olumn he camped and tented with me. Sheridan and Curtis had
considerable difficulty, and Curtis relieved him and ordered him to report
to General Halleck, at St. Louis. We who knew Sheridan's ability, and the
necessities of our Army, did all we could to hold him with us. He left us
just before the Battle of Pea Ridge, and our Army saw a great difference
after he was gone. He used to say to me, "Dodge, if I could get into the
line I believe I could do something;" and his ambition was to get as high
a rank as I then had and as large a command--a Colonel commanding a
Brigade. In his memoirs he pays the Fourth Iowa a great compliment, and
says they will have a warm place in his heart during his life.

During the Battle of Pea Ridge Sheridan was at Springfield, Mo., preparing
to turn over his property to the officer who was to relieve him, and he
there showed his soldierly qualities. The dispatches from Curtis's army
had to be relayed at Springfield. The first dispatches after the battle
were sent all in praise of General Siegel, and by portions of his command,
claiming he had won the battle. Sheridan, knowing this to be untrue,
withheld the Siegel dispatches until the telegrams from General Curtis to
General Halleck were received, and sent them forward first,
notwithstanding the fact that he felt he had been unjustly treated by
General Curtis.

This Army had no water or rail communication. It was 300 miles from its
nearest supply-depot, and therefore it had to live off of a country that
was sparsely settled by poor people; but Sheridan showed that dominant
combination of enterprise and energy, by running every mill and using
every means of supply within fifty miles of us, that he developed so fully
later in the war. He kept us and our stock fairly well supplied; as I
remember, there were no complaints. When General Curtis concluded to
relieve him, I went with others and endeavored to induce him to change his
mind. I had had experience and knew what it was to have an Army well fed a
long ways from its base, and I felt that if we lost Sheridan we would
suffer, which later proved to be the case; but General Curtis did not
listen to us. In fact, he was angry at our appeal, and his Adjutant,
General McKinney, came to see us afterwards and urged us not to press the
matter; if we did, he said, we might go to the rear with Sheridan.

At the Battle of Pea Ridge and during the campaign we were very destitute
of all hospital applianc