CHAPTER XIV

LIFE IN WASHINGTON

Moves family to Washington--Pleasant society--Takes hold Fourteen Years' Bill--Reorganization of army--Urges brother officers to do "their duty to their profession"--Army man, not a corps man--Moves to Mrs. Janney's, on 8th Street--Takes family to Newport for summer, 1851--Another phrenological chart--Rents house on 3d Street and goes to housekeeping--George Watson Stevens--Letters to wife--Responds to toast of Army and Navy at banquet to Kossuth--Advocates coast defenses, and writes articles--Appointed member of Lighthouse Board--Sells Bucksport house--Advocates election of General Franklin Pierce as President--Articles in "Boston Post"--Speeches in Andover, Newport, and Portsmouth--Taken to task by Secretary of War Conrad--Pungent reply--Leader among young officers--Numerous calls--Friendship with Professor Bache--Continued improvement of Coast Survey Office 257