ified as
not to apply to officers on the retired list! It is a singular
coincidence that I had just then been retired.

[( 1) The presidents of Boards of Registration were army officers
detailed by me for that duty.]

CHAPTER XXII
Differences Between the Commanding General of the Army and the War
Department--General Grant's Special Powers--His Appointment as
Secretary of War _Ad interim_--The Impeachment of President Johnson
--Memorandum of Interviews with William M. Evarts and General Grant
in Regard to the Secretaryship of War--Failure of the Impeachment
Trial--Harmony in the War Department--A New Policy at Army
Headquarters.

During nearly the entire history of the government of the United
States the relations between the general-in-chief, or nominal
commanding general of the army, and the War Department have been
the cause of discord, sometimes descending to bitter personal
controversy, and in a few instances leading to very serious results.

The differences between General Scott and the Secretary became so
serious that the general removed his headquarters from Washington
to New York, and remained away from the capital several years,
until the time when civil war was imminent. General Sherman also
found it necessary to escape from an intolerable situation by
removing to St. Louis, and did not return to Washington until the
condition of the War Department led to the impeachment of the
Secretary of War. During their long absence from the capital
neither of these generals could exercise any appreciable influence
over either the administration or the command of the army. It is
thought to be worthy of note that during one of these periods of
absence of the general-in-chief the military resources of the
country were mostly placed within easy reach of those about to
engage in an effort to break up the Union, and that during the
other period corruption in the War Department led to impeachment.
It is no reflection upon the many eminent, patriotic citizens who
have held the war portfolio to say that the very few men who have
proved unworthy of that great trust would have been much less likely
to do serious harm to the public interests if they had been under
the watchful eye of a jealous old soldier, like Scott or Sherman,
who was not afraid of them.

THE COMMANDING GENERAL AND THE WAR DEPARTMENT

As hereafter explained, the controversy between General Grant and
the Secretary of Wa