in
France, was made to appear pretty well when printed in both
languages.

The charming hospitality of the general-in-chief of the Twelfth
Army Corps and of the prefect of Limoges, with all the other
incidents of the autumn manoeuvers of 1881, are an ever fresh and
pleasant memory, with the many other recollections of beautiful
France under the empire and under the republic.

AGAIN IN COMMAND IN THE WEST

According to the understanding expressed in my correspondence with
General Sherman of May 3, 1881, I returned from Europe at the end
of a year, and reported for duty. But in the meantime President
Garfield had been assassinated, and the bill then pending in Congress
providing for the retirement of officers at a fixed age was amended
so as to make that age sixty-four years instead of sixty-two.
Hence I continued to wait without protest until the retirement of
my junior in rank, the next autumn, for the fulfilment of General
Sherman's assurance conveyed in his despatch of May 25, 1876: "If
any hitch occurs at any future time, you can resume your present
or some command due your rank." Although this long suspension from
command was very annoying, I had the satisfaction of knowing that
none of my brother officers had been disturbed on my account.

In the fall of 1882, I was again assigned to the command of the
Division of the Pacific, awaiting the time of General Sherman's
retirement under the law and the succession of General Sheridan to
the command of the army. Nothing of special interest occurred in
that interval. In 1883 I succeeded to the command of the Division
of the Missouri, with my headquarters in Chicago. One of the first
and most important subjects which impressed themselves upon my
attention after the generous reception and banquet given by the
citizens of that hospitable city, was the necessity for a military
post near that place. The location of Chicago makes it the most
important strategical center of the entire northern frontier. It
is also the most important center of interstate commerce and
transportation anywhere in the country. Yet in 1883 there were no
troops nearer than St. Paul, Omaha, and Leavenworth. At the time
of the railroad strikes in 1877, troops had been brought there in
time to render the necessary service, but no thought appears to
have been given to the necessity of better provision for the future.