rave mistake. In
Howard's case, the rout at Chancellorsville will always detract from
his fame; he was, however, on that day new in his place, and the
infatuation of Hooker by an evil contagion passed down to his
lieutenants. But he too steadily improved, refusing resolutely to be
discouraged by his mistakes and always doing better next time. Perhaps
no one act during the war was more important than the occupation of
Cemetery Hill on the morning of July 1, 1863, by a Federal division.
I think that the credit of that act cannot be denied to Howard. In
a later time he passed under the control of Sherman in the West, a
shrewd and relentless judge of men, and Sherman trusted him to the
utmost. To a group of officers in their cups who were chaffing Howard
for being Puritanical, Sherman curtly said: "Let Howard alone; I want
one general who doesn't drink."

I saw General Howard at Gettysburg on the fortieth anniversary of
the battle. We were under the same roof, and during the evening I sat
close to him in the common room and heard him talk,--a strenuous old
man, his empty sleeve recalling tragically the combats through which
he had passed. Close by under the stars could still be traced the
lines occupied by Steinwehr's division, the troops which with such
momentous results Howard had posted on Cemetery Hill. I might easily
have talked with him, for he was affable to old and young, but I
preferred to study the good veteran from a distance and let others
draw out his story while I listened.

In the winter of 1861 I went to Port Royal, through the good offices
of my friend Rufus Saxton, then a captain and quartermaster of the
expedition under which Dupont had taken possession of the Sea Islands
in South Carolina. The capture of Port Royal had taken place a few
weeks before and the army was encamped on the conquered territory.
Saxton was an interesting figure, who in an unusual way showed during
the war a fine spirit of self-sacrifice. At the outbreak, a high
position in the field was within his grasp; he was second in command
to Lyon in St. Louis, and being intimate with McClellan might have
held a position of responsibility in the field. He was indeed made a
general. Once in 1862 he was in command of a considerable force,
and when Banks was driven out of the Shenandoah Valley by Stonewall
Jackson he withstood at Harper's Ferry the rush of the Confederates
into Maryland. But at the solicitation of Lincoln and Stanton he gave