ced the organization and growth of the Army of the
Tennessee. It remained under his personal command, or as a unit of his
great Army, from the beginning until the end of the war, except for two
short intervals, one after the great Battle of Donelson, and the other
after the greater Battle of Shiloh, both of which he won, and gave the
first great light and hope to our country; and it is hard now, after
reading all the records, to understand the reasons for his being relieved.
It appears to have been done through a misunderstanding, and with no
intention of doing injustice to General Grant.

Following General Grant as commander came General Sherman, a member of the
Army almost as long as General Grant. General Sherman was in direct
command, or the Army served under him as a unit of his greater Army, from
the time he assumed command until the end of the war.

After General Sherman came General McPherson, that ideal soldier, who
commanded the Army until he fell in the great Battle of Atlanta, on the
22d of July. Upon his death, General Logan took command of the Army, as
the senior officer present, and at the end of the battle of July 22d he
could say that he had met and defeated Hood's whole Army in the greatest
battle of that campaign.

Following General Logan came General O. O. Howard, the only General taken
from another Army to command it in all the history of the Army of the
Tennessee, or even any of its Corps. The next day after assuming command
General Howard led the Army into the great battle of the 28th of July,
which the Confederates said was not a battle, but a simple killing and
slaughtering of their forces. He remained in command until the end of the
Rebellion, and at the end of the war generously gave way to General Logan,
so that one of its original members might command it at the great review
here in Washington--an act that could come only from such a just and
thoughtful soldier as Howard.

I speak of our Army's commanders first, as an Army takes its habits and
character from its head; and probably no other Army in the world was so
fortunate as to have always at its head great soldiers and great
commanders, recognized as such the world over--two of them the peers of
any commander that ever stood up in a great conflict.

The Army of the Tennessee covered more ground in its campaigns than all
the other Armies combined, and all its campaigns were marked by some great
struggle, battle, or movement that challe