which even
then was thought by some not to be improbable and by a few thought to
be inevitable. It was during that period that he delivered the
address at the dedication of the Museum of Comparative Zoology at
Cambridge. The address met most fully the expectations of the
authorities at Cambridge, and it gave General Banks standing as an
orator when Massachusetts had orators--Everett, Choate, Phillips,
Hillard,--and when Harrison Gray Otis and Webster had not been
forgotten.

At the opening of the war Mr. Lincoln tendered to General Banks a
commission of the first rank, and a command of corresponding
importance. He had not received a military education, and he was
without experience in military life. His selection was due to a
general and well founded opinion that he possessed military qualities,
courage and decision, and that he was inspired by a deep devotion to
the Union. General Banks was a firm believer in the justice of our
cause, and he was animated by an unbounded confidence in our success,--
a confidence which was not impaired in the darkest days of the Civil
War. After the passing of a third of a century, a review of the entire
field on the Civil side does not reveal a character more worthy than
General Banks of high military command. In all the vicissitudes of his
military career, and success did not always wait upon his undertakings,
he never lost the confidence of Mr. Lincoln, nor Mr. Stanton, who was
the most exacting of men, whenever an officer failed in his duties.

General Banks' military career may be considered in three parts. As to
the campaigns of 1861 and 1862, on the Potomac, and in the valley of
the Shenandoah, it is to be said that his fortunes were in the main
the fortunes of McDowell, McClellan, and Pope, yet even in the presence
of general disaster, he gained distinction by his courage, resolution,
and equanimity of temper. The capture of Port Hudson, undertaken and
accomplished under his command, opened the Mississippi River below
Vicksburg to military operations and to business intercourse. The
event was second only in importance to the surrender of Vicksburg.

The Red River campaign was an ill advised undertaking, for which
General Banks was in no degree responsible. Indeed, he advised against
the movement. This I say upon his specific statement made to me. The
undertaking was a great error. There never was a day after April,
1861, when it was not apparent that the south-we