leaving Cuba, I rode a
strange horse, which at a critical time in the review ran away,
carrying me, in much danger, some distance from the reviewing
officers. I recovered control of the horse, but dismounted him
and mounted another, which proved equally untamed, and he likewise,
a little later, attempted to run afield or cast me off. Fortunately
these exceptional accidents terminated without injury; and with that
review ended my public military service--_forever_.

The fatal illness of my beloved and devoted wife and her death
(March 12, 1899) caused me (with my son) to go to my Ohio home.
I returned to Cuba with Captain Horace C. Keifer, who was on my
staff continuously during my service in the Spanish War.

All arrangements having been completed for the early muster out of
the volunteers of the Seventh Corps not already gone, and my mission
in the army being practically at an end, and my command proper
disbanded, I took ship (the _Yarmouth_), in Havana Harbor, March
30th, and proceeded _via_ Port Tampa, home, where I was mustered
out of the military service May 12, 1899, having been in the army
as a Major-General eleven months and three days. During my service
in the field in the Spanish War I was not off duty on account of
illness, injury, or accident.

I had an attack of typhoid fever, at my home in April, from which
I soon recovered, doubtless contracted while travelling to or from
Cuba.

I had now lived about five years in a tent, or without shelter, in
war times, through all seasons, and being in my sixty-fourth year,
gave up all inclination to continue in military life, knowing the
field is for younger men. My duties in the army, though always
arduous, were pleasant, hence gratifying. I had no serious trouble
with any officer or soldier, though I tried to do my duty in the
discipline of my command. My personal attachment to superior and
inferior officers, especially members of my military staff, was
and is of no ordinary kind. I congratulate myself on being able
to attach to me, loyally, some of the most accomplished, hard-
working, conscientious, and highly educated officers of the United
States Army, as well as others of the volunteers, the service has
known. A list of officers (nine of whom were sons of former
Confederate officers) who served, at some time, on my division
staff in the field, is given in Appendix F.

Here this narrative must end with only a parting word as to the
Spanish War.