the war especially, the men had come to regard Mr. Lincoln
with sentiments of veneration and love. To them he really was "Father
Abraham," with all that the term implied. And this regard was also
entertained by men of high rank in the army. Gen. Sherman, in speaking
of Mr. Lincoln, says this:

"Of all the men I ever met, he seemed to possess more of the
elements of greatness, combined with goodness, than any other."
(Memoirs of Gen. W. T. Sherman, revised edition, Vol. 2, p. 328.)

For my part, I have been of the opinion, for many years, that Abraham
Lincoln was the greatest man the world has ever known.

In the latter part of June the recruits of the 83rd, the 98th, and the
123rd Illinois Infantry were transferred to the 61st, making the old
regiment about nine hundred strong. Co. D received forty-six of the
transferred men, all of these being from the 83rd Illinois. And they
were a fine set of boys, too. Their homes were, in the main, in
northwestern Illinois, in the counties of Mercer, Rock Island, and
Warren. They all had received a good common school education, were
intelligent, and prompt and cheerful in the discharge of their duties.
They were good soldiers, in every sense of the word. It is a little
singular that, since the muster-out of the regiment in the following
September, I have never met a single one of these boys.

[Illustration: Daniel S. Keeley
Major, 61st Illinois Infantry.]

The ranks of the regiment now being filled nearly to the maximum, the
most of the vacancies that existed in the line of commissioned officers
were filled just as promptly as circumstances would permit. Lieut. Col.
Grass had been discharged on May 15th, 1865, and Maj. Nulton, who was
now our ranking field officer, was, on July 11th, promoted to the
position of Colonel. He was the first, and only, colonel the regiment
ever had. The vacancy in the lieutenant-colonelcy of the regiment was
never filled, for what reason I do not know. Capt. Keeley was promoted
Major, and first Lieutenant Warren to Captain of Co. D in Keeley's
stead. And thus it came to pass that on July 11th I received a
commission as second lieutenant of our company, and on August 21st was
promoted to first lieutenant. Soon after receiving my commission, Capt.
Warren was detailed on some special duty which took him away from
Franklin for some weeks, and consequently during his absence I was the
commanding officer of Co. D. So far as ev