and the increasing probabilities of war with Mexico were eagerly discussed by the ambitious young army officers. In September Mr. Stevens accompanied Colonel Totten on a tour of inspection of all the works under his charge, and entertained him and Mrs. Totten for several days at his house in Bucksport.
Mr. Stevens was never so well pleased as when dispensing hospitality in his own house. He was continually bringing friends home to dinner, often on short notice, and always liked to have some of his relatives visiting him. His wife’s sister Nancy spent the summer with them. Brother Oliver, uncle William’s daughter Eliza and son William, Mrs. Hazard and her son Thomas, and sister, Miss Eliza B. Lyman, and uncle Nathaniel, also visited them, and, after much urging, his father, from Andover, was induced to make a brief visit. He employed Oliver again this summer on Fort Preble. Always ready and glad to serve any relative or friend, he saw to the purchasing and shipping of several cargoes of hay for uncle Nathaniel, declining to accept any recompense for his services.
On December 7 the little girl, Julia Virginia, died of water on the brain, after a brief illness. She was a beautiful, gentle child, and a great pet of her father, who delighted to place her on his office table when he was at work, oftentimes to the sad disarrangement of his plans and drawings, and her death was a severe affliction. The following beautiful lines were written by Mr. Brooks, in condolence upon the sad loss:—