Military Order of the Loyal Legion 
 
 OF THE 
 
 vV^ y" United States. 
 
 
 NECROLOGY 
 
 OF THE 
 
 COMMANDERY 
 
 OF THE 
 
 DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA 
 1908 
 
 COMPANION 
 
 folm IHcliUistcr ^thoficIcT 
 
 LIEUTENANT-GENERAL. UNITED STATES ARWY. 
 

 Tci 
 
Military Order of the Loyal Legion 
 
 M 
 
 OF THE 
 
 United States ' 
 
 NECROLOGY 
 
 OF THE 
 
 COMMANDERY 
 
 OF THE 
 
 DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA 
 
 1908 
 

 >35 
 
 v/ 
 
 PRESS OF GIBSON BROTHERS, 
 WASHINGTON, D. C. 
 1908. 
 
 T: ^31903 
 
Military Order of the Loyal Legion 
 
 ^' OF THE 
 
 United States 
 Commandery of the District of Columbia 
 
 Hn nftemoriam 
 
 COMPANION 
 
 Lieutenant-General 
 
 John McAllister Schofield 
 
 UNITED STATES ARMY 
 Commander-in-Chief of the Order 1899-1903 
 
Military Order of the Loyal Legion 
 
 OF THE 
 
 United States 
 Commandery of the District of Columbia 
 
 STATED MEETING OF JANUARY 1, 1908 
 
 Excerpt from the Minutes 
 
 55. Hi H: :l: :i: * * 
 
 The Chairman of the Committee of Companions appointed 
 at the Stated Meeting of May i, 1907, to prepare an " In Me- 
 moriam" Tribute to deceased Companion Lieutenant-General 
 John McAllister vSchofield, United States Army, ex-Commander- 
 in-Chief of the Order, and in affiliation with the Commandery 
 at time of his decease, submitted the following report, viz: 
 
 "Commander:— Under the Resolution, unanimously adopted 
 at the Stated Meeting of April 3, 1907, your Committee, 
 as announced at the Stated Meeting, May i, 1907, has the 
 honor to submit, herewith, the '7w Memoriam' tribute, as 
 contemplated, to deceased Companion, Lieutenant-General 
 John McAllister Schofield, United States Army; Com- 
 mander-in-Chief of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of 
 the United States, 1899- 1903. 
 
 The 7w Memoriam' embraces contributions from your 
 Committee : 
 
 1. Brigadier-General Thomas M. Vincent, U. S. A., Chairman. 
 
 2. Colonel Felix A. Reeve, U. S. Volunteers. 
 
 3. Acting Assistant Paymaster Frank W. Hackett, late 
 U. S. Navy. 
 
JOHN MCALLISTER SCHOFl^LD. 
 
 and other contributions, as follows: 
 
 4. Major-General Joseph P. Sanger, U. S. Army. 
 
 5. Hon. John W. Foster, Ex-Secretary of State and Colonel 
 U. S. Volunteers. 
 
 *6. Brigadier-General William M. Wherry, U. S. Army. 
 *7. Brigadier-General Thomas J. Henderson, U. S. Volunteers. 
 *8. The Right Rev. Bishop Alex. Mackay-Smith, of the 
 Diocese of Pennsylvania. 
 
 Individual tributes have been deemed more fitting than 
 would be a combined one by your Committee. The contrib- 
 utors have supplemented each other. Where the recitals 
 have touched parts of the same subject matter, it has been 
 through a simple variation of language; and without consul- 
 tation among or between the contributors. Increased value 
 and interest have thus been added. 
 
 When the 'In Memoriam' shall have been printed, it is 
 respectfully recommended that a copy — in special and suitable 
 binding — be forwarded to the widow of our deceased Com- 
 panion. 
 
 With the highest respect, 
 
 THOMAS M. VINCENT, 
 Brigadier -General U. S. Army, 
 
 Chairntan. 
 For the Committee." 
 
 whereupon it was by unanimous vote ordered that the report 
 be accepted, and, with the accompanying Tribute, referred to 
 the Literary Committee and Board of Officere for due action 
 in the matter of pubUcation. 
 
 * Under the requisite consideration had by the Commandery Literary 
 Committee and Board of Officers, the valuable contributions 6, 7, and 
 8, specified in the foregoing Report, have been omitted in this pubU- 
 cation, due to promulgation otherwise. They stand, however, as part 
 of the Commandery Archives, and are thus accessible. 
 
3lu iHi^mnrtam. 
 
 Companion JOHN McALLISTER SCHOFIELD, 
 By 
 
 Companion Brigadier-General Thomas M. Vincent, 
 U. S. Army. 
 
 Truly has it been enunciated, by a noted biographer, that, in 
 presenting any part of the Ufe and deeds of any great man, it is 
 difficult, nay, impossible, to avoid presenting also other men 
 and other things. What a man thinks and does; what his 
 opinions and impulses are; what his relation to coincident 
 events and affairs ; his heredity; his environment; the effect 
 upon him of the opinions and the personality of other men; 
 the influence of all these varied things that happen, and of 
 which he is a part — all these things are so interwoven with the 
 man himself, that, in order to get a just appreciation of him, 
 it is necessary to consider them as well. The foregoing is 
 applicable to the subject of this paper, embracing, as it does, the 
 events and suffering of the people, of whom he was a part, 
 during the momentous Civil War which has led to the "perpet- 
 ual union" of the United States of America, and the "inde- 
 structible brotherhood of the American people." 
 
 John McAllister Schofield was born in the town of 
 Gerry, Chautauqua County, New York, September 29, 1831. 
 
JOHN MCALLISTER SCHOFIELD. 
 
 His father was the Rev. James Schofield who was then pastor 
 of the Baptist Church in Sinclairville, and, from 1843 to 1881, 
 a "home missionary" engaged in organizing new churches and 
 building "meeting houses," in IlUnois, Iowa and Missouri. His 
 mother was Carohne McAlHster, daughter of John McAllister, 
 of Gerry. The family removed to Illinois in June, 1843 — first 
 at Bristol, thence to Freeport, where his father began his mis- 
 sionary work by founding the First Baptist Church of that 
 place. Subsequently he became highly distinguished. In the 
 Civil War he was a Chaplain, appointed by President Lincoln ; 
 and, in that office, many were the letters he wrote for dying 
 soldiers, conveying to wife or mother the last message of love. 
 In his childhood and youth he had the best possible oppor- 
 tunities for education, in excellent public schools where the 
 rudiments of English were taught with great thoroughness, 
 in a fair amount of manly sports, and in hard work, mainly on 
 the farm and in building a new home, which left no time, and 
 little inclination, for any kind of mischief. At the age of sixteen 
 he spent several months in surveying public lands in the wilds 
 of northern Wisconsin, and, at seventeen, taught district school 
 in the town of Oneco. By that time he had chosen the law 
 as his profession, and was working hard to complete the pre- 
 paratory studies, at his own expense. He returned to Freeport 
 in 1849, and resumed "his struggle with Latin." Then the 
 course of his life was unexpectedly changed, due to his having 
 attracted the attention of the Hon. Thomas J. Turner, M. C. Mr. 
 Turner, as one of the public school directors, had been present 
 at an examination where young SchofiELd's subject was 
 mathematical. Besides, he had heard of the stamina of the boy 
 
JOHN mcai.uste;r schofield. 
 
 shown in the public land-surveying expedition ; and also from 
 his father the desire of his son to get a good education before 
 beginning the study of law. The result was the appointment 
 of ScHOFiEivD to the United States Military Academy. To get 
 there he sold a piece of land, the investment of all his little 
 savings, thus to fit out and meet the expenses of the trip. 
 He reported at West Point, June i, 1849, with less than two 
 dollars in his pocket, at the age of seventeen years and nine 
 months. He was soon met by William P. Carlin, of the second 
 class, and Hezekia H. Garber, of the third, both from Illinois; 
 and their protection in a brotherly way, with timely advice, 
 saved him from "anything even approaching to hazing." For 
 his room-mates, in the old South Barrack, he had Henry H. 
 Walker and John R. ChambHss— "two charming fellows from 
 Virginia." As to incidents of his cadet life we have his own 
 words: * * * '"The first summer I was on guard only 
 once. Then the Corporal of the grand-rounds tried to charge 
 over my post without giving the countersign, because I had 
 not challenged promptly. We crossed bayonets, but I proved 
 too strong for him, and he gave it up, to the great indignation 
 of the officer of the day, who had ordered him to charge, and 
 who threatened to report me but did not. That night I slept 
 on the ground outside the guard tents, and caught cold, from 
 which my eyes became badly inflamed, and I was laid up in the 
 hospital during the remainder of the encampment. On that 
 account I had a hard struggle with my studies the next year." 
 * * * "In our third class encampment, when Corporal 
 of the Guard, I had a little misunderstanding one night with 
 the sentinel on post along Fort Clinton ditch, which was then 
 
JOHN MCALLISTER SCHOFIELD. 
 
 nearly filled by a growth of bushes. The sentinel tore the 
 breast of my shell-jacket with the point of his bayonet, and 
 I tumbled him over backward into the ditch and ruined his 
 musket. But I quickly helped him out, and gave him my 
 musket in place of his, with ample apologies for my thought- 
 less act. We parted * * * in the best of feelings." * * * 
 
 ScHOFiELD devoted only a fraction of study hours to the 
 Academic Course — generally one hour, or one-and-a-half, to 
 each lesson. He never intentionally neglected any of his 
 studies. It simply seemed to him that a great part of his time 
 could be better employed in getting the education he desired 
 by the study of law, history, rhetoric, and general literature. 
 But he never disparaged the West Point education. He has 
 said: "As it was, and is now, there is, I believe, nothing equal 
 to it anywhere in this country. Its methods of developing the 
 reasoning faculties and habits of independent thought are the 
 best ever devised. West Point training of the mind is practi- 
 cally perfect." His habit was in harmony with the expression : 
 "He reads nmch; he is a great observer, and he looks quite 
 through the deeds of men. * * * Literature gives a wide 
 and deep insight into the nature of men and things." 
 
 Due to the instructive teaching he received at West Point, 
 ScHOFiELD, from the date of his first duty as a commissioned 
 oflicer, enunciated that: "Nothing is more absolutely indispen- 
 sable to a good soldier than perfect subordination and zealous 
 service to him whom the national will may make the official 
 superior for the time being." * * * p^t the relation 
 between the Army and its administrative head, and with the 
 civil power, are by no means so simple. When a too confident 
 
JOHN MCALLISTER SCHOFlELD. 
 
 soldier rubs up against them, he learns what "military disci- 
 pline" really means. It sometimes takes a civilian to "teach 
 a soldier his place in the government of a republic.'' * * * 
 
 His constitutional habit once led him into a very foolish 
 exploit at West Point. A discussion arose as to the possibility 
 of going to New York and back without danger of detection, 
 and he explained the plan. He was promptly challenged to 
 undertake it for a high wager, and that challenge overcame 
 any scruple he may have had. He did not care for the brief 
 visit to New York, and had only five dollars, loaned him by 
 Jerome N. Bonaparte. But he went to the city and back, in 
 perfect safety, between the two roll-calls he had to attend that 
 day. He returned to the Point a few minutes before evening 
 parade, walked across the plain in full view of the crowd of 
 officers and ladies, and appeared in ranks at roll-call, as innocent 
 as anybody. 
 
