The New-York Historical Society to the Historical Society I had the above letter framed with a picture of Lincoln given to me by F. H. Meserve, who writes: "Alexander Gardner, the photographer, was an Englishman. He and his son James came here at Brady's suggestion to help in his war photographs and they worked in a shack on the White House grounds, often visited by Lincoln. In 1863 they opened a gallery in Washington and Lincoln was photographed by them as well as by Brady, whose reputation was of course much greater." Unfortunately, the negative of this picture, being made on glass, was dropped and broken. Gardner, however, made one print of the damaged negative, which Mr. Meserve has in his collection of Civil War prints, my copy being a somewhat enlarged reproduction of the only original, owned by Mr. Meserve —the best picture and the last ever taken of Lincoln. The last letter in the series deals with Kilpatrick's raid on Richmond that got under way February 2 8, 1864, which, to succeed, should have been hidden in secrecy. It was not. Even before the column got fairly under way, the purpose of the raid and its progress were given to the press, utterly eliminating the element of surprise. When the raid was broken up, Colonel Ulrich Dahl- gren, who led the advance, was killed. In addition to the avowed instructions from Washington, which were to burn the City of Richmond and free the prisoners at Belle Isle, there were found on Colonel Dahlgren's body further instructions to capture and kill Jeff Davis and the members of his cabinet. The indignation which swept the South at these revelations is reflected in Robert E. Lee's dignified epistle, following, only in that it was written at all: Head Qurs: Army No. Va. ist. April 1864 Major General George G. Meade Com'nd'g Army of the Potomac General I am instructed to bring to your notice two papers found upon the body of Colonel U. Dahlgren, who was killed while commanding a part 78