idents which I
have to relate, and yet I think that the part taken by the Union army in
the so-called reconstruction of civil government in the rebellious
states immediately after the war deserves a place in the history of that
army and of the war. All the world knows how bravely our soldiers
fought, how willingly they endured hardships of the camp and of the
wearisome march, how patiently they bore sickness, wounds, and
sufferings of every kind, and how faithfully they obeyed the orders of
advance to danger and to death. But there is still another trait of
their character, perhaps the greatest of them all, that of the good
citizen, who was able, as soon as the last smoke of battle had cleared
away, to restrain all feelings of enmity and revenge, to take the enemy
by the hand, to guide, help, and protect him and his in all the rights
of citizenship, and it is of that I would relate some facts that came
under my own observation and experience.

"Having been stationed at Duvall's Bluff, Arkansas, in command of a
brigade, of which my own regiment, the Third Minnesota infantry, formed
a part, I received orders from Maj. Gen. J. J. Reynolds, commanding the
Department of Arkansas, on the 15th of May, 1865, to establish a
military post at Batesville, Arkansas, on the upper White river, and to
take command of a district comprising the north-eastern portion of that
state. The field organization of the Seventh army corps, to which we
belonged, was being broken up. Some of the regiments were sent home to
be mustered out of service; others were sent to different points for
purposes of occupation. My own regiment and two squadrons of the Ninth
Kansas Cavalry were detailed for the work given in my charge.

"On the 18th of May we embarked on steam transports, and reached
Batesville on the 20th. A few days later my post headquarters was
established at Jacksonport, and the troops were distributed at different
points with one or two companies for each, at Batesville, Searcy,
Augusta, Powhatan; and the main force at Jacksonport, from which point
frequent cavalry patrols were sent to the outlying stations.

"The topography of that country is very irregular and unique. The
eastern portion, bordering upon the Mississippi, is flat and marshy,
with many lakes and bayous, and has a rich, alluvial soil. The other
portion is very broken, with hills and mountain ridges, rocks, caves and
beautiful streams, but poor soil. The lowlands had been occ