ranks you as a Major-General, being of the
same date of present commission, by reason of his previous superior
rank as a brigadier-general. The movements of to-morrow are so
important that the orders of the superior on that flank must be
regarded as military orders and not in the nature of co-operation.
I did hope that there would be no necessity for my making this
decision, but it is better for all parties interested that no
question of rank should occur in actual battle. The Sandtown Road
and the railroad if possible must be gained to-morrow if it costs
half your command. I regard the loss of time this afternoon as
equal to the loss of two thousand men.'

"I also communicated the substance of this to General Thomas, to
whose army Palmer's corps belonged, who replied on the fifth:

'I regret to hear that Palmer has taken the course he has, and I
know that he intends to offer his resignation as soon as he can
properly do so. I recommend that his application be granted.'

"On the fifth I again wrote to General Palmer, arguing the point
with him, as a friend, not to resign at that crisis lest his motives
might be misconstrued and because it might damage his future career
in civil life; but at the same time I felt it my duty to say to
him that the operations on that flank during the fourth and fifth
had not been satisfactory, not imputing to him any want of energy
or skill, but insisting that the events did not keep pace with my
desires. . . .

"I sanctioned the movement and ordered two of Palmer's divisions
to follow in support of Schofield, and summoned General Palmer to
meet me in person. He came on the sixth to my headquarters and
insisted on his resignation being accepted, for which formal act
I referred him to General Thomas. He then rode to General Thomas's
camp, where he made a written resignation of his office as commander
of the Fourteenth Corps and was granted the usual leave of absence
to go to his home in Illinois, there to await further orders."

I quote freely from General Sherman on this incident, as I do not
want to do General Palmer an injustice. No one for a moment doubted
General Palmer's bravery, and I must say that it took a brave man,
and I might add an extraordinarily stubborn man, to resign a
magnificent command just before one of the great movements of the
war on a mere question of some other general's outranking him.

I happened to be on the same ferry-boat crossing from St. Louis