This He Assured Us He Was
Forbidden To Do, At The Same Time Offering Us Every Facility In His
Power
For such an expedition if we could obtain the consent of Mr.
Seward, who at that time had apparently succeeded
In engrossing into
his own hands, for the moment, supreme authority in all matters of
government. Before leaving Washington we had determined not to ask
Mr. Seward, having but little hope of obtaining his permission, and
being unwilling to encounter his refusal. Before going to General
Halleck, we had considered the question of visiting the land of
"Dixie" without permission from any of the men in authority. I
ascertained that this might easily have been done from Kentucky to
Tennessee, but that it could only be done on foot. There are very
few available roads running North and South through these States.
The railways came before roads; and even where the railways are far
asunder, almost all the traffic of the country takes itself to them,
preferring a long circuitous conveyance with steam, to short
distances without. Consequently such roads as there are run
laterally to the railways, meeting them at this point or that, and
thus maintaining the communication of the country. Now the railways
were of course in the hands of the armies. The few direct roads
leading from North to South were in the same condition, and the by-
roads were impassable from mud. The frontier of the North,
therefore, though very extended, was not very easily to be passed,
unless, as I have said before, by men on foot.
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