"General U. S. Grant.
"Sec. War, ad interim."
Permission Granted.
[Extract of a letter from Major-General Humphreys, Chief of the Corps of Engineers.]
"Washington, D. C., Nov. 14, 1867.
"General:—
"* * * The information which Mr. Bachelder has collected concerning the Battle of Gettysburg, is extraordinary in amount and correctness. So far as I am able to judge, there is no battle of any war respecting which so many truthful accounts, so many exact details, have been collected and compiled. From every source, from the private to the general commanding the army, facts have been collected, and where discrepancies were found, evidence was multiplied, and in this way errors have been dissipated.
Mr. Bachelder has peculiar qualifications for the task he has undertaken, and has devoted four years to it. * * *
"A. A. HUMPHREYS,
Major-General.
"General U. S. Grant.
"Sec. of War, ad interim."