 After his entrance at West Point he attended the Bible 
 class regularly every Sunday, and rejoiced greatly to hear the 
 Scriptures expounded by the Chaplain who was the Professor 
 of Ethics. He attached due value to the religious instruction 
 thus received, and, after he had advanced in years and was the 
 General-in-Chief of the Army, said: "I have never, even to 
 this day, been willing to read or listen to what seemed to me 
 irreverent words, even though they might be intended to con- 
 vey ideas not very different from my own. It has seemed 
 to me that a man ought to speak with reverence of the religion 
 taught him in his childhood and believed by his fellow men, 
 or else keep his philosophical thoughts, however profound, to 
 himself." 
 
JOHN MCALLISTER SCHOFIELD. 
 
 January 9, 1897, before the State Baptist Convention of 
 Florida, he deHvered an address wherein he said: * * * 
 "When I was 13 years old my own father baptized me in the 
 Jordan of Illinois. And amid all the sectarian speculations and 
 discussions I have ever heard in more than half a century, it 
 has remained constantly in my mind, as a fact of my own 
 experience, that, whatever may have happened to anybody 
 else, I have been baptized ! When about 30 years of age, after 
 careful and conscientious study, I became united to the Protes- 
 tant Episcopal Church, in which faith, substantially, I have 
 steadfastly continued up to the present time. But, for some 
 years, members of my family, who were communicants of the 
 Church of Rome, were criticized indirectly through attacks 
 upon certain tenets of the faith of that Church, in a manner 
 that seemed to me unkind and unjust; but it mattered little, 
 as to the fact, whether unjust or not. Though I always have 
 loved peace rather than war, and have never been disposed 
 to seek a fight, that element in my nature was aroused that 
 impels the tiger to action when his mate or her young are 
 assailed. I did not permit anybody to attack the old Church 
 in my presence, in a manner which seemed to me harsh or 
 unjust, without resenting the implied insult to those who were 
 dear to me. I doubt if old Rome ever had a champion more 
 earnest than I at least appeared to be at such times." * * * 
 
 "In conclusion I will simply add, lest I may be misunder- 
 stood, that my present religious faith is to be found in that 
 code of Christian doctrine upon which all the great doctors 
 of divinity, of all creeds, who have studied and discussed the 
 subjects for eighteen hundred years, are substantially agreed. 
 
JOHN MCALLISTER SCHOFIKLD. 
 
 And I am quite sure the Divine Founder of Christianity does 
 not require me to bother my poor head about nice questions 
 upon which the learned doctors are still disputing." 
 
 ScHOFiELD, as a cadet, manifested that "intrepidity" which 
 in a higher degree distinguished him, through all the dangers 
 and trials of his life, as a commissioned officer. Once when his 
 horse ran away with him at cavalry drill, and placed his life 
 in jeopardy, he sat the animal firmly — with bridle and saber 
 hands in military position — and, by speaking to the animal, 
 regained control and rode back rapidly to the squadron. His 
 composure, under the circumstances, was remarkable! On 
 another occasion, while the class was at artillery drill, elevating 
 a heavy gun to position on its carriage, a skid gave way and the 
 gun fell crashing to the ground — the skids moving with great 
 force in all directions. The members of the class moved rapidly 
 for their lives! SchofiKLd's serenity was magnificent! 
 
 Near the last year of his cadetship, an event nearly proved 
 fatal to his military prospects. As to this we have his own 
 words: * * * "I was given charge of a section (of the 
 candidates, who had reported June i) in arithmetic, and have 
 never in all my life discharged my duty with more conscientious 
 fidelity than I drilled those boys in the subject with which 
 I was familiar, and in teaching which I had some experience. 
 We had gone over the entire course upon which they were 
 to be examined, and all were well prepared except two who 
 seemed hopelessly deficient upon a few subjects, which they had 
 been unable to comprehend. I took them to the blackboard 
 and devoted the last fifteen or twenty minutes before the bugle- 
 call to a final effort to prepare them for the ordeal which they 
 
 13 
 
JOHN MCALLISTER SCHOFIELD. 
 
 must face the next morning. While I was thus employed 
 several of my classmates came into the room, and began talking 
 to the other candidates. Though their presence annoyed me, 
 it did not interfere with my work; so I kept on intently with 
 the two young boys until the bugle sounded. 
 
 "I then went to my quarters, without paying any attention 
 to the interruption, or knowing anything of the character of 
 what had occurred. But one of the candidates, perhaps by way 
 of excuse for his failure, wrote to his parents some account of 
 the "deviltry" in which my classmates had indulged that day. 
 That report found its way to the War Department, and was soon 
 followed by an order to the commandant of cadets to investi- 
 gate. The facts were found to fully exonerate me from any 
 participation in, or countenance of the deviltry, except that 
 I did not stop it ; and showed that I had faithfully done my duty 
 in teaching the candidates. After this investigation was over 
 I was called upon to answer for my own conduct; and, the 
 names of my guilty classmates being unknown to the candi- 
 dates, I was held responsible for their conduct. I answered 
 by averring and showing, as I believed, my own innocence 
 of all that had been done, except my neglect of duty in toler- 
 ating such a proceeding. My conscience was so clear of any 
 intentional wrong that I had no anxiety about the result. But 
 in due time came an order from the Secretary of War dismissing 
 me from the Academy without trial ! That, I beUeve, shocked 
 me a little; but the sense of injustice was too strong in mv 
 mind to permit of a doubt that it would be righted when the 
 truth was known. I proposed to go straight to Washington 
 and lay the facts before the Government. * * * So I 
 
 14 
 
JOHN MCALLISTBR SCHOFIHLD. 
 
 carried with me a great bundle of letters setting forth my 
 virtues in terms which might have filled the breast of George 
 Washington with pride. * * * j j^^d made an early call 
 upon the 'Little Giant,' vSenator Douglass, to whom I had no 
 letter, and whom I had never met ; had introduced myself 
 as a 'citizen of lUinois' in trouble; and had told ni)^ story. 
 * * * j^g repHed : 'Come up in the morning and we will 
 go to see about it.' * * * I waited in the ante-room 
 only a few minutes, when the great Senator came out with a 
 genial smile on his face, shook me warmly by the hand, and 
 bade me good-bye, saying: 'It is all right. You can go back 
 to West Point. The Secretary (of War) has given me his 
 promise.' * * * i returned to West Point, and went 
 through the long forms of a court of inquiry, a court-martial, 
 and the waiting for the final action of the War Department — all 
 occupying five or six months — diligently attending to my mili- 
 tary and Academic duties, and trying hard to obey all the regu- 
 lations (except as to smoking), never for a moment doubting 
 the final result. * * * Implicit trust in Providence does 
 not seem to justify any neglect to employ the biggest battalions 
 and the heaviest guns! * * --i: j j^^^j been Corporal, Ser- 
 geant and Lieutenant up to the time of my dismissal; hence 
 the duties of private were a little difficult, and I found it hard 
 to avoid demerits." * * * 
 
 Lieutenant Milton Cogswell had been very kind to Scho- 
 FiEi.D during the period he was striving for restoration, and, in 
 that connection, we have these words: "Hence, after my com- 
 plete restoration to the Academy, in January, I found my 
 demerits accumulating with alarming rapidity, and I applied 
 
 15 
 
JOHN MCAUUSTER SCHOFIELD. 
 
 for and obtained a transfer to Company C, where I would be 
 under Lieutenant Cogswell and Cadet-Captain Vincent, my 
 beloved class-mate, who had invited me to share his room in 
 barracks." Prior to this transfer, he had been under a tactical 
 officer esteemed as a most accomplished soldier and tactician, 
 and the most rigid, but just and impartial discipUnarian. 
 Cadets under his charge were reported more frequently — even 
 for light offences — than by other tactical officers. 
 
 He had exceeding respect and admiration for Colonel Robert 
 E. Lee, the Superintendent, and Major Robert S. Garnett, 
 the Commandant; and often referred to their dignity, impar- 
 tial justice, and kindness. They had been his friends in time 
 of need ! 
 
 His first orders, after his graduating leave, assigned him to 
 Fort Moultrie, S. C, as Second Lieutenant, by brevet, in the 
 Second Artillery. He landed at Charleston, September 21, 
 1853, l^^s birthday, at the age of twenty-two years. At the 
 usual target practice he used the same guns that bombarded 
 Fort Sumter in 186 1. As to his enjoyment in society, he has 
 said: "Hospitality was unbounded and of the most charming 
 character. Nothing that I have ever experienced, at home or 
 in the great capitals of Europe, has surpassed or dimmed that 
 first introduction to southern society." In December, 1853, 
 he was ordered to Fort Capron, Florida, and removed to that 
 station via Jacksonville, Palatka, Lake Monroe, New Smyrna, 
 Mosquito Lagoon, and Indian River. It required twenty-five 
 days for the journey which, at that time, was deemed quite satis- 
 factory. At Fort Capron he met a garrison of four officers 
 and sixteen enlisted men of Battery D, F'irst Artillery, recently 
 
 16 
 
JOHN MCALLISTER SCHOFIELD. 
 
 from the Gulf coast, where yellow fever had been deadly. The 
 post was remote from civilization, and received its mail gener- 
 ally twice a month. An interruption resulted in that diversion, 
 and no mail arrived for three months ! Fortunately for Scho- 
 FiELD he had some law books — so few indeed that he learned 
 nearly all of them by heart; then, for want of anything better, 
 he read the entire code of the State of Florida, and extended 
 attention to the Constitution of the United States. Of the 
 latter he could repeat the exact words. 
 
 In the winter of 1853-4, connected with the armed truce 
 between the United States and the Seminole Nation, the policv 
 of the Government had for its object the estabUshment of a line 
 of posts across the State of Florida from Jupiter to Okeechobee, 
 and thence westward to the Gulf of Mexico — thus to confine 
 the Seminoles to the Everglade region. Schofield's first 
 work, in the winter of 1854-55, was to open the old miUtarv 
 road — route of General Twiggs — from the mouth of Indian 
 River, across the Kissimmee and thence to Tampa. There- 
 after the next step in the War Department strategical opera- 
 tions was to occupy Fort Jupiter, construct a new post there, 
 open the old military route — road of Generals Jcsup and 
 Eustis — and build a block -house on the cast shore of Okeecho- 
 bee Lake. Similar work, inclusive of another block-house, was 
 to be undertaken from the other shore of the lake westward. 
 With the western portion I was connected, inclusive of the 
 exploration of the Big Cypress swamp and the Everglades. 
 Thus, with the first field operations, SchofiEld and myself were 
 engaged. Our topographical labors became connected and 
 recorded through the War Department publication of April, 
 
 17 
 
JOHN MCALLISTER SCHOFIELD. 
 
 1856: "Florida South of Tampa Bay." In the discharge of 
 our duties we were stimulated by being in the region of his- 
 torical battlefields — General (subsequently President) Taylor's 
 Battle of Okeechobee, December 25, 18,37, and General Jesup's, 
 January 24, 1838, not remote from Fort Jupiter. 
 
