The acceptance of this commission would derange all his cherished plans.

It would separate him from his wife and child, and from the loved institution of which he was the head.
He must bid farewell to the calm, studious life, which he so much enjoyed, and spend days and months in the camp, liable at any moment to fall the victim of an enemy's bullet.
Suppose he should be killed?
His wife would have no provision but the small sum of three thousand dollars, which he had been able by great economy to save from his modest salary.
He hesitated, but it was not for long.

He was not a man to shrink from the call of duty.

Before moving he wrote to a friend: "I regard my life as given to the country.

I am only anxious to make as much of it as possible before the mortgage on it is foreclosed.".