until the fall of '61, upon my return from service in
West Virginia, during the first summer of the war. I was then Colonel of
the 17th Indiana, and was assigned to the command of a brigade in
Nelson's Division of Buel's Army, which was then in and around
Louisville, Ky., and whose purpose was a forward move against Nashville.

While Buel's Army, the Army of the Cumberland, was concentrating in and
about Louisville, preparing for the forward movement, Gov. Morton, of
Indiana, was frequently in Louisville, consulting with Gen. Buel, and
offering suggestions as to army movements etc., and these, after a time,
came to be regarded by Gen. Buel as meddlesome, and uncalled for, so
much so, that he finally intimated to Gov. Morton that it would be as
well for him to attend to his duties as Governor of Indiana, while he
would attend to his as Commanding General of the forces in the field. It
is important to mention this circumstance here, as it will be seen
further on, that this matter had an important bearing upon Gen. Buel's
subsequent career. It will not be necessary, nor appropriate in this
paper, to enter into a detailed account of the operations of the Army of
the Cumberland in its march upon, and capture of Nashville--in its
subsequent march to Shiloh, and the part it took in that most
unfortunate, not to say (in many respects) disgraceful battle to our
army--in its subsequent advance upon Corinth, and its operations
there--in its subsequent march into northern Alabama and the vicinity of
Chattanooga, and the forced march back to Louisville, made necessary by
Bragg's advance upon that city through the Sequatchie Valley, from
Chattanooga. All this is known to the public, and the public has arrived
at its own conclusions as to the merits or demerits of these various
operations. It is not too much to say, however, that those of us who
accompanied Gen. Buel in this remarkable march and counter-march, and
particularly those who had important commands during the same, had ample
opportunity to arrive at intelligent conclusions as to the merits and
demerits of the man. It may be inferred from what has already been said
that, Gen. Buel was not particularly popular with political soldiers,
newspaper correspondents, and others who were carrying on the war from
safe distances in the rear. He was eminently and emphatically a soldier,
with no ambition or expectations outside the line of his duty, and with
honor and integrity so entire