General Halleck

AUGUST 9, 1862.]

HARPER'S WEEKLY.

509

MAJOR-GENERAL HALLECK, COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF.

(Previous Page) with a single check since he commenced his operations. So thorough has his work been, that even if the Union armies were to stay where they are and advance no further the rebellion could not survive.

In illustration of General Halleck's character, the Herald tells the following story of his boyhood:

When about sixteen years of age he formed the determination to leave his home unknown to his parents, and seek his fortune in the world. After consulting an uncle, who resided in Syracuse, he removed to Hudson, New York, and took board in the family of I. V. Bassett, and, under the patronage of the aforesaid uncle, commenced his studies at the Hudson Academy, which was at that time conducted by J. W. Fairfield. To conceal his residence from his father, he entered the academy under the name of Henry Wager, and was thus known during his three year's residence in Hudson. He was known as a young man of quick perception and studious habits, acquitting himself with honor in his studies. After finishing his course at this academy, through the influence of the uncle before mentioned he was appointed a cadet at West Point.

His personal appearance is thus graphically sketched:

Major-General Halleck, in personal appearance, is below the medium height, straight, active, and well-formed, and has a brisk, energetic gait, significant of his firm and decisive character. His nose is delicate and well formed, his forehead ample, and his mouth by no means devoid of

humor. His eye is of a hazel color, clear as a morning star, and of intense brilliancy. When he looks at a man it seems as though he were going literally to read him through and through. No amount of oily duplicity, no brazen effrontery, no studied concealment could avail any thing before that keen, penetrating glance. It is an eye to make all rogues tremble, and even honest men look about them to be sure they have not been up to some mischief. The profound and implicit confidence in him of all who have had dealings with him is no mystery after seeing what manner of man he is.

Such is his personal appearance, and he does business off hand, is impatient of long stories, and cuts many an officer short in his verbal communication. He evidently has his odd ways: he puts on a citizen's dress and walks through the camp. Lately he helped a teamster out of the mud, then gave him a severe lecture for not driving carefully. He laughed heartily to hear the witticisms of a teamster upon himself. The high water in the river made a slough all but impassable. The teamster had floundered through it, and, having reached the top of the bluff, and being in sight of head-quarters, relieved himself of volley after volley of oaths upon the creek, his horses, the roads, and lastly upon General Halleck for not having the creek bridged. The criticism was just; but the General had already ordered the construction of a bridge, and, being incog., could enjoy the verbal castigation.

General Halleck in the camp and in the field is hardly the same person who might have been seen quietly gliding from the Planters' House to head-quarters in St. Louis. He does not look a whit more military in appearance, but looks, in his new and rich though plain uniform, as if he were in borrowed clothes. In truth, he bears a most striking

resemblance to some oleaginous Methodist parson dressed in regimentals, with a wide, stiff-rimmed black felt hat sticking on the back of his head, at an acute angle with the ground. His demeanor in front of his tent is very simple and business-like. No pomp, no unusual ceremony, and no lack of order. When on horseback his Wesleyan character is more and more prominent. He neither looks like a soldier, rides like one, nor does he carry the state of a major-general in the field, but is the impersonation of the man of peace.

NO NAME.

BY WILKIE COLLINS,

AUTHOR OF "THE WOMAN IN WHITE," "DEAD SECRET,"
ETC., ETC.

CHAPTER II.

THE tall man who had passed Captain Wragge in the dark proceeded rapidly along the public walk, struck off across a little waste patch of ground, and entered the open door of the Aldborough Hotel. The light in the passage, falling full on his face as he passed it, proved the truth of Captain Wragge's surmise, and showed the stranger to be Mr. Kirke, of the merchant service.

Meeting the landlord in the passage, Mr. Kirke nodded to him with the familiarity of an old customer. "Have you got the paper?" he asked; "I want to look at the visitors' list."

"I have got it in my room, Sir," said the landlord, leading the way into a parlor at the back of the house. "Are there any friends of yours staying here, do you think?"

Without replying the seaman turned to the list, as soon as the newspaper was placed in his hand, and ran his finger down it, name by name. The finger suddenly stopped at this line: "Sea-View Cottage; Mr. Noel Vanstone." Kirke, of the merchant service, repeated the name to himself, and put down the paper thoughtfully.

"Have you found any body you know, captain?" asked the landlord.

"I have found a name I know—a name my father used often to speak of in his time. Is this Mr. Vanstone a family man? Do you know if there is a young lady in the house?"

"I can't say, captain. My wife will be here directly: she is sure to know. It must have been some time ago, if your father knew this Mr. Vanstone?"

"It was some time ago. My father knew a