 With the advent of hot weather, fever and dysentery — both 
 east and west of Okeechobee — broke out. At Jupiter, nearly 
 every man, woman and child sickened. The mortality was so 
 great that hardly enough strong men remained to bury the 
 dead ! SchoFiELD, so soon as he had sufficiently recovered from 
 an attack, was sent with other convalescents to Fort Capron ; 
 and there he acted as Post Surgeon, in the absence of a medical 
 officer, aided by an intelligent hospital steward. Among others 
 nursed by him at Capron was Lieutenant A. P. Hill — after- 
 wards Lieutenant-General in the Confederate Army. Hill 
 subsequently nursed SchofiELD during his serious relapse on 
 the St. Johns River steamer, at Savannah and Charleston ; and 
 when well enough to travel, took him to Culpeper, Virginia, 
 where his devoted attention was continued for quite a long time. 
 
 While at Capron, Schofield was promoted to First Lieu- 
 tenant, and ordered to West Point, where his restored health 
 permitted him to report the following December, 1855. He ever 
 retained vivid recollection of his Florida ser\ace, and referred 
 to the roads cut through the roots of the terrible saw-palmetto 
 and corduroyed through swamps, with comfort to person 
 entirely destroyed by the song and sting of the mosquito, and 
 the bite of the flea and sand-fly. Constant alertness was 
 demanded, due to huge alligators, and poisonous serpents — 
 moccasins and rattlers. Connected with the expected renewal 
 
 18 
 
JOHN MCALLISTER SCHOFIELD. 
 
 of hostilities of the Seminoles, the hardships of the exploration 
 duties recalled the former war, 1835-42, and the pecnUarity of 
 the service to which the forces therein engaged were subjected : 
 "There was to be seen, in the Everglades, the dragoon in water 
 from three to four feet deep, the sailor and marine wading in 
 the mud in the midst of cypress stumps, and the soldiers, infan- 
 try and artillery, alternating on the land, in the water, and in 
 boats. * * * Comforts and conveniences were totally 
 disregarded, even subsistence was reduced to the lowest ex- 
 tremity. Night after night officers and men were compelled to 
 sleep in their canoes, others in damp bogs, and in the morning 
 cook their breakfast over a fire built on a pile of sand in the 
 prov/ of the boat, or kindled around a cypress stump." * * * 
 Similar experiences resulted, to a painful extent, in the Florida 
 hostilities of 1854-57. 
 
 West of Okeechobee, almost entire commands were pros- 
 trated with serious illness. Post and cantonment hospitals were 
 inadequate, and, as a result, an extensive general hospital — • 
 approved by Jefferson Davis, then Secretary of War — had to 
 be erected at Fort Myers, not remote from the Gulf coast. 
 
 At West Point SchofiELD was assigned to duty in the Depart- 
 ment of Philosophy, under Professor W. H. C. Bartlett: "One 
 of the ablest, most highly esteemed, and most beloved of the 
 great men who have placed the United vStates Military Academy 
 among the foremost institutions of the world." 
 
 SCHOFIELD has said that he had the great good fortune never 
 to be compelled to report a cadet for any delinquency, nor 
 to find one deficient in studies, though he did sometimes have, 
 figuratively speaking, to beat them over the head with a cudgel 
 
 19 
 
JOHN MCAIvlvISTlvR SCIIOFIKLD. 
 
 to get in enough "phil" to pass the Academic Board. In his 
 congenial West Point work, with the object "to develop the 
 mental, moral, and physical man to as high a degree as possi- 
 ble, and to ascertain his best place in the public service," vScho- 
 FiELD formed, for the first time, the habit of earnest, hard mental 
 work, to the limit of his capacity for endurance, and sometimes 
 a Uttle beyond, which he retained for the greater part of his life. 
 He overtaxed himself, and was forced to take a short leave on 
 account of his Florida debiUty, which had reduced him almost 
 to a skeleton. When he returned to duty he began to pursue 
 physics into its more secret depths. He ever indulged the 
 "ambition to work out the mathematical interpretation of all 
 the phenomena of physical science, including electricity and 
 magnetism." He mastered practical astronomy, and, as a 
 result, said: "I do not beUcve anything else in the broad 
 domain of science can be half so fascinating as the study of 
 the heavens." 
 
 In the midst of his absorbing occupation, he forgot all about 
 the career he had chosen in his boyhood ; the law did not 
 longer have its charm for him. Yet he found, in after life, 
 far more use for the law than for physics and astronomy, and 
 little less than for the art and science of war. 
 
 In June, 1857, he married Miss Harriet Bartlett, daughter 
 of his chief in the Department of Philosophy. Five children 
 were born to that union: John Rathbone, born 1858, died 
 1868; William Bartlett (now Major U. vS. A.), born i860; 
 Henry Halleck, born 1862, died 1862; Mary Campbell (now 
 Mrs. Avery D. Andrews), born 1865; Richmond McAllister 
 (now Major U. S. A.), born 1867. 
 
JOHN MCALLISTER SCHOFIELD. 
 
 His term of service at West Point ended in the summer of 
 i860. He has said that his taste for service in the Une of 
 the army was gone ; all hope of promotion was still further 
 away ; he had been for more than four years about nineteenth 
 First Lieutenant in his regiment, without rising a file; he was 
 a man of family ; and there was no captaincy in sight for him 
 during the ordinary lifetime of man. Accordingly he accepted 
 the Professorship of Physics in the Washington University, St. 
 Louis, Missouri. Mr. Jefferson Davis, vSecretary of War, gave 
 him a timely hint that promotion might improve, and General 
 Scott gave him a highly flattering indorsement which secured 
 leave of absence for a year. Thus he retained his commission. 
 
 As the period of the Civil War approached he occupied 
 a very large part of his time in reading and studying, as coolly 
 as possible, every phase of the momentous questions which he 
 had been warned "must probably be submitted to the decision 
 of war." He took an early occasion to inform General Scott 
 of his readiness to relinquish his leave of absence and return 
 to duty, whenever his services might be required. His life 
 in St. Louis, during the eight months preceding the war, was 
 of great benefit to him in the delicate and responsible duties 
 which so soon devolved upon him. His connection with the 
 Washington University brought him into close relations with 
 many of the most patriotic, enlightened, and, above all, unsel- 
 fish citizens of Missouri — some were of the Southern school; 
 but the large majority were earnest Union men, though holding 
 various shades of opinion on the question of slavery. They 
 were philanthropic, and had learned to respect the sincerity 
 of each other's adverse convictions. 
 
JOHN MCALLISTER SCHOFIELD. 
 
 With the dawn that miUtary force would soon be required, 
 he informed the War Department that he stood ready for miU- 
 tary service, and was instructed to await orders at St. Louis. 
 As soon as President Lincoln made his first call for volunteers 
 orders were received by him to organize and muster in the 
 Missouri quota. He urged the Department Commander as 
 to the necessity for prompt action to protect the St. Louis 
 arsenal, and made known to him a rumor that an attack was 
 to be made by persons encamped near the city under the guise 
 of State militia. In connection with Captain Lyon, then com- 
 manding the arsenal, he was active, night and day, in getting 
 loyal secret organizations into the arsenal, and distributing arms 
 and ammunition to them. Thus the safety of the arsenal was 
 secured. 
 
 The strength of the force mustered by Schofield — with 
 which the war in Missouri began — was about 14,000. June 24, 
 1 86 1, he made full report of the force to the Adjutant-General, 
 U. S. A. ; and, the next day, he was relieved from organizing and 
 mustering duty, with orders to report to General Lyon at Boon- 
 ville, as his Adjutant-General and Chief of Staff. Lyon had 
 been elected Brigadier-General of the militia, and, May 17, was 
 appointed by the President to the same grade in the United 
 States Volunteer forces. May 30, General Harney was relieved 
 from the command of the Department of the West, and General 
 Lyon became the commander. May 10, Lyon had marched 
 with the force then organized and caused the surrender of the 
 militia at Camp Jackson. That force, though a lawful State 
 organization, was an incipient rebel army, and it was necessary 
 to crush it in the bud. In recognition of SchoFIELd's most 
 
JOHN MCALLISTER SCHOFIELD. 
 
 valuable services connected with the surrender, he was desig- 
 nated by General Lyon to receive the surrender, take charge 
 of the prisoners, conduct them to the arsenal, and there parole 
 them. The possession of St. Louis was thus secured, and fur- 
 ther operations could be conducted in the interior of the State. 
 Accordingly, June 26, Schofield joined Lyon at Boonville. 
 The objective of the Union forces was the southwestern part of 
 Missouri, and preparations were made accordingly; General 
 Lyon's march began July 3, and the command reached Spring- 
 field July 13, and there met Sigel's Brigade. 
 
 General Fremont reached St. Louis July 25, i86r, and, at 
 the start, found himself in an enemy's country. St. Louis was 
 in sympathy with the South, and the State of Missouri in activfe 
 rebellion against the national authority. "In addition to the 
 bodies of armed men that swarmed over the State, a Confederate 
 force of nearly 50,000 men was already on the Southern frontier; 
 Pillow, with 12,000, advancing upon Cairo; Thompson, with 
 5,000, upon Girardeau ; Hardee, with 5,000, upon Ironton ; and 
 Price, with an estimated force of 25,000, upon Lyon at Spring- 
 field. Their movement was intended to overrun Missouri, and, 
 supported by a friendly population of over a million, to seize 
 upon St. Louis and make that city a center of operations for 
 the invasion of the loyal States." 
 
 "General Lyon's intention was, upon effecting junction with 
 Sturgis and Sigel (at Springfield), to push forward and attack 
 the enemy, if possible, while we were superior to him in strength. 
 * * * '];he troops had to live upon the country, and many 
 of them were without shoes. A continuous march of more 
 than two or three days was impossible. Lyon's force was 
 
 23 
 
JOHN MCALI.ISTKR SCHOKIEI.D. 
 
 rapidly diminishing, and would soon almost disappear by the 
 discharge of the three months' men, while that of the enemy 
 was as rapidly increasing, and becoming more formidable by 
 additions to its supplies of arms and ammunition. Lyon made 
 frequent appeals for reinforcements and provisions, but received 
 little encouragement, and soon became convinced that he must 
 rely upon the resources then at his command. He was un- 
 willing to abandon southwestern Missouri to the enemy without 
 a struggle, even though almost hopeless of success, and deter- 
 mined to bring on a decisive battle, if possible, before his short- 
 termed volunteers were discharged." General Lyon's perplexed- 
 ness was so heavy that he did not rise, as said by Schofield, 
 "to an appreciation of the fact that his duty, as com- 
 mander in the field of one of the most important of the LTnion 
 Armies, was not to protect a few loyal people from the inevitable 
 hardships of war, * * * j^^^- j-q make as sure as possible 
 the defeat of the hostile army, no matter whether to-day, 
 to-morrow, or next month." Otherwise "the Battle of Wilson's 
 Creek would not have been fought." August 9, Lyon received 
 a letter from Fremont, then commanding the Department, to 
 the effect that "if Lyon was not strong enough to maintain his 
 position as far in advance as Springfield, he should fall back 
 toward Rolla until reinforcements should meet him." The same 
 date Lyon replied: * * * "I find my position extremely 
 embarrassing, and am at present unable to determine whether 
 I shall be able to maintain my ground or be forced to retire. 
 I can resist any attack from the front, but if the enemy moves 
 to surround me, I shall hold my ground as long as possible." 
 * * * Differences of opinion existed between Lyon and 
 
JOHN MCALIJSTliR SCHOFIEIvD. 
 
