s, and of the Military Division of the Mississippi,
on the staff of General Grant. As such he devised the plan of
operations by which the Army of the Cumberland was saved from
starvation and capture at Chattanooga, and was duly credited
with the same by General Thomas. He also devised the plan of
operations by which Bragg's army was overthrown and driven
back from Missionary Ridge, for which services he was again
appointed and this time confirmed as Major General of
Volunteers, also as Brevet Brigadier General, United States
Army."

After referring to other incidents of his life, which have been
considered more fully in this account of his public services and need
not he repeated here, this report added, although General Smith had
resigned from the army many years before, that he was

"fully entitled at the hands of the government to be retired
for a lifetime of hard and conspicuous service, in which he
has displayed the most incorruptible honesty, the most
outspoken patriotism and devotion and the highest ability. It
has been the good fortune of but few men in any age or in any
country to save an army and to direct it to victory, from a
subordinate position. Such service in Europe would secure
honor and riches. In ours it should certainly result in an
assignment to a place on the retired list of the army, with
the rank of Major General, and the appropriate pay for the
remaining years of his life. The committee therefore
unanimously recommend the passage of the bill."

The final action taken in this case, while highly creditable to General
Smith, was not as liberal as the House Committee thought it ought to
be. The Senate Committee, while concurring in the commendation of the
General, in conformity to its own practice cut his rank on the retired
list down to that of Major, which was the actual grade he held in the
regular army at the date of his resignation. It was a piece of
ungracious and niggardly economy, for the services which entitled him
to retirement were those of a general officer, and as he was actually
promoted from Brigadier General to Major General in recognition
thereof, the House of Representatives was clearly right in recommending
his retirement with the higher grade. General Smith, who had not in any
way asked for this recognition, was strongly inclined to decline it,
but on the solicitation of h