In the same spirit with these remarks he writes of that Michigan regiment which was his first command in the war:

Although but a few days had elapsed from the date of my appointment as Colonel of the Second Michigan to that of my succeeding to the command of the brigade, I believe I can say with propriety that I had firmly established myself in the confidence of the officers and men of the regiment, and won their regard by thoughtful care. I had striven unceasingly to have them well fed and well clothed, had personally looked after the selection of their camps, and had maintained such a discipline as to allay former irritation.

“Men who march, scout and fight, and suffer all the hardships that fall to the lot of soldiers in the field, in order to do vigorous work must have the best bodily sustenance, and every comfort that can be provided. I knew from practical experience on the frontier that my efforts in this direction would not only be appreciated, but requited by personal affection and gratitude; and further that such exertions would bring the best results to me. Whenever my authority would permit I saved my command from needless sacrifices and unnecessary toil; therefore, when hard or daring work was to be done I expected the heartiest response, and always got it. Soldiers are averse to seeing their comrades killed without compensating results, and none realize more quickly than they the blundering that often takes place on the field of battle. They want some tangible indemnity for the loss of life, and as victory is an offset the value of which is manifest, it not only

makes them content to shed their blood, but also furnishes evidence of capacity in those who command them. My regiment had lost very few men since coming under my command, but it seemed, in the eyes of all who belonged to it, that casualties to the enemy and some slight successes for us had repaid every sacrifice, and in consequence I had gained not only their confidence as soldiers, but also their esteem and love as men, and to a degree far beyond what I then realized."

When he was ordered from the West to the Army of the Potomac, his whole command was gathered on the hillside to bid him a last adieu as his train took its departure. He himself tells

us why this was:

“In Kentucky, nearly two years before, my lot had been cast with about half of the twenty-five regiments of infantry that I was just leaving, the rest joining me after Chickamauga. It was practically a new arm of the service to me, for although I was an infantry officer, yet the only large command which up to that time I had controlled was composed of cavalry, and most of my experience had been gained in this arm of the service. I had to study hard to be able to master all the needs of such a force, to feed and clothe it and guard all its interests. When undertaking these responsibilities I felt that if I met them faithfully recompense would surely come through the hearty response that soldiers always make to conscientious exertion on the part of their superiors, and not only

that more could be gained in that way than from the use of any species of influence, but that the reward would be quicker. Therefore, I always tried to look after their comfort personally, selected their camps, and provided abundantly for their subsistence, and the road they opened for me shows that my work was not in vain."

So of the termination of that famous ride from Winchester to Cedar Creek, he says:

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"At Mill Creek my escort fell in behind and we were going ahead at a regular pace, when just as we made the crest of the rise beyond the stream, there burst upon our view the appalling spectacle of a panicstricken army. * * My first thought was to stop the army in the suburbs of Winchester as it came back, form a new line and fight there; but as the situation was more maturely considered, a better conception prevailed. I was sure the troops had confidence in me, for heretofore we had been successful; and as at other times they had seen me present at the slightest sign of trouble or distress, I felt I ought now to try to restore their broken ranks, or, failing in that, to share their fate because of what they had done hitherto."

In September, 1886, in a little speech made at a soldiers' reunion, held at Creston, Iowa, he expressed more plainly than ever his own view of his relation to the men of his command:

"I want to say to you, comrades, this, that I am indebted to the private soldier for all of this credit that

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has come to me. He is the man who did the fighting, and the man who carried the musket is the greatest hero of the war, in my opinion. I was nothing but an agent. I knew how to take care of men, I knew what a soldier was worth, and I knew how to study the country so as to put him in the right. I knew how to put him in a battle when one occurred, but I was simply the agent to take care of him; he did the work. Now, comrades, these are common sense things, and I can't say them in very flowing language, but they are true nevertheless, and they are true not of me alone, but of everybody else. It is to the common soldier that we are indebted for any credit that came to There are many men here to-day who served in the field with me, and it is a great pleasure to me to find them out, and they have been very kindly in their remarks to me. While they were with me, I certainly did all I could for them. I often laid awake planning for their welfare, and I never killed a man unnecessarily. You may kill as many men. as you choose, if you give them an equivalent for the loss. Men do not like to be killed for nothing. They do not like to have their heads rammed against a stone wall, unless for some good result. Whenever I took men into battle, I gave them victory as the result of the engagement, and that was always satisfactory."

us.

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Is it any wonder that General Grant wrote of this man:

"As a commander of troops, as a a man capable of doing all that is possible with any number of men,

there is no man living greater than SHERIDAN. I rank him with Napoleon and the great captains of history. He had a magnetic quality of swaying men which I wish I had.”

Once only he is known to have stopped to ask if that which must be done must needs be done at once. On the eve of that grand review at Washington with which the war was closed, he was ordered to start for Texas. That meant that he should never lead his old command again. There was no help for it, and he left the capital two days before the grand review.

In the same way his familiar interest in men made him unerring in the choice of scouts.

He says of himself, when ordered from Corinth to Louisville to join Buell's army:

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Before and during the activity which followed his reinstatement, General Grant had become familiar with my services through the transmission to Washington of information I had furnished concerning the enemy's movements, and by reading reports of my fights and skirmishes in front, and he seemed loth to let me go."

The following, written of him at a later date, doubtless expresses the view of General Grant:

"His scouts were famous throughout the army, and their information was exact; it was always relied upon by Grant as absolute, and it never deceived him,"