memory of our old commander.

And now, my comrades, it is with the greatest satisfaction that I say to
you that after seven years' continued effort, this year we obtained an
appropriation from Congress of $250,000 to be used in the erection of a
monument upon these grounds to General U. S. Grant, (and the model for it
will soon be selected,) to this modest, charitable, and just soldier and
statesman. The whole world has given its tribute. From those whom we
fought and defeated have come the most gallant words of praise and
touching sympathy. President Lincoln, above all others, recognized his
power and ability when he handed him his commission and gave him command
of all the Armies, and assured him that he should not in any way interfere
with him,--armed him with all the powers of the President, with _carte
blanche_ to use them as he saw fit. Grant made his answer at Appomattox,
bringing peace to our nation and gratitude to the conquered. General Grant
was a man of few words, and when called upon to speak of the Army of the
Tennessee, paid it this tribute:

As an Army, the Army of the Tennessee never sustained a single defeat
during four years of war. Every fortification which it assailed
surrendered. Every force arrayed against it was either defeated,
captured, or destroyed. No officer was ever assigned to the command of
that Army who had afterwards to be relieved from it, or to be reduced
to another command. Such a history is not accident.

And now, my comrades, one of our number who has left us by an assassin's
hand, whose heart, words and acts were ever for us, who from a Major in
our Army became the best-loved President of our nation, Comrade William
McKinley, at one of our gatherings paid this tribute to you:

It is recorded that in eighteen months' service the Army of the
Tennessee captured 80,000 men, with flags and arms, including 600
guns--a greater force than was engaged on either side in the terrible
battle of Chickamauga. From the fields of triumph in the Mississippi
Valley it turned its footsteps towards the eastern seaboard, brought
relief to the forces at Chattanooga and Nashville, pursued that
peerless campaign from Atlanta to the seaboard under the leadership of
the glorious Sherman, and planted the banners of final victory on the
parapets of Fort McAllister.

It is said that the old Army of the Tennessee never lost a battle and