The young second lieutenant stepped out of General Winfield Scott Hancock’s office, having reported for duty and ready for his next assignment—whatever it may be.  He didn’t have to wait long.  That night, lounging in the lobby of the Willard Hotel in the heart of Washington, D.C., Second Lieutenant William Woods Averell was approached by several United States officers, including Majors Irwin McDowell and Fitz-John Porter.  Invited to play a game of pool, William quickly learned that more than billiards was at hand.  “While engaged in the game,” Averell recalled, “the Captain quietly asked me where I lodged and requested me to go to my room when the game should be finished and he would follow me.”  Meeting surreptitiously in Averell’s hotel room, the officers relayed orders and forced the young officer to memorize them.  Helpful suggestions were offered up by those familiar with the area in which Averell would soon be sojourning, and he prepared himself to set out the next day.  It was the night of April 16, 1861, and William Woods Averell would soon be headed west across a disintegrating United States.