YOU, my son, have heard, and perhaps read, how Rome was once saved
by a goose. There were, as you know, my son, a great many geese
abroad during the siege of Washington; but it was not through any
act of theirs that the city was saved. As I love you dearly, my son,
so is it my first desire to instruct you correctly on all subjects
in which the good of our great country is concerned. Before
concluding my history of this remarkable siege, I shall prove to
your satisfaction that Washington was saved, and the fate of the
nation determined, by a barrel of whisky.

Let me say to you, my son, that the siege of Washington, however
much people abroad may laugh at it, was one of the most
extraordinary events in the history of modern warfare. It took place
in the year of our Lord, 1864; and there is no other event in the
war of the great rebellion to compare with it. You will, therefore,
my son, understand why it is that the history of an event of so much
importance should be written only by an impartial historian--one who
has courage enough to tell the truth, and no official friends to
serve at the expense of honor. I must tell you, also, my son, that
the great military problem of this siege has afforded a subject of
deep study for our engineers, from General Delafield downward, who
have puzzled their wits over it without finding a solution.

Should we be unfortunate enough to have another great war, and the
nation again be compelled to give itself up to the profession of