by Adjutant-General Lorenzo Thomas, and six or seven gentlemen who turned out to be newspaper reporters.  Mr. Cameron’s first inquiry was, when he could start for Cincinnati, saying that, as he had been detained at St. Louis so long, it was important he should hurry on to Washington.  I explained that the regular mail-boat would leave very soon—­viz., at 12 M.—­but I begged him to come over to Louisville; that I wanted to see him on business as important as any in Washington, and hoped he would come and spend at least a day with us.  He asked if every thing was not well with us, and I told him far from it; that things were actually bad, as bad as bad could be.  This seemed to surprise him, and Mr. Guthrie added his persuasion to mine; when Mr. Cameron, learning that he could leave Louisville by rail via Frankfort next morning early, and make the same connections at Cincinnati, consented to go with us to Louisville, with the distinct understanding that he must leave early the next morning for Washington.

We accordingly all took hacks, crossed the river by the ferry, and drove to the Galt House, where I was then staying.  Brigadier-General T. J. Wood had come down from Indianapolis by the same train, and was one of the party.  We all proceeded to my room on the first floor of the Galt House, where our excellent landlord, Silas Miller, Esq., sent us a good lunch and something to drink.  Mr. Cameron was not well, and lay on my bed, but joined in the general conversation.  He and his party seemed to be full of the particulars of the developments in St. Louis of some of Fremont’s extravagant contracts and expenses, which were the occasion of Cameron’s trip to St. Louis, and which finally resulted in Fremont’s being relieved, first by General Hunter, and after by General H. W. Halleck.

After some general conversation, Mr. Cameron called to me, “Now, General Sherman, tell us of your troubles.”  I said I preferred not to discuss business with so many strangers present.  He said, “They are all friends, all members of my family, and you may speak your mind freely and without restraint.”  I am sure I stepped to the door, locked it to prevent intrusion, and then fully and fairly represented the state of affairs in Kentucky, especially the situation and numbers of my troops.  I complained that the new levies of Ohio and Indiana were diverted East and West, and we got scarcely any thing; that our forces at Nolin and Dick Robinson were powerless for invasion, and only tempting to a general such as we believed Sidney Johnston to be; that, if Johnston chose, he could march to Louisville any day.  Cameron exclaimed:  “You astonish me!  Our informants, the Kentucky Senators and members of Congress, claim that they have in Kentucky plenty of men, and all they want are arms and money.”  I then said it was not true; for the young men were arming and going out openly in broad daylight to the rebel camps, provided with good horses and guns by their fathers,