Admittedly I got in some trouble during our recent trip to Sharpsburg, Maryland. Mr. Lincoln often asked me to play my banjo for him and sing little silly songs to lighten his spirit, which had certainly been troubled by this long war.
I always obliged, often singing "off color" songs. In this instance, it was reported that I sang songs for the president that were inappropirate and disrepectful of the dead and wounded lying on the field of battle. That could not have been further from the truth.
There were no dead and dying on the field on the day we walked the grounds. The battle had taken place September 17. We walked the field on October 3, long after the dead had been buried and the wounded had been removed to local buildings being used as hospitals.
I wrote out an explantion about the affair and complained to the president that we were being unfairly represented. His response was "You know, Hill, this is the truth and the whole truth about the affair, but I dislike appearing as an apologist for an act of my own which I know was right. Keep this paper, and we will see about it." Thus, at his insistence, the newspaper report went unchallenged.
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