AS

But soon after my pickets were put out on the plains, there came
the sad news of the sudden death, in San Francisco, of my old
commander, General George H. Thomas. His body was brought east to
Troy, New York, for interment. All his old companions, including
President Grant, assembled to pay the last tribute of respect and
honor to that noble old soldier, whose untimely death was deeply
mourned by all. It was a most impressive scene, All the high
commanders of the vast army which had been disbanded five years
before assembled around the grave of one of their number. The hero
was buried, as he had lived, honored by all who knew him, and
mourned by the nation he had so faithfully served.

Immediately after the funeral of General Thomas there was, if I
recollect rightly, a large assembly, in Philadelphia, of the Society
of the Army of the Potomac. General Grant and General Sherman were
there, and we met at an early dinner at the house of General Meade,
who had been designated by General Sherman to succeed General Thomas
in command of the Division of the Pacific. After dinner General
Meade took me to drive through Fairmount Park, in which he was
greatly interested as president of the commission having it in
charge. He explained to me the great sacrifice he would make in
giving up command of the Division of the Atlantic, and his congenial
occupation and pleasant home in Philadelphia, where he was best
known and most highly respected, and where, as I could see in
driving along, almost everybody recognized and saluted him. I
thought he had indeed better reason to feel satisfied with his home
than any other man I had known. But he, too, great and brave
soldier, was given but little longer to enjoy the high honors he
had so nobly won in command of the Army of the Potomac. When I
had so far recovered from a severe attack of pneumonia as to be
permitted to look for the first time at a morning paper, one of
the first things that attracted by attention was the death of
General Meade, from the same disease, the day before.

Of course the President did not hesitate to accede to General
Meade's desire, for he had given him, only a year before, the
division of his choice. As is well known, the relations between
General Meade and General Hancock were not at that time quite
satisfactory. As I knew the exact truth at the time, I think it
my duty to state that General Grant believed that General Hancock
had not at one t