 ScHOFiELD over the question which they had been discussing 
 for several days, namely : "What action did the situation require 
 of him as commander of that Army?" Schofield favored 
 that the Army should retire ! After Lyon had decided to attack, 
 not a word passed between him and SchofiELD on the question 
 whether the attack should be made, except the question: 
 "Is Sigel willing to undertake this?" and Lyon's answer: 
 "Yes; it is Sigel's plan." 
 
 The night of August 9, Lyon was not hopeful. Schofield 
 encouraged him to take a more hopeful view, assuring him that 
 the troops were easily rallied and were gaining confidence. 
 
 By ten o'clock a. m., of August 10 — an eventful day — Sigel 
 was out of the fight, and the enemy turned his whole force on 
 Lyon. Meantime a body of troops was seen moving down the 
 east bank of the creek, towards Lyon's left, and Schofield 
 deployed eight companies of the First Iowa and led them in 
 person to repel the movement, which they did most gallantly 
 after a sanguinary struggle. Lyon, with an aide and orderlies, 
 followed closely the right of the Iowa regiment, and the aide 
 protested against his exposing himself to the fire of the line ; 
 and asked if he should not bring up some other troops. Lyon 
 assented, and the Second Kansas arriving, he joined it with two 
 companies of the First Iowa, and, leading the column, moved 
 forward swinging his hat. The enemy opened a murderous fire, 
 and after a brilliant charge of the column — Lyon at its head — 
 which drove the enemy, Lyon fell, penetrated by a ball in his 
 left breast, and expired almost instantly. 
 
 The engagement is considered as one of the severest of 
 the War. "Never before — considering the number engaged — 
 
JOHN MCALLISTER SCHOFIELD. 
 
 had so bloody a battle been fought on American soil; seldom 
 has a bloodier one been fought on any modem field." The 
 Union force was 5,400 — with 16 guns; the Confederate force 
 10,175 — with 15 guns. 
 
 ScHOKiELD "was conspicuously gallant in leading a successful 
 charge against the enemy," for which he received the Con- 
 gressional Medal of Honor! He has said: "The plan of battle 
 was determined on the morning of the 9th, in consultation 
 between General Lyon and Colonel Sigel, no other officers being 
 present. General Lyon said : "It is Sigel's plan, yet he seemed 
 to have no hesitation in adopting it, notwithstanding its depart- 
 ure from accepted principles, having great confidence in Sigel's 
 superior military ability and experience." And Sigel has ad- 
 mitted the weakness of "Sigel's plan" in the following words: 
 * * * "It will be seen that the maneuver of outflanking and 
 'marching into the enemy's rear' is not always successful. It 
 was not so at Wilson's Creek when we had approached, unob- 
 served, within cannon shot of the enemy's line; however, we 
 were only 5,400 (with 16 guns) against about 11,000 (with 15 
 guns). In a maneuver of that kind, the venture of a smaller 
 army to surprise and 'bag' an enemy whose forces are concen- 
 trated and who holds the interior lines, or inside track, will 
 always be great, unless the enemy's troops are inferior in 
 quality, or otherwise at a discount." 
 
 The force engaged at Wilson's Creek arrived at Rolla August 
 19, nine days after the battle, and the Army of the West 
 disappeared in the much larger army which General Fremont 
 was then organizing. Schofield's duties, as Adjutant-General 
 and Chief of Staff, ceased August 13; and he then took com- 
 
 26 
 
JOHN MCALLISTER SCHOFIELD. 
 
 mand of his regiment, the First Missouri, and, with it, was 
 ordered to St. Louis, where the regiment was changed to the 
 artillery arm. During that reorganization he hastily extem- 
 porized a battery and proceeded with it to Fredericktown, to 
 meet a Confederate force under Jeff. Thompson, which had 
 interfered with the communication to St. Louis; and even that 
 city was in danger. The engagement was sharp and resulted 
 in considerable loss on both sides; but the Confederates soon 
 gave way and retreated in disorder. vSchofield then left the 
 battery with the Union forces — about 3,000 — and returned to 
 resume his duties at St. Louis, where November 19, 1861, he 
 was appointed by the President, Brigadier-General, U. S. Vol- 
 unteers. He then reported to Major-General Halleck, com- 
 manding the Department of the Mississippi, who, November 
 27, assigned him to the "command of all the militia of the 
 State," and charged him with the duty of raising, organizing, 
 and equipping the force which had been authorized by the 
 President. His official report, December 7, 1862, to the Depart- 
 ment Commander and General in Chief (War Records, Vol. 
 Xni, p. 7) gives an account of the purely military operations of 
 that period. But many matters, less purely military, which 
 entered largely into the history of that time, deserve more than a 
 passing notice ; and we have vSchofield's words : ' ' During the 
 short administration of General Fremont in Missouri, the Union 
 party was split into two factions, 'radical' and 'conservative,' 
 hardly less bitter in their hostility to each other than to the 
 party of secession. The more advanced leaders of the radicals 
 held that secession had abolished the Constitution and all law 
 restraining the power of the Government over the people of 
 
JOHN MCALLISTER SCHOFIELD. 
 
 the Confederate States, and even over disloyal citizens of States 
 adhering to the Union. They advocated immediate emanci- 
 pation of the slaves, and confiscation, by military authority, of 
 all property of 'rebels and rebel sympathizers' — that is to say, of 
 all persons not of the radical party, for in their partisan heat, 
 they declined to make any distinction between 'conservatives,' 
 'copperheads,' and 'rebels.'" 
 
 The "Confiscation Act" of July 17, 1862, was involved, com- 
 plications resulted, and the instructions of the Secretary of War 
 were repudiated by the President! Serious evil existed. The 
 radical theory of military confiscation had been carried out by 
 General Curtis, as Department Commander, for some months. 
 ScHOFiELD, as his successor, put a stop to it! There was an 
 appeal to the President who "directed the military to have 
 nothing to do with the matter." August 4, 1862, feeling was so 
 warm that a committee was sent to Washington, and Halleck — 
 then the General in Chief — on August 10, telegraphed Scho- 
 •FiELd: "There is a committee here * * * asking your 
 removal on account of inefficiency." As to this Schofield 
 said : " I have never had the curiosity to attempt to ascertain 
 how far the meeting of August 4, was hostile to me personally." 
 
 Subsequent to the departure of General Halleck for Wash- 
 ington, July 23, 1862, there appears to have been a contest, in 
 Washington, between the political and military influence, rela- 
 tive to the disposition to be made of the Department of the 
 Mississippi. The result was its division; and General Curtis 
 was assigned to command the new Department of the Missouri 
 composed of the territory west of the Mississippi River. For 
 some months the radicals controlled, and military confiscation 
 
 28 
 
JOHN MCALLISTER SCHOIflELD. 
 
 was without hindrance. When the change occurred, SchoFiELD 
 was in the field, in command of the forces assembled for aggres- 
 sive operations, and designated as the Army of the Frontier. 
 November 20, 1862, sickness compelled him to relinquish that 
 command which he resumed December 20. The Battle of 
 Prairie Grove had been fought December 7, resulting in the 
 defeat of the enemy. It was evident that the campaign, in that 
 part of the country, was ended, and SchofiELD took it for 
 granted that the large force — nearly 16,000 men — was not to 
 remain idle while Grant, or some other commander, was trying 
 to open the Mississippi River. Accordingly he reorganized his 
 command to hold the country we had gained, and, with three 
 good divisions, to prosecute such operations as might be deter- 
 mined on. He at once commenced the march north and east 
 toward the theater of active operations. In the divisional 
 reorganization it was suggested that one of the division com- 
 manders should be relieved and assigned to the District of 
 Kansas, where he had been permitted to go to look after his 
 personal interests. That confidential suggestion was betrayed, 
 and became known to Senator Lane of Kansas, and other polit- 
 ical friends of the division commander contemplated for the 
 district command. "The result of this, and radical influence in 
 general," was that Schofield's nomination, as Major-General 
 of Volunteers, then pending in the vSenate, was not confirmed, 
 while two juniors, of Schofield's command, were confirmed in 
 that grade of Major-General! vSubsequently SchofiEld had 
 an interview with Lane, and made a note of it : "Went over the 
 whole ground of his hostility to General S. during the past year. 
 Showed him the injustice that he had done to General S. and 
 
 29 
 
JOHN MCALLlSTlvR SCHOFlELD. 
 
 how foolish and unprofitable to himself his hostility had been. 
 He stated with apparent candor that he had bent the whole 
 energies of his soul to the destruction of General S. ; had never 
 labored harder to accomplish any object of his life. Said he 
 had been evidently mistaken in the character and principles of 
 General S. and that no man was more ready than he to atone 
 for a fault." 
 
 After the Battle of Prairie Grove, Schofield asked the Com- 
 manding General of the Department to let him join the Vicks- 
 burg expedition, but the request was not granted — for the 
 reason that he was wanted to command the Army of the Fron- 
 tier. As a result Schofield said, very properly: "The situa- 
 tion seemed to me really unendurable ! I was compelled to lie 
 at Springfield all the latter part of winter, with a well-appointed 
 Army Corps eager for active service, hundreds of miles from any 
 hostile force, and where we w^ere compelled to haul our own 
 supplies, in wagons, over the worst of roads, 1 20 miles from the 
 railroad terminus at Rolla. I could not get permission even to 
 move nearer the railroad, much less toward the line on which 
 the next advance must be made ; and this while the whole 
 country was looking, with intense anxiety, for the movement 
 that was to open the Mississippi to the Gulf, and the Govern- 
 ment was straining every nerve to make that movement suc- 
 cessful. Hence I wrote General Halleck, January 31, 1863, and 
 February -:^. * * * "yUq whole correspondence may be 
 found in War Records, Vol. XXH, part ii. In my letter Jan- 
 uary 31,1 said: 'Pardon me for suggesting that the forces under 
 Davidson, Warren and myself might be made available in the 
 opening of the Mississippi, should that result not be accom- 
 
 pHshed quickly.' * * * 
 
 30 
 
JOHN MCALLISTER SCHOFIHLD. 
 
 "The immediate result of this correspondence was that some 
 troops were* sent down the river, but none of my command, 
 while two divisions of the latter were ordered to the East. This 
 march was in progress when Congress adjourned. The Senate 
 not having confirmed my appointment as Major-General, the 
 time of my temporary humiliation arrived. But I had not 
 relied wholly in vain upon General Halleck's personal knowledge 
 of my character. He had not been fully able to sustain me 
 against selfish intrigue in Kansas, Missouri, and Washington ; 
 but he could, and did, promptly respond to my request, and 
 ordered me to Tennessee, where I could be associated with 
 soldiers who were capable of appreciating my soldierly quali- 
 ties. One of the happiest days of my life was when I reported 
 to Rosecrans and Thomas at Murfresboro, received their cordial 
 welcome, and was assigned to the command of Thomas' own 
 old division of the Fourteenth Corps. One of the most agree- 
 able parts of my whole military service was the thirty days in 
 command of that division at Triune, and some of my most 
 valued attachments were formed there. But that happy period 
 of soldier life was brief. Early in May President Lincoln re- 
 appointed me Major-General, with original date, November 29, 
 1862, and ordered me back to the old scene of unsoldierly strife 
 and turmoil, in Missouri and Kansas." 
 
