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was entertained by Seward, Lincoln, and a host of Washington dignitaries who had become friends with his other brother, Frederick, during the latter’s visit in 1859. By now the Americans were used to titled foreigners in their midst. Seward reminisced at length about his stay in England and the titled personages he had met. Lincoln was civil “and also told us stories. I said I supposed we had come at a bad time to see the country, and he said, ‘Well!’ He guessed we couldn’t do them much harm.” Secretary of War Stanton revolted Hartington for being a “most atrocious snob,” worse even than Seward. General McClellan, he thought, was quiet and modest in comparison, but Hartington was surprised by the general’s hatred of abolitionists.34

Lincoln regarded Antietam as the victory he had been waiting for in order to issue his preliminary Emancipation Proclamation. “I think the time has come now,” he told the cabinet after the announcement on September 22. “I wish it were a better time. I wish that we were in a better condition.” But, he continued, “I must do the best I can and bear the responsibility of taking the course which I feel I ought to take.” The proclamation declared that on January 1, 1863, all slaves in the rebellious parts of the country would be “forever free.”35 Lincoln also included the prospect of compensated emancipation for slave owners—and emigration for freed blacks—in order to soften the objections of both Democratic voters and the border states. Seward had his reservations but supported the president. On September 26, he told his daughter that he hoped the proclamation had not been issued prematurely.36

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Francis Dawson learned about the Emancipation Proclamation from his prison guard. His bravery had earned him a commission as a first lieutenant of artillery. “The cup of my happiness was full,” he wrote in his memoir. “My new uniform was a gray tunic with scarlet cuffs and scarlet collar; an Austrian knot of gold braid on each arm … gray trousers with broad red stripes.”37 The Englishman had acquired legions of admirers. “I am very highly thought of here; pardon the apparent egotism of the remark,” he wrote candidly to his mother. “I have a troop of wealthy and influential friends here who will do anything for me. Mr. Raines of whom I have spoken to you before has even expressed a wish to adopt me as a son.”38 His popularity was fortunate, since he had not actually received any pay and inflation was already turning ordinary articles into priceless objects. He was dismayed to discover that a plain calico shirt cost twenty Confederate dollars.

Dawson went to Richmond to receive his orders and, while there, had his portrait taken; “if I am killed it shall be sent to you,” he promised his mother. From anyone else such words might have been mere bravado, but Dawson was serious. He astonished the chief of ordnance, Colonel Gorgas, by informing him that he did not wish to be relegated to the rear. The colonel complied. “He gave me a letter to General Longstreet, requesting that, if any particularly hazardous service should fall within the line of my duty, it might be given to me.”39 Gorgas had assigned him as brigade ordnance officer under Colonel Manning, in Longstreet’s division.40 But during his first assignment in early September, Dawson was captured along with the wagons he was taking to Longstreet’s camp. By morning the prisoners were in Pennsylvania on their way to Harrisburg. Dawson’s fresh-looking uniform and general foreignness once again attracted attention. The Union officers escorting the train took such a liking to him that he was able to borrow one of their blankets and a spare toothbrush. But by the journey’s end, Dawson had discovered that it was possible to be too popular. When they reached Harrisburg, one of the officers insisted on showing him around the town. The commandant thought this was a doubtful idea, but the captain was adamant. Supper in the town’s principal hotel passed without incident. Unfortunately, this only emboldened the U.S. officer:

After supper [Dawson recalled], we walked