He was living, I believe, somewhere in the neighborhood of where the armies were confronting each other.
One of his stories, which interested me more than anything else, referred to the death of the brother of the Secretary of War, Colonel Cameron, of the 79th New York Regiment, at Bull Run.
The body of Colonel Cameron, it seems, had been found after the battle inside of the Rebel lines.
The news of his death having reached the Secretary of War--the Hon. Simon Cameron--he was, of course, very anxious to have the remains sent back into the Union line for proper burial in his own State.
At that time there was a serious question about the recognition in any official form of the Confederate States of America. It was necessary that the Secretary of War should address a request in some form to an officer in the Confederate Army, requesting the "courtesy" of burying the remains of his brother at home. With Extra Billy Smith it was a question of "curtesy" to the Confederates, and he related with great gusto the amusement the Secretary of War's request for his dead brother's body caused in the Confederate officers' quarters, because it was addressed--"To whom it may concern." Mr. Cameron probably had nothing to do with the formation of the note or request, and it is likely that whoever did it for him was obliged to adopt this, simply because they were ignorant of the names of the proper persons in the Confederate Army to whom it should have been addressed. At any rate, it was a very contemptible piece of work to reply to the Secretary of War that: "The officers of the Confederate States of America did not know that his note, addressed 'To whom it may concern,' concerned anybody but himself."
I made a mental note of Extra Billy's share in this business, determined that old Simon should have him marked.
I presume that about the same general condition of things existed in Washington as in Richmond at the time I was there. There were undoubtedly Rebel spies, and plenty of them, running around loose in Washington, not only at that particular time, but constantly during the years of war which immediately followed.
The Confederates had a very great advantage over us in this regard. Washington City and the Departments were literally full of their sympathizers, who were able to carry on their work of assisting to destroy the Government, which was at the same time feeding them, as they were able to keep up an easy and safe communication through the country about.