 May 24, 1863, ScHOFiELD relieved General Curtis in com- 
 mand of the Department of the Missouri. In his instructions 
 of May 22, Halleck said: "You owe your present appointment 
 entirely to the choice of the President himself. * * * But 
 I fully concur in the choice, and will give you all possible sup- 
 port and assistance in the performance of the arduous duties 
 
 31 
 
JOHN MCALLISTER SCHOFIELD. 
 
 imposed upon you." President Lincoln, May 27, wrote : "Hav- 
 ing relieved General Curtis and assigned you to the command 
 of the Department of the Missouri, I think it may be of some 
 advantage for me to state to you why I did it. 
 
 "I did not relieve General Curtis because of any full convic- 
 tion that he had done wrong by commission or omission. I 
 did it because of a conviction in my mind that the Union men 
 of Missouri, constituting, when united, a vast majority of the 
 whole people, have entered into a pestilent factional quarrel 
 among themselves, General Curtis, perhaps not of choice, being 
 the head of one faction, and Governor Gamble that of the 
 other. After months of labor to reconcile the difficulty, it 
 seemed to grow worse and worse, until I felt it my duty to 
 break it up somehow; and as I could not remove Governor 
 Gamble, I had to remove General Curtis. 
 
 "Now that you are in the position,! wish you to undo noth- 
 ing merely because General Curtis or Governor Gamble did 
 it, but to exercise your own judgment and do right for the public 
 interest. 
 
 "Let your military measures be strong enough to repel the 
 invader and keep the peace, and not so strong as to unneces- 
 sarilv harass and persecute the people. It is a difficult role, 
 and so much greater the honor if you perform it well. If both 
 factions, or neither, shall abuse you, you will probably be 
 about right. Beware of being assailed by one and praised by 
 the other." 
 
 SchoField's view dictated to him but one course as to the 
 military situation — to send all available force to assist in 
 the capture of Vicksburg and the opening of the Mississippi 
 
JOHN MCALLISTER SCHOFIELD. 
 
 to the Gulf. After that he could operate from points on the 
 Mississippi as a base, capture Little Rock and the line of the 
 Arkansas, and then make that river the base of future opera- 
 tions. Accordingly he sent to Grant and other commanders 
 all the troops he could possibly spare, saying that it would 
 leave him weak, but that he was "willing to risk it in view 
 of the vast importance of Grant's success." His loan of troops 
 to Grant was returned with interest, as soon as practicable 
 after the fall of Vicksburg; and he was then able to advance 
 a large force for the capture of Little Rock, resulting in holding 
 the entire Arkansas River line from that time forward. 
 
 Grant was touched deeply by Schofield's action; and 
 ever afterward manifested to SchoField his kind and generous 
 confidence. SchoField coupled that manifestation with like 
 manifestations of approval from President Lincoln, and viewed 
 them as "the most cherished recollections of his official career." 
 President Lincoln said: "Few things have been so grateful to 
 my anxious feelings, as when, in June last, the local force in 
 Missouri aided General SchoFiELD to so promptly send a large 
 general force to the relief of General Grant, then investing 
 Vicksburg and menaced from without by General Johnston." 
 
 That communication was to the Hon. Charles S. Drake 
 and others, a committee, then demanding SchoFIELd's removal ; 
 and President Lincold added: * * * "Without disparaging 
 any, I affirm with confidence that no commander of that Depart- 
 ment has, in proportion to his means, done better than Scho- 
 FiELD." After the radical committee had returned from 
 Washington, SchoFIELD, October 13, wrote in his journal: 
 "The radical delegation * * * very much crest-fallen. 
 
 53 
 
JOHN MCALLISTER SCHOFIELD. 
 
 It is generally conceded that they have accomplished 
 nothing." * * * 
 
 "Senator Lane spoke at Turner's Hall last evening ; * * * 
 was silent on the subject of the Department Commander. He 
 informed me yesterday * * * that he had stopped the 
 war upon me, and intended hereafter not to oppose me unless 
 circumstances rendered it necessary. Said that the President 
 told him that whoever made war on General SchoFiELD, under 
 the present state of affairs, made war on him — the President. 
 Said he had never made war on General S. 'except incidentally.' " 
 
 As to an attempt to obtain, from SchoFiELD, some expres- 
 sion of partisan preference, between the "pestilent factions," 
 ScHOFiELD stated his position : "My dealing is with individuals, 
 not with parties. Officially I know nothing of radicals or con- 
 servatives. The question with me is simply what individuals 
 obey the laws, and what violate them ; who are for the Govern- 
 ment and who against it? The measures of the President 
 are my measures; his orders my rule of action. Whether 
 a particular party gains strength or loses it by my action, must 
 depend upon the party, and not on me." 
 
 In December, 1863, Schofield received a summons from 
 the President to come to Washington. At the time, he felt 
 that his administration had been fully vindicated. He was 
 satisfied of some impending change, and cared not how soon 
 it might come. His toilsome command, with its political com- 
 plications, was not at all to his taste ; and it was with pleasure 
 that he received the President's summons. He suspected that 
 it resulted from continued erroneous representations to the 
 President as to his views involving a union of the Missouri 
 
 34 
 
JOHN MCALLISTER SCHOFIELD. 
 
 radicals and conservatives. Upon his first visit to the Presi- 
 dent, the latter repeated the erroneous representation with- 
 out intimating that he attached much weight to it. SchoFiELD 
 at once replied by giving simple facts, and stated his true posi- 
 tion on the question. The President promptly dismissed the 
 subject saying: "I believe you, SchoFiELd; these fellows 
 have been lying to me again.'' Previously to this some Mis- 
 souri men had stated to the President their views as to the 
 condition of affairs in that State. The President listened, and 
 then took from his desk a letter from Schofield, read it to them, 
 and then said: "That is the truth about the matter; you 
 fellows are lying to me!" 
 
 Schofield remained some time in Washington, and had full 
 conversations with the President on public affairs — frankly 
 told that it was impossible for him to reconcile certain differ- 
 ences — indeed that he did not believe that any general in the 
 army could, as Department Commander, satisfy the Union 
 people of both Kansas and Missouri; neither the man, nor the 
 policy, that would suit the one would be at all satisfactory to 
 the other. Accordingly, the President soon determined to 
 divide the old Department of the Missouri into three Depart- 
 ments, and try to assign to each a commander suited to its 
 peculiarities. But, he declared decidedly to Schofield — and 
 to his friends in the Senate — that he would make no change 
 until the Senate united with him in vindicating Schofield, by 
 confirming his nomination as Major-General, then in the hands 
 of the Senate Military Committee; and that then he would 
 give Schofield a more important command! 
 
 Within a month General Grant, then commanding the Mili- 
 
 35 
 
JOHN MCALLISTER SCIIOFIELD. 
 
 tary Division of the Mississippi, telegraphed that, due to ill- 
 health of the commander of the Department and Army of the 
 Ohio, it would be necessary to appoint a successor; and that 
 he desired either McPherson or SchoField. General Halleck 
 handed General Grant's despatch to Schofield and asked him 
 how he "would like that." Schofield replied: "That is 
 exactly what I want; nothing in the world could be better." 
 Halleck then told Schofield to take the despatch to the Presi- 
 dent; and Schofield in handing it to the President, said: 
 "If you want to give me that, I will take all the chances of the 
 future, whether in the Senate or elsewhere." The President 
 replied: "Why, Schofield, that cuts the knot, don't it? Tell 
 Halleck to come over here and we will fix it right away." 
 Schofield started at once for St. Louis, to turn over his com- 
 mand and proceed to his new field of duty. He left his old 
 command "without regret, and with buoyant hopes of satis- 
 factory service in a purely military field." Crowned with pre- 
 eminence — as soldier, statesman, patriot — he had yielded his 
 toilsome command and its political complications. Thrice 
 favored was he by the justness of his cause. His enemies said : 
 "Thrice, noble lord, let me entreat of you to pardon me!" 
 
 On February 8, 1864, at Knoxville, Tennessee, he assumed 
 his new command. The troops about Knoxville were : The 
 Ninth Corps; two divisions of the Twenty-third; about 1,000 
 cavalry; and two divisions of the Fourth Corps. Due to 
 contingencies of the service, some of the organizations were 
 reduced to skeletons. Of about 30,000 animals, with which 
 General Bumside had gone into East Tennessee, scarcely 1,000 
 remained; while his army of 25,000 men had been reduced to 
 
 36 
 
JOHN MCALLISTER SCHOFIELD. 
 
 not more than 7,000 fit for effective service in the field. Such 
 was the result of the siege of Knoxville ; and such the Army 
 of the Ohio when Schofield became its commander. The 
 miserable condition of the troops, the season of the year, lack 
 of transportation for supplies and of a pontoon bridge to cross 
 the river, rendered any considerable movement impossible. 
 But apprehension existed and Schofield determined to assume 
 the defensive, and maintain it, as far as practicable. He acted 
 accordingly, and Longstreet's opposing forces withdrew across 
 the Holston and French Broad, and retreated toward Morris- 
 town. Subsequently they leisurely withdrew from Tennessee 
 and joined Lee in Virginia. 
 
 On April 7, 1864, Senator J. B. Henderson, by letter, informed 
 Schofield that the Military Committee of the Senate had 
 reported against his confirmation as Major-General ! His 
 enemies had not been silenced, notwithstanding his approval 
 and support by the President, the Secretary- of -War, General 
 Halleck, General Grant and General Sherman. It was in con- 
 nection with their support and approval that Schofield said : 
 "I am willing to abide the decision of any one or all. of them, 
 and I would not give a copper for the weight of anybody's or 
 everybody's opinion in addition to, or in opposition to, theirs." 
 * * * "Qrant was here in the winter, and Sherman only 
 a few days ago. They are fully acquainted with the condition 
 of affairs. I have been acting all the time under their instruc- 
 tions." * * * It was during Sherman's visit that he dis- 
 closed his plans to Schofield for the coming campaign, and 
 the part Schofield was expected to take in it. The latter 
 has said: "It would be difficult to give an adequate conccp- 
 
 37 
 
JOHN MCALLISTER SCHOFIELD. 
 
 tion of the feeling of eager expectation and enthusiasm with 
 which, having given (through his reply of April 15, 1864, to 
 Senator Henderson's letter of April 7) my final 'salutation' to 
 my friends in the Senate, I entered upon the preparation for 
 this campaign. Of its possible results to the country there 
 was room in my mind only for confidence. But, for myself, 
 it was to decide my fate, and that speedily. My reputation 
 and my rank as a soldier — so long held in the political bal- 
 ance — were at length to be settled. The long-hoped-for oppor- 
 tunity had come, and that under a general whose character 
 and ability were already established, and of the justice of 
 whose judgment and action, regarding his subordinates, thei;e 
 could be no reason for doubt in my mind. My command was 
 to be mostly of veteran troops, and not too large for my 
 experience. Its comparative smallness was a source of satis- 
 faction to me at that time, rather than anything like jealousy 
 of my senior brother commanders of the Cumberland and 
 Tennessee." 
 
