of the army, in announcing his death, said:

"The very impersonation of honesty, integrity and honor, he will
stand to posterity as the _beau-ideal_ of the soldier and gentleman.
Though he leaves no child to bear his name, the old Army of the
Cumberland, numbered by tens of thousands, called him father, and
will weep for him in tears of manly grief."

I witnessed, in principal part, a great tragedy resulting from a
quarrel between high officers of the Union Army. This occurred
September 29, 1862, at the Galt House, Louisville, whither I had
repaired to tender my resignation to Buell as Lieutenant-Colonel
of the 3d Ohio Infantry, to enable me to accept promotion.

General Jeff C. Davis had been in command of a division under
General William Nelson at Louisville, and had in some way incurred
Nelson's censure. Nelson relieved him of command and ordered him
to report to Wright, the department commander, at Cincinnati.
Wright ordered Davis to return to Louisville and report to Buell
for duty. Davis, being from Indiana, returned _via_ Indianapolis,
and from there was accompanied to Louisville by Governor Oliver P.
Morton, who, with another friend, was with Davis in the vestibule
of the Galt House about 9 A.M. when Davis accosted Nelson, demanding
satisfaction for the injustice he claimed had been done him, and,
it was said, at the same time flipped a paper wad in Nelson's
face.(27) Nelson retorted by slapping Davis in the face with the
back of his hand, and then, after denouncing Morton as Davis'
"abettor of the deliberate insult," at once passed from the vestibule
to adjoining hallway and started up the steps of a stairway,
apparently going towards his room. He soon, however, returned to
the hall and walked quietly in the direction of Davis. The latter
meantime had obtained a pistol from his friend, and as Nelson
approached fired on him, the bullet striking Nelson in the left
breast, just over the heart, producing what proved, in half an
hour, to be a mortal wound.(27) The incident was a deplorable one.
Nelson was an able, valuable officer, and had proved himself such
on many fields. He was known to be hasty, and sometimes unwarrantably
rough in his treatment of others, yet he promptly repented of any
act of injustice and made amends as far as possible. Davis was
placed in military arrest by Buell, but later was released, by
orders from Washington, to be allowed to become amenable to civil
authority. Still late