During the dinner George D. Elwell, assisted by Ben Franklin, led in the singing of hymns and songs of the Civil War. Mr. Loucks was toastmaster. At the beginning of his speech Governor Whitman paid a graceful compliment to Mrs. Sheridan, who, with her daughter, sat in the balcony of the dining-room, surrounded by about two hundred women who had taken an active part in the day's proceedings. The governor asked the diners to rise and drink a toast to Mrs. Sheridan. He invited Mrs. Sheridan to stand, whereat the diners cheered and waved their napkins in honor of the widow of Sheridan.

Governor Whitman said he hesitated to speak in the presence of so many men who had served under General Sheridan, referring to General Keifer, General Miles, Mayor Stevens and other veterans at the dinner. "I congratulate Sheridan Camp, the city of Albany and State of New York in the erection of the statue," said the governor, who spoke briefly.

REMARKS BY WILLIAM BARNES

William Barnes, in part, said:

Sheridan was not concerned with public opinion. He was following his instructions. No picture of himself which might exist in the minds of others interested him. He was concerned solely with his duty. He was as we say nowadays, in common speech, "on his job." Others might think what they like that was not his affair.

This note of singleness of purpose which we find in Sheridan was conspicuous in the life of the time. It was upheld as the ideal of human character. Lack of it was despised. Few public men were able to run the gamut of a public career who did not possess it. The man whose act did not conform with his word, was soon relegated to private life. Lack of coherence between promise and conduct was the unpardonable sin.

It is interesting that only in time of war this virtue, vital as it is to human achievement and happiness at all times, discloses its greatest vigor. The stress of conflict involves the maintenance of faith. The spirit of nationality with which Sheridan and the others were imbued, held them in the grip of truth. In them, engaged in violent conflict to protect the whole, that the individual might continue to live, free within the whole, the vices of peace had no chance to grow.

It is well that we should commemorate in monument our Sheridans. It is well that the spirit of nationality should be kept alert and vigorous by examination of past achievement

and patriotism, that we may not fail in the realization of the truth that we live in jeopardy, and that that jeopardy can be reduced to a minimum only by the spirit of a gallant, selfreliant and responsible people. Not in envy of others, not in malice towards those who have succeeded, not in jealousy of fame, can a free people continue to maintain their freedom of existence.

REMARKS BY GENERAL J. WARREN

KEIFER

General Keifer complimented Governor Whitman and others assembled on the success of the unveiling of the splendid equestrian statue to General Sheridan. He spoke of his personal acquaintance, begun in the Civil War, with Generals Grant, Sherman and Sheridan; also Lieut.-Gen. Nelson A. Miles, U. S. A. (who was present), and others of the great commanders of the Civil War, distinguishing the different types of commanders they represented, particularly that of General Sheridan, from other also successful leaders of armies in campaigns and battles. In substance, among other things, he said:

Sheridan at the outbreak of the Civil War was a lieutenant on the Pacific coast. His patriotism and ambition led him to write a friend that he hoped he could, during the war, do something to raise him to the rank of a major in the United States army. This vaulting ambition he never enjoyed. He became a captain, a colonel, brigadier-general and majorgeneral of volunteers, during the war; and a brigadier-general, major-general, lieutenant-general and general of the United States army, which last rank he held at his death. His only predecessors who held the rank of general in the United States army were Washington, Grant and Sherman, and he has had no successor in that rank; it was abolished by law.

Others have spoken of Sheridan's early entry in the Civil War, and his activities in the Mississippi Valley under Grant,

and under General Rosecrans and others in the West, where he displayed that capacity to lead and successfully fight battles which distinguished him throughout the war of the rebellion. While he did not become especially prominent at the front until in the last of the four years of the Civil War, his later superior eminence was always foreshadowed in all his operations even when he was a subordinate, commanding cavalry or infantry in large or in minor engagements. It must be remembered that to be a successful leader in minor campaigns and battles often requires the exercise of the highest military skill as well as the most intelligent bravery. Bravery, necessary and important as it always is in an officer, is still minor in importance to steady poise and skill in putting an army into battle and in getting the best results from it while the conflict lasts, and, if victorious, in securing the best fruits of success, and, if defeated, in so handling his troops as to prevent disaster.

Sheridan was the embodiment of confidence in himself and in success, and this enabled him to imbue his army with a like confidence in him.

The intelligent American subordinate officers and private soldiers easily understand the spirit and skill of those over them, and, if satisfied with them, the utmost effort will be put forth to attain victory. Sheridan did not order his army to fight battles; he led it into battle, and attended and participated in the conflict to the end.

A marked distinguishing element in Sheridan's conduct of a battle was to confide in his corps, division, brigade, etc., commanders; and to give them wide discretion to meet sudden crises in a battle, and to avail themselves of opportunities for successful attack in his absence and without orders. His army was, however, fought as a unit; no part of it was allowed to be sacrificed while another substantial part of it was idly