ess, and I trust it may
never again be darkened as it had been nearly all the time for
forty years.

General Sheridan had entered upon his duties with all the soldierly
courage and confidence of his nature, declaring his purpose to
regain the ground lost by General Sherman when, to use Sheridan's
own expressive words, "Sherman threw up the sponge." He announced
his interpretation of the President's order assigning him to the
"command of the army" as necessarily including _all_ the army, not
excepting the chiefs of the staff departments; and he soon gave
evidence of his faith by ordering one of those chiefs on an inspecting
tour, or something of that kind, without the knowledge of the
Secretary of War. Thus the Secretary found the chief of one of
the bureaus of his department gone without his authority, he knew
not where. It was not difficult for the Secretary to point out to
the general, as he did in writing, in a firm, though kind and
confidential way, that such could not possibly be the true meaning
of the President's order. No attempt appears to have been made to
discuss the subject further, or to find any ground broad enough
for both Secretary and general to stand upon. Nothing further
appears to have been said or done on that subject during that
administration. But upon the inauguration of the next, the Secretary
of War sent out to all the commanding generals of the army copies
of that letter of his predecessor, in which the general-in-chief
had been so mildly and respectfully, yet so thoroughly, beaten.
The army was thus given to understand on that occasion that their
senior in command had not even been given a chance to "throw up
the sponge," as his predecessor had done, but had been "knocked
out" by the first blow.

GENERAL SHERIDAN'S HUMILIATING EXPERIENCE

As if that was not humiliation enough for a great soldier to bear,
whenever the Secretary went away one of the same chiefs of bureaus
that the general thought he had a right to command acted as Secretary
of War, to dominate over him! But the loyal, subordinate soldier
who had commanded great armies and achieved magnificent victories
in the field while those bureau chiefs were purveying powder and
balls, or pork and beans, submitted even to that without a murmur,
for a great lawyer had told him that such was the law, and how
could he know any better? It was only when the adjutant-general,
his own staff-officer, s