 His first care was to provide his troops with all necessary 
 equipments, and to fill up the ranks. "It was a refreshing 
 sight to see the changed aspect of the gallant little army as it 
 marched with full ranks, and complete equipment, newly clad, 
 from Knoxville toward Dalton." He quickly won the con- 
 fidence of his men, and the Twenty-third Corps confided in 
 him, as he did in them. An old soldier was heard to sav, as 
 ScHOFiELD passed his regiment when it was under fire: "// 
 is all right, hoys; I like the way the old man chaws his tobacco!'' 
 About the close of the Atlanta campaign, Sherman said: "The 
 Twenty-third Corps never failed to do all that was expected of 
 it. * * * Where he [vSciiofield] was, there was securitv!" 
 
 38 
 
JOHN MCALLISTER SCHOFIELD. 
 
 The Twenty-third Corps and Army of the Ohio, under Scho- 
 FiELD, was engaged in action at Buzzard's Roost; Resaca; 
 Dalton; Lost Mountain — numerous severe engagements; 
 Kulp's Farm; Kenesaw Mountain; passage of the Chattahoo- 
 chee; operations in front of Atlanta, and the battle and siege of 
 that place. To take up the movements of the campaign would 
 be beyond the sphere of this paper ; but I may say that Scho- 
 FiELD did not agree with Sherman in all parts of his grand tac- 
 tics and strategy. The fact was developed as the two discussed 
 their battles. Nevertheless, Sherman was deeply impressed 
 with SchoFiELd's views, and at the close of the Atlanta Cam- 
 paign requested SchoFiEld to "write a full critical history 
 of the campaign, as a text-book for miHtary students. Scho- 
 FiELD hoped, as a labor of love, if for no other reason, to present 
 his impressions "of those grand tactical evolutions of a com- 
 pact army of 100,000 men," as he witnessed them, "with the 
 intense interest of a young commander, and student of the 
 great art which has so often in the history of the world deter- 
 mined the destinies of nations." He expressed the view that: 
 "Sherman's campaigns stand alone, without parallel in military 
 history; alike unique in their conception, execution, and final 
 results; in most respects among the highest examples in the 
 Art of War. Plans so general and original, in conception 
 and successful execution, point to a very high order of genius." 
 
 Here I may refer to some incidents : 
 
 The class-ring of 1853 bears the motto: "We separate for 
 service." Little did the class realize what the service would 
 be ! The impenetrable curtain of their mortal lives hung before 
 them— they were simply 'little boats" about to pass down 
 
 39 
 
JOHN MCALLISTER SCHOFIELD. 
 
 life's turbulent stream. After a few years they touched the 
 curtain; it lifted slightly, and, during the Atlanta Campaign, 
 James B. McPherson, Army of the Tennessee; John M. Scho- 
 FiELD, Army of the Ohio — on the Union side under General 
 Sherman; and John B. Hood with his forces, under General 
 Johnston, on the Confederate side, viewed the Union and 
 Confederate Armies in heroic strife, fraught with momentous 
 results. The three classmates had in time of peace prepared 
 for war. and resultingly, distinction crowned all of them as 
 commanders of great armies. They were not longer to be 
 classed as "little boats!" Through conjunction and evolution 
 they stood in view as aggressive forces of striking note, 
 intellectually and physically. The example should stimulate 
 all youthful officers! 
 
 McPherson and SchoFIEUd had discussed the chance of battle, 
 in connection with Hood's general character, and agreed that 
 they ought to be unusually cautious and prepared, at all times, 
 for rallies and hard fighting, thus to meet Hood who was "a 
 brave, determined and rash man." They remembered that at 
 Gilgal Church, abreast of Pine Top, McPherson had overlapped 
 Hood and captured the entire 4th Alabama regiment ; and that 
 thereafter Hood left the front of McPherson, and, after a forced 
 night's march, appeared on the other flank at Kulp's Farm, 
 facing SchofiEld; and there, with his known method of 
 charging and fighting, delivered, most intelligently, a desperate 
 attack. 
 
 The Confederates fell back before Sherman's armies— 
 100,000 men and 23,000 animals — until Atlanta was in sight; 
 and the Union forces were soon confronted from behind the 
 
 40 
 
JOHN MCALLISTER SCHOFIELD. 
 
 Confederate first line of intrenchments, at Peach Tree Creek. 
 July 1 8, 1S64, General Johnston was relieved, by Lieutenant- 
 General Hood, from command of the entire Confederate force. 
 The evening of that day the armies of McPherson and Schofield 
 were destroying the Georgia railroad, between vStone Mountain 
 and Decatur. The Army of the Cumberland, Thomas, was 
 hastening to cross Peach Tree Creek, within six miles of Atlanta. 
 The night of the i8th and morning of the igtli, Hood formed 
 line of battle facing Peach Tree Creek— the night of the 18th 
 McPherson and Schofield were well over that stream, and on 
 the railroad near Decatur, when Hood issued orders looking 
 to the isolation of their forces from those of Thomas, thus to 
 crush the latter. 
 
 The situation was such that McPherson and Schofield 
 could not assist Thomas without crossing Peach Tree, and a 
 long detour to reach that stream. McPherson and Schofield 
 were thus checked. The position of the Union forces remained 
 during July 21st unchanged, save a slight advance by McPherson 
 and Schofield toward Atlanta. The morning of the 22d, they 
 were still separated from Thomas, and Hood had planned to 
 turn McPherson's left; but the attempt failed. The attack 
 was sudden, while McPherson was with Sherman at the Howard 
 House. McPherson immediately galloped toward the firing 
 line, and, after issuing orders, rode through a thick forest 
 interval, there to find the Confederates under Hardee fast 
 approaching, and a call from the advance to surrender. He 
 turned his horse, was instantly shot and fell to the ground. 
 One of his orderlies escaped to convey the sad news. When 
 the body reached the Howard House all felt the loss as irre- 
 
 41 
 
JOHN MCAIXISTER SCHOFIELD. 
 
 reparable. Sherman remarked that the entire Confederacy 
 could not atone for one such life ! 
 
 Profoundly deep as was the grief of Sherman, it could not 
 equal the anguish that welled from Schofield's noble and 
 sympathetic heart! 
 
 George H. Thomas — Cavalry and Artillery Instructor of 
 McPherson, Schofield and Hood at West Point — and Scho- 
 FiEiyD were again to contend with Hood in Tennessee, particu- 
 larly in the battles of Franklin and Nashville. There the 
 impenetrable curtain continued to rise ! The mortal shape 
 of McPherson had passed to immortality, and, as we trust, to 
 be endowed with ' ' the greatness and strangeness of the Beatific 
 Vision!" 
 
 My intimacy with McPherson and Schofield warrants the 
 enunciation that when they met, during the Atlanta Campaign, 
 their thoughts were not removed from surrounding danger, and 
 went forth to the exalted Commander of the Universe, to whom 
 they promised: "Not to count the cost, to fight and not to 
 heed the wounds, to toil and not to seek for rest, to labor with 
 the holy joy of knowing that we ever do His ever blessed will;" 
 and that one day He would be their exceeding great reward! 
 They were constantly at work, similarly to the weaver at his 
 loom. They ever remembered the brittleness of Life's thread, 
 and that the "living shuttle in the loom of time" was ever 
 going and the woof was ever growing. I may associate their 
 thoughts going forth through the words: 
 
 42 
 
JOHN MCALLISTER SCHOFIELD. 
 
 "Lord, let me know them carefully each day, 
 
 The spools on which the fragile thread is wound, 
 The thread of life, nor let me with it play — 
 
 A broken strand not easily is bound. 
 And I would rightly blend, * * * 
 
 For, as I weave, so must my life be crowned. 
 Lord, let me throw them true, day after day, 
 
 The shuttles round which life's frail threads are wound." 
 
 They had remembered their ',' Bible class" at West Point, and 
 profited by the inculcation received from the Chaplain and 
 Professor of Ethics — fixed in memory by the inscription which 
 had so often met their eyes over the Cadet Chapel chancel: 
 "Righteousness exalteth a Nation. But Sin is a reproach 
 to any people." 
 
 They had remembered the rules for moral conduct and 
 ignored self-love. "When conscience speaks, the voice of 
 self-love must be silent!" After an action was performed, 
 they conformed to self-examination, and realized that: 
 
 " 'Tis greatly wise, to talk with our past hours. 
 And ask them what report they bore to Heaven; 
 And how they might have borne more welcome news." 
 
 Thus the sensibility of conscience was increased as a source 
 of pleasure or of pain — strengthened by use, and weakened 
 by disuse ! 
 
 "Love thyself last. Cherish the heart that hates thee. 
 * * * Be just and fear not : 
 Let all the ends thou aim'st at be thy Country's, 
 Thy God's, and Truth's; then, if thou fall'st * * * 
 Thou fall'st a blessed Martyr." 
 
 43 
 
JOHN MCALLISTER SCHOFIELD. 
 
 In Ethics — Science of Moral Law — McPherson and Scho- 
 FiELD graduated very high; numbers 3 and 7, respectively, in 
 a class of 52 members. From their studies they well learned 
 that the greatest happiness of which man is in his present state 
 capable, must be attained by conform.ing his whole conduct to 
 the laws of virtue ; that is the will of God. 
 
 After the capture of Atlanta, and while Sherman's army 
 was resting, General Hood with his army took the initiative, 
 and, by moving around Sherman's right, struck his railroad 
 about Altoona, and toward Chattanooga— thence to march 
 westward with design of changing the theater of war. from 
 Georgia, to Alabama, Mississippi, or Tennessee. In connection 
 with Atlanta, Sherman said: "Rut I had not accomplished 
 all, for Hood's army, the chief objective, had escaped !" 
 
 An essential modification of the original plan, to meet the 
 unexpected movement of Hood, was to send back into Tennessee 
 force enough, in addition to the troops then there, and others 
 to be assembled from the rear, to cope with Hood in the event 
 of his attempting the invasion of Tennessee and Kentucky, 
 or to pursue and occupy his attention should he attempt to 
 follow Sherman. General George H. Thomas, commanding 
 the Department of the Cumberland, and already at the Nash- 
 ville headquarters, was directed by Sherman to assume com- 
 mand of all the troops in the three departments under Sherman's 
 command, except those with the latter in Georgia, and to 
 direct the operations against Hood. Stanley, with his Fourth 
 Corps, started by rail to Tullahoma, and was to march, as he 
 diverged from the latter point, to Pulaski, Tennessee, the point 
 selected for the concentration of the forces of Thomas. 
 
 44 
 
JOHN MCALLISTER SCHOFIELD. 
 
