Generals Thomas and Hancock, as a special mark of distinction to
two of my brother officers in the army. When General Grant was
inaugurated President I went with General Sherman in person to ask
the President to give General Thomas command of the Division of
the Pacific, which I had before proposed for him, but which the
President had designated for me, under the impression that General
Thomas did not want it.

A few days after that we went to our respective commands--General
Thomas to San Francisco, and I to Fort Leavenworth. From that time
we had no official or personal relations or correspondence during
the short remainder of his life.

In respect to what was made public during that brief period, I long
since refused to believe that the superior officer whom I had always
so highly respected could possibly have been capable, in his own
mind and heart, of doing me the grievous wrong which I at one time
believed he had done. I now add, as the result of calm and
dispassionate judgment, that any criticism at that time, even under
great provocation, that could seem unkind, not to say unjust, to
that noble, patriotic, and brave soldier, from any source, not
excluding myself, was wholly unjustifiable and worthy only of
condemnation. His great services had entitled him to the kindest
possible consideration of any imperfections, either real or supposed,
in his military operations.

PECULIARITIES OF THE OFFICIAL RECORDS

Now, in this winter of 1896-7, I have made a careful examination,
for the first time since the events, of all the published records
of the campaign of 1864 in Tennessee, for the purpose of doing
exact justice to the principal actors in that campaign, so far as
it is possible for me to do so. In this examination I have discovered
some things that have surprised me, but they have not altered my
deliberate judgment of the character of the great soldier under
whom I had the honor to serve in that campaign. I refer to them
only for the consideration of others.

(1) In the report of General Thomas dated January 20, 1865, covering
the entire period of the campaign, including both the battles of
Franklin and Nashville, in his commendation of subordinates he made
no distinction between the corps commanders who had served immediately
under him and only in the battle of Nashville, and the army commander
who, besides the like service at Nashville, had commanded the army