Early in May the President determined on a personal visit to Fortress Monroe, in order to learn what he could from his own observation of affairs in that region.  The trip was a welcome respite from the cares and burdens of official life, and he gave himself up, as far as he could, to its enjoyment.  The Secretary of War (Stanton) and the Secretary of the Treasury (Chase) accompanied the President.  A most interesting account of the expedition is given by General Viele, who was a member of the party and thus had an opportunity to observe Lincoln closely.  “When on the afternoon of May 4,” says General Viele, “I was requested by the Secretary of War to meet him within an hour at the navy-yard, with the somewhat mysterious caution to speak to no one of my movements, I had no conception whatever of the purpose or intention of the meeting.  It was quite dark when I arrived there simultaneously with the Secretary, who led the way to the wharf on the Potomac, to which a steamer was moored that proved to be a revenue cutter, the ‘Miami.’  We went on board and proceeded at once to the cabin, where to my surprise I found the President and Mr. Chase, who had preceded us.  The vessel immediately got under way and steamed down the Potomac....  After supper the table was cleared, and the remainder of the evening was spent in a general review of the situation, which lasted long into the night.  The positions of the different armies in the field, the last reports from their several commanders, the probabilities and possibilities as they appeared to each member of the group, together with many other topics, relevant and irrelevant, were discussed, interspersed with the usual number of anecdotes from the never-failing supply with which the President’s mind was stored.  It was a most interesting study to see these men relieved for the moment from the surroundings of their onerous official duties.  The President, of course, was the centre of the group—­kind, genial, thoughtful, tender-hearted, magnanimous Abraham Lincoln!  It was difficult to know him without knowing him intimately, for he was as guileless and single-hearted as a child; and no man ever knew him intimately who did not recognize and admire his great abilities, both natural and acquired, his large-heartedness and sincerity of purpose....  He would sit for hours during the trip, repeating passages of Shakespeare’s plays, page after page of Browning, and whole cantos of Byron.  His inexhaustible stock of anecdotes gave to superficial minds the impression that he was not a thoughtful and reflecting man; whereas the fact was directly the reverse.  These anecdotes formed no more a part of Mr. Lincoln’s mind than a smile forms a part of the face.  They came unbidden, and, like a forced smile, were often employed to conceal a depth of anxiety in his own heart, and to dissipate the care that weighed upon the minds of his associates.  Both Mr. Chase and Mr. Stanton were under great depression of spirits when we started, and Mr. Chase remarked