Yours truly,
Samuel B. Lawrence,
Assistant Adjutant General.
To
Capt. Wiegel.
Pending the issuance of a commission which was to give me an independent command, to operate in the Shenandoah Valley, and also south of the lower Potomac, I had been striving to get authority to extend our operations to the Rappahannock, to avail ourselves of the valuable data we had accumulated.
Captain Wiegel and I went to Washington, as suggested by Colonel Lawrence, to see Secretary Stanton. When we arrived at Mr. Stanton's door I discovered the mental makeup and character of Wiegel. Mr. Stanton, in manner, was not pleasant to interview. He was brusque, rough, and appeared to think the world was made for him. Wiegel had much avoirdupois, but not deep brain convolutions. He had been on General Butler's staff in New Orleans. He was full of egotism, but when he approached Mr. Stanton's door he wilted, and asked me to do the talking, while he listened.
Mr. Stanton did not eat me, and on March 20th our request was granted. I have always found it pleasanter to do business with the proprietor than with the man that sweeps out.
There is no doubt but that Secretary Stanton made many critics by his brusque manner. One did not need to waste words with him, but if a communication was couched in terse language it pleased him. He disliked a cringing interviewer. I did not dislike to have business with him, nor have I ever with men similarly constituted.
Wiegel was a domineering blusterer to his subordinates, but a cringing sycophant to those over him. Stanton's office was not a congenial climate for him.
Secretary Dana was a most agreeable gentleman and no less an executive than Stanton.
FILE XXXVI.
Paine, who was afterwards one of the conspirators in the assassinators' plot, in my custody—Miss Branson appeared to plead for him—Paine released on parole, lacking evidence to prove him a spy.