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394 which fact and fiction were mingled with some degree of skill, and expressed myself with considerable bitterness concerning the rebels, wishing that I could do something to aid in securing a speedy termination of the war by their defeat. After a very pleasant intercourse with the general, I parted from him, with a request that he would do me the honor to call on me at the hotel, which he promised to do.

The next day I met Captain B. in the street, and we exchanged greetings. He, too, promised to call upon me. This promise he kept, and I had quite a long talk with him on general topics, preferring to see more of him before attempting to make him useful.

I saw both the general and the captain several times after that, and in the course of conversation with one of them, I forget which, he happened to say something about Colonel Baker which excited my interest, and induced me to make particular inquiry concerning him. I had never heard of this individual before, but I now speedily learned that he was the chief government detective officer, and that he was uncommonly expert in hunting down rebel spies, and in putting a stop to their performances. I immediately concluded that Colonel Baker was a personage whom it was eminently desirable that I should become acquainted with at the earliest possible moment, and that it would be much more advantageous for me to make his acquaintance through the introduction of one of my military friends, than through finding him on my track just when I had some enterprise for the benefit of the Confederacy in process of consummation.

Whichever of the two it was that I had my original conversation with about Baker, it was the general who made me acquainted with him, and who spoke of me in such a manner as to put me in the good graces of this terrible man at the start. Colonel Lafayette C. Baker occupied at Washington a some what similar position to that held by General Winder at Richmond, although he scarcely had the large powers and extensive authority of the chief of the Confederate secret service department. In fact, Colonel Baker was a detective officer more than anything else, and he had comparatively little to do with military matters. The chief employment of himself and his assistants was to hunt down offenders of all kinds; and he