 The foregoing was the situation when SchoFiELD returned 
 from an absence involving the business of his department— 
 and reported to Sherman, near the end of October. At that 
 interview SchoFiEld told Sherman that the force for Thomas 
 was much too small ; that Hood evidently intended to invade 
 Tennessee ; and that he would not be diverted from his purpose 
 by Sherman's march in the opposite direction, but, on the 
 contrary, be encouraged thereby to pursue his own plan. 
 Hence SchoFiEld requested vSherman to send him back with 
 the Twenty-third Corps to join Thomas. Sherman replied that 
 he must have three grand divisions— one to be commanded by 
 ScHOFiEED— to make his army, and that he could not spare 
 ScHOFiELD. After SchofiELD left Sherman that afternoon, 
 he wrote to him giving a special reason why his corps, rather 
 than any other, should be sent back to Tennessee. No answer 
 came to his suggestions until Schofield had made three days' 
 march, en route to Atlanta— thence for Savannah. There he 
 received an order, October 30, to march to the nearest rail- 
 point and report by telegraph to Thomas for orders. Novem- 
 ber 3, Thomas ordered him to come at once, by rail, to Nashville, 
 with his corps, where he reported with the advance of his troops 
 on November 5. He was then ordered, with part of his force, to 
 Johnsonville on the Tennessee River, where Forest with his 
 cavalry had appeared and destroyed much property, Thomas 
 not having a sufficient available force to oppose him. vScho- 
 FiELd's duty at Johnsonville, where he left two brigades, was 
 soon ended. Then he returned to Nashville, and moved at 
 once, by rail to Pulaski, arriving at that place the evening of 
 November 12. The situation, in vSchofield's words, was as 
 
 45 
 
JOHN MCAT.LISTER SCHOFIELD. 
 
 follows: * * * "I had been with the entire Twenty-third 
 Corps to Nashville, with part of it to Johnsonville and back to 
 Nashville, and thence to Columbia, near Pulaski, all by rail; 
 that all of the Army of the Cumberland then in Tennessee was 
 the Fourth Corps, and the cavalry at and near Pulaski ; that 
 General Thomas placed those troops under my command, and 
 that they remained so until after the battle of Franklin, Novem- 
 ber 30, and the retreat to Nashville that night ; and that General 
 Thomas did not have any army at Nashville until December i . 
 I had united with Thomas's troops two weeks before the battle 
 of Franklin, and was commanding his army in the field, as well 
 as my own, during that time." He had assumed the command, 
 as referred to, November 14. November 20, he telegraphed 
 Thomas pointing out the faulty nature of the position selected 
 by Thomas at Pulaski, and the danger that must be incurred 
 in attempting to carry out his instructions to fight Hood at 
 that place. Thomas very promptly approved SchoFiEld's 
 suggestion, and thus ended the embarrassment. 
 
 The enemy advanced November 21, and Union troops were 
 interposed between the enemy's cavalry and Columbia. Stan- 
 ley, with two divisions of the Fourth Corps, marched from 
 Pulaski to Columbia, and the Union cavalry moved on the 
 enemy's right to cover the turnpike and railroad. The whole 
 army was in position at Columbia November 24, and began 
 to intrench. Hood's infantry did not come in sight until the 
 26th. The intrenched position in front of Columbia was held 
 until the evening of November 27. inviting an attack, and 
 hoping that Thomas would arrive with reinforcements in time 
 to assume the offensive from Columbia; reinforcements did 
 
 46 
 
JOHN MCALLISTER SCHOFlELD. 
 
 not arrive, and the enemy did not attack. It became evident 
 that Hood would not attack that position, but turn it by 
 crossing Duck River above ; hence the army was moved to the 
 north bank of the river, in the night of November 27. Thomas 
 was very urgent that the Hue of Duck River might be held, if 
 possible, as the arrival of Gen. A. J. Smith's Corps from Mis- 
 souri had been expected daily for some time, when General 
 Thomas intended, as was understood, to come to the front in 
 person with the corps and all other troops he could assemble, 
 take command and move against the enemy. Due to trouble 
 with the telegraph code, Thomas and SchoFiELD could not 
 communicate promptly; but the former in his official report 
 referred to "instructions already given" and said: "My plans 
 and wishes were fully explained to General SchoField, and, as 
 subsequent events will show, properly appreciated and exe- 
 cuted by him." 
 
 ScHOFiELD received information— afternoon of November 
 28— that Hood's Cavalry had forced the crossing of Duck River 
 above Columbia; and in that connection, he said: "Only one 
 thing was clear and that was that I must hold Hood back, if 
 possible, until informed that Thomas had concentrated his 
 troops; for if I failed in that. Hood would not only force me 
 back on Nashville before Thomas was ready to meet him there, 
 but would get possession of the Chattanooga Railroad and thus 
 cut off all the troops coming to Nashville from that direction." 
 Early in the morning of November 29, an infantry brigade 
 was sent up the river to watch the enemy's movements; and 
 at the same time Stanley was ordered, with two divisions of 
 the Fourth Corps, back to Spring Hill, to occupy and intrench 
 
 47 
 
JOHN MCALLISTER SCHOFIELD. 
 
 a position there covering the roads and trains ordered parked 
 at that place, and General Ruger was ordered to join him. 
 About 8 A. M.. of the 29th, Thomas notified Schofield that 
 Smith had not arrived, and expressed the wish that the Duck 
 River position be held until vSmith's arrival; and another 
 despatch designated Franklin, behind the Harpeth River, as 
 the place to which SchoField would have to retire if it became 
 necessary to fall back from Duck River. Schofield thereupon 
 decided to hold the Duck River Crossing until the night of 
 the 29tli, thus gaining twenty-four hours more for Thomas to 
 concentrate his troops. 
 
 Stanley arrived at Spring Hill in time to beat off Forest's 
 Cavalry and protect the trains. Then he intrenched a good 
 position in which to meet Hood's columns which arrived in the 
 afternoon, with the result that there was a hard fight lasting 
 until about dark. "Hood went to bed that night, while I 
 (Schofield) was in the saddle all night, directing all the impor- 
 tant movements of my troops." As soon as Schofield was 
 satisfied that Hood had gone to vSpring Hill, he took the head 
 of his troops and marched rapidly to that place, and made all 
 dispositions of his troops deemed necessary for safety. He 
 appreciated the importance of having the pike to Franklin 
 open, and, to learn that it was clear, sent his gallant and 
 accomplished aid — Capt. William J. Twining — to "go at full 
 gallop (with the headquarters troop) down the pike to Franklin, 
 and to ride over whatever might be found in their way." The 
 clatter of hoofs on that hard road died out in the distance, 
 and Schofield knew that the road was clear! And his army 
 marched across "the golden bridge by which the abyss may 
 
 be crossed," en route to Franklin! 
 
 48 
 
JOHN MCALLISTER SCHOFIELD. 
 
 Twilight had covered the Confederate Army, and we have 
 Hood's words: * * * "Turning to General Cheatham, I 
 exclaimed with deep emotion as I felt the golden opportunity 
 slipping from me: 'General, why in the name of God have you 
 not attacked the enemy and taken possession of that pike?'" 
 * * * "It was reported to me at this hour (eleven or twelve 
 o'clock at night) that the enemy was marching along the road, 
 almost under the light of the camp-fires of the main body 
 of the army. I sent to General Cheatham to know if at least 
 a line of skirmishers could not be advanced, in order to delay 
 their march, and enable me to attack in the morning. Nothing 
 wab done. The Federals with immense wagon trains were 
 permitted to march by us the remainder of the night, within 
 gun-shot of our lines." * * * Hood had led the main 
 body of his army to within about two miles of the pike from 
 Columbia to Spring Hill— in full view of the pike — and there 
 halted, about 3 p. m., November 29. He had ordered Cheat- 
 ham to take possession and hold the pike, at or near vSpring 
 Hill. If that had been done — if the Confederates had "taken 
 possession and formed line across the pike" — Hood's forces 
 as an easy matter, could ' ' have enveloped, routed and captured 
 SchoFiEld's forces that afternoon or the ensuing day." Hood 
 has added: "The best move in my career as a soldier, I was 
 thus destined to behold come to naught." There was contro- 
 versy — assertions and denials — between Hood and Cheatham 
 as to the failure. Specifications need not be made here, as the 
 subject is available in printed correspondence. 
 
 The battles of Franklin and Nashville, followed by grand 
 results, are prominently referred to in SchofiELd's "Forty-six 
 
 49 
 
JOHN MCALLISTER SCIIOFIELU. 
 
 Years in the Army," and the "Records of the Union and Con- 
 federate Armies." In the first — pages i65to i88 — will be found 
 valuable statements as to the campaign, with the addition — 
 pages 189 to 225 — of a sketch necessary to full understanding 
 of the operations preceding, and immediately following, the 
 battle of Franklin. SchofiEld had said: "It is worthy of 
 note, as instructive comparisons, that, on November 30, Hood 
 advanced from Spring Hill to Franklin and made his famous 
 assault in about the same length of time that it took our troops 
 to advance from the first to the second position at Nashville 
 and make the assault of December 16; and that the Fourth 
 and Twenty-third Corps, on November 29 and 30, fought 
 two battles — vSpring Hill and Franklin — and marched forty 
 miles, from Duck River to Nashville, in thirty-six hours. Time 
 is an element in military problems, the value of which cannot 
 be too highly estimated. Yet how seldom has it been duly 
 appreciated." 
 
 As to the battle of Franklin, SchoField said: * * * 
 "The charging ranks of the enemy, the flying remnants of our 
 broken troops, and the double ranks of our first line coming 
 back from the trenches together, produced the momentary 
 impression of an overwhelming mass of the enemy passing 
 our parapets. It is hardly necessary to say that, for a moment, 
 my 'heart sank within me I' But, instantly, Opdyck's brigade 
 and the 12th and i6th Kent-icky sprang forward and steadily 
 advanced to the breach. * * * A few seconds of suspense 
 and intense anxiety followed; then the space in rear of our 
 lines became clear of fugitives, and the steady roar of musketry 
 and artillery, with the dense volume of smoke rising along the 
 
 50 
 
JOHN MCALLISTER SCHOFIKLD. 
 
 entire line, told me that 'the breach is restored and the victory 
 won!' That scene, and the emotion of that one moment, 
 were worth all the losses of a soldier's lifetime." 
 
 With the repulse of Hood at Franklin, "there was no further 
 obstacle to the concentration of Thomas' forces at Nashville, 
 and the necessary preparation for the offensive. * * * 
 Thomas could have given battle the second or third day after 
 Franklin, with more than a fair prospect of success." The 
 shattered condition of Hood's Army prevented it from making 
 any serious movement for some days. Eventually Hood 
 fortified his forces near Nashville — within firing distance — 
 where he remained two weeks, without firing a gun ! 
 
 December 15, 1S64, in front of Nashville, the Union Armv 
 attacked Hood's, and the morning of the i6th revealed the 
 enemy in its new position, his left where it was before — in 
 SciioFIELd's immediate front — but the rest of his line far 
 back from the ground on which the other portions of Thomas' 
 Army had passed the night. About 4 p. m., December t6, 
 Thomas joined SciioFiELD near the Union right. The troops 
 were then in movement, and Thomas had hardly exchanged 
 the usual salutions when shouts on the Union left announced 
 that a division of Smith's Corps "had already carried the 
 enemy's work at its front, and our line had advanced and 
 swept all before it." 
 
