done the same?' he asked me with an
injured look. The killing of his negro for such an offence seemed so
right and natural to him that he was perfectly astonished when I
informed him that he would have to answer to the charge of murder before
a military commission at Little Rock, where he was at once sent for
trial. What a great change in sentiment a quarter of a century has
produced! Our children will never learn to realize what a curse slavery
was, even while some of them were in their cradles.

"It has been said that the old soldiers occasionally did a little
foraging on their own hook, while in the enemy's country, and I rather
think they did; but I wish to state most solemnly, that whatever bad
habits the boys might have had in that respect before the surrender of
the Confederate army, they reformed at once after that event, most
thoroughly and sincerely, and during the whole summer of 1865, although
scattered over a wide country, and almost free from military duty and
restraint, there was never a complaint made against a man in my command,
for depredation of any kind, and I verily believe that the rights of
property, even down to the beloved shoat and chicken, were held as
sacred by the Union soldiers in our district during that time as those
rights are ordinarily held in any well-governed country during times of
peace. All things considered I am fully convinced that the excellent
conduct of our soldiers in the South during the early days of
reconstruction, when the army took a prominent part in that work, did
more to establish law and order and to foster friendly and loyal
sentiments towards the Union, than all the laws and constitutional
amendments enacted for that purpose. Had the great and noble Lincoln
lived, or even if President Johnson had remained true to the principles
of his early life, and left the Union soldiers at liberty to carry out
the firm but humane policy of reconstruction which they inaugurated
under the inspiration of Grant and Sherman, we would have had not only
a united country, but a loyal and law abiding people in the South a
quarter of a century ago, because the Union soldier was the best citizen
and the best teacher of good citizenship. Armies of other nations have
achieved victories as great as ours, other soldiers than ours have been
patient, obedient, enduring and brave, but none in the world's history
have shown such greatness in civic virtues as the Union soldiers of the
war of the