 The resistance along the whole left and center of Hood's 
 line cannot be said to have been either strong or obstinate. 
 The Union losses were, comparatively, insignificant — the Con- 
 federate fire seemed no more than that of an ordinary skirmish. 
 What little fight was left in Hood's Army after November 30 
 
 51 
 
JOHN MCALLISTER SCHOFIELD. 
 
 (at Franklin) had been greatly diminished, December i6 (at 
 Nashville). December i6. 7:45 p. m., Schofield in his report 
 to Thomas, said: * * * "I have conversed with some of 
 the officers captured, and am satisfied Hood's Army is more 
 thoroughly beaten than any troops I have ever seen." 
 
 November 30, before the battle of Franklin, Thomas was 
 "not ready for the battle at Nashville" and desired that Scho- 
 FiELD should, if possible, hold Hood back for three days longer. 
 The action, as determined between Thomas and Schofield, 
 was ordered, and partially executed by the movement of trains 
 toward Nashville before the Franklin battle opened — which 
 was at 4 P. M., November 30, continuing until after dark. 
 Hood was repulsed at all points, with very heavy loss. At 
 midnight SchofiELd's Army started for Brentwood, where, 
 early in the morning of December i, Schofield received orders 
 to continue the march to Nashville. 
 
 Well may it be said that the battle of Nashville was fought 
 at Franklin ! 
 
 December 27, 1864, vSchofield wrote to General Grant, 
 at City Point, Virginia : * * * "It may not be practicable 
 now for me to join General Sherman, but it would not be 
 difficult to transfer my command to Virginia." * * , * 
 And, December 28, he wrote to General Sherman at Savannah: 
 * * * "I take it the object for which I was left in this 
 part of the country has been accomplished, and I would like 
 verv much to be with you again, to take part in the future 
 operations of the Grand Army. Cannot this be brought about? 
 I have written to General Grant." * * * 'f^g result was 
 the transfer of the Twenty-third Army Corps, 15,000 strong, 
 
 52 
 
JOHN MCALLISTER SCHOFIELD. 
 
 with its artillery, trains, animals and baggage, from Clifton, 
 Tennessee, via the Tennessee and Ohio rivers and the Balti- 
 more and Ohio Railroad, to the Potomac, in eleven days — 
 distance, 1,400 miles. This movement commenced January 
 -15, 1865, within five days after the movement had been deter- 
 mined upon in Washington. It was continued by water to 
 North Carolina, where, early in February, Wilmington was 
 captured. March 22, when the right wing of Sherman's army 
 reached Goldsboro, it found there the corps which a short 
 time prior had been encamped on the Tennessee. The move- 
 ment was much impeded by severe weather — rivers were 
 blocked by ice and railroads rendered hazardous by frost and 
 snow. ScHOFiELD "enjoyed very much being a simple pas- 
 senger on that comfortable journey, one of the most remarkable 
 in military history, and exceedingly creditable to the officers 
 of the War Department who directed and conducted it." 
 
 As to the defeat and practical destruction of Hood's army in 
 Tennessee, Schofield has said that "it paved the way to the 
 speedy termination of the war, which the capture of Lee 
 by Grant fully accomplished. '■' * * The capitulation of 
 Johnston was but the natural sequence of Lee's surrender, for 
 Johnston's army was not surrendered, and could not have 
 been compelled to surrender. * * * j^ military history 
 Sherman's great march must rank only as auxiliary to the far 
 more important operations of Grant and Thomas. Sherman 
 at the time saw clearly enough this view of the case; hence 
 his undeviating bent toward the final object of his march, 
 disregarding all minor ends — to take part in the capture of 
 Lee's army." We have the additional words of Schofield as 
 
 to Johnston's capitulation : 
 
 53 
 
JOHN MCALLISTER SCHOKIKLD. 
 
 "At the time of Sherman's first interview with Johnston, I 
 hinted that I would Hke to aecompany him; but he desired 
 me to remain in immediate command, as I was next in rank 
 and we could not tell what might happen. He took some 
 others with him, but I believe had no one present in the room 
 to assist him in his discussion with Johnston and Breckenridge. 
 At his last interview I accompanied him at his special request. 
 On meeting at Burnett's House, after the usual salutations 
 Generals Sherman and Johnston retired to the conference room, 
 and were there a long time, with closed doors. At length I 
 was summoned to their presence and informed, in substance, 
 that they were unable to arrange the terms of capitulation to 
 their satisfaction. They seemed discouraged at the failure of 
 the arrangement to which they had attached so much impor- 
 tance, apprehensive that the terms of Grant and Lee, pure and 
 simple, could not be executed, and that if modified at all they 
 would meet with a second disapproval. I listened to their 
 statements of the difficulties they had encountered, and then 
 stated how I thought they all could be arranged. General 
 Johnston replied in substance : ' I think General Schofield can 
 fix it ;' and General Sherman intimated to me to write, pen and 
 paper being on the table where I was sitting, while the two 
 great antagonists were nervously pacing the floor. I at once 
 wrote the 'Military Convention ' of April 26, handed it to General 
 Sherman, and he, after reading it, toGeneral Johnston. Having 
 explained that I. as Department Commander, after General 
 Sherman was gone, could do all that might be necessary to 
 remove the difficulties which seemed so serious, the terms as 
 written bv me were agreed to, as General vSherman says 'without 
 
 54 
 
JOHN MCALLISTER SCHOFIELD. 
 
 hesitation,' and General Johnston, 'without difficulty;' and 
 after being copied, -without alteration, were signed by the two 
 commanders. Johnston's words, on handing the paper back to 
 Sherman, were: 'I believe that is the best we can do.' It was 
 in pursuance of this understanding that I made, with General 
 Johnston, the 'supplemental terms, 'and gave his disbanded men 
 250,000 rations with Avagons to haul them." * v * 
 
 ScHOFiELD, from the very earliest consideration of the vital 
 question — restoration of civil government in the Southern 
 States— labored ardently for a happy solution, and extended 
 sound advice to that end. 
 
 In June, 1865, after relinquishing command in North Carolina, 
 he entered upon ser\dce in respect to the then existing inter- 
 vention in Mexico by the French Emperor. It was proposed 
 to raise an army under specified conditions; and the idea was 
 "to aid the Mexicans without giving cause for war between 
 the United States and France." Subsequently the proposition 
 to raise an army was given up, and Schofield was called to an 
 interview with the Secretary of State who then proposed that 
 Schofield should "go to France, under authority of the State 
 Department, to see if the French Emperor could not be made 
 to understand the necessity of withdrawing his army from 
 Mexico, and thus save us the necessity of expelling it by force." 
 Schofield realized that the proposition seemed to place upon 
 him the responsibility of deciding the momentous question 
 of future friendship or enmity between his own country and 
 our ancient ally and friend; but, August 4. 1865, he decided 
 "to undertake the mission," and after several long conversations 
 
 55 
 
JOHN MCALLISTER SCHOFIELD. 
 
 on the subject, Mr. Seward's explanations and instructions 
 were summed up in the words : 
 
 "I want vou to get your legs under Napoleon's mahogany 
 and tell him he must get out of Mexico!" SchoFIELD reached 
 Paris to find some "undue excitement in the public mind," 
 and he availed himself of an early opportunity, given by the 
 American thanksgiving dinner, "to intimate in unmistakable 
 terms that [his] mission, if any, was one entirely friendly to 
 the people of France." The following is a part of the account: 
 * * * "The next toast was the long-looked-for one of the 
 evening, for it was known that it would call up a distinguished 
 guest from whom all were anxious to hear. It was: 'The 
 Army and Navy of the United States.' \\'hen the band had 
 ceased playing 'Yankee Doodle,' Major-General Schofield 
 rose to reply, and was received with tremendous enthusiasm. 
 The ladies rose and waved their handerchiefs, and gentlemen 
 shouted until they were hoarse. The General * * * said: 
 Fellow Countrymen — I want words to express to you the 
 satisfaction which will be felt in the heart of every soldier and 
 sailor when he learns the manner in which the names of the 
 Army and Navy have been received by you to-night. I will 
 at this time allude but briefly to one of the great lessons 
 taught by the American War — the grandest lesson of modern 
 times. A great people who have heretofore lived under a 
 government so mild that they were scarcely aware of its exist- 
 ence have found, in time of war, that Government to be one 
 of the strongest in the world (cheers), raising and maintaining 
 armies and navies vaster than any before known (cheers). 
 In point of character, in point of physical and moral qualities, 
 
 56 
 
JOHN MCALLISTER SCHOFIELD. 
 
 in point of discipline and of mobility in large masses, the anuies 
 of the United States have never before been equaled (loud 
 cheers). Yet this, great as it is, is not the greatest wonder 
 of the American A\'ar. This vast army, as soon as its work was 
 done, was quietly disbanded, and every man went to his home, 
 as quietly as the Christian goes back from church on Sabbath 
 morning; and each soldier re-entered upon the avocations of 
 peace and a better citizen than he was before he became a 
 soldier (renewed applause). This was the grandest lesson of 
 the war. It shows that the power of a nation to maintain its 
 dignity and integrity does not result from or depend upon its 
 form of government ; that the greatest national strength — the 
 power to mass the largest armies in time of war — is entirely 
 consistent with the broadest liberty of the citizen in time of 
 peace (enthusiasm). Permit me, in conclusion, to propose a 
 toast which I know will be responded to by every true Ameri- 
 can — 'The old friendship between France and the United States : 
 May it ever be strengthened and perpetuated !' General 
 Schofield's toast was drunk with great enthusiasm, and upon 
 taking his seat the applause which followed his remarks was 
 deafening." 
 
 ScHOFiELD continued his marked skill in diplomacy, and, 
 January 24, 1866, reported to Mr. Seward, by letter, and also 
 to General Grant, ending in conclusion as follows: "An officer 
 of the Emperor's household left here about ten days ago with 
 despatches for Mexico, which, it is understood, contained the 
 Emperor's declaration, to Maximilian, of his intention to 
 recall his troops. This may give you some idea of the time 
 when the matter may be arranged if all works well." 
 
 57 
 
JOHN MCALLISTER SCHOFIELD. 
 
 The Emperor having become satisfied that vSchofield was 
 not occupied with designs hostile to France, a very courteous 
 letter from the Minister of War was received by SchofiELD, 
 and an accomplished officer was directed to report to him; 
 and, under official guidance, he saw all the military establish- 
 ments about Paris. He was presented to the Emperor and 
 Empress, and in conversation the former desired to know 
 as to the operations of the American Armies — "especially the 
 marvelous methods of supply at great distances from a base 
 of operations." 
 
 In August, 1866, he was assigned to command the Department 
 of the Potomac, including Virginia and the reconstruction of 
 that State. The manner in which he executed the "reconstruc- 
 tion" acts of Congress, so as to save that State from the evils 
 suffered by her sister states, is an instructive part of the period 
 of that time. His administration was based on constitutional 
 principles! No case arose in which it was found necessary, 
 in his opinion, to supersede the civil authorities in the adminis- 
 tration of justice. As district commander he refused to make 
 himself a party to the spoliation of the people placed under his 
 charge! He left Virginia impres.sed with the belief that the 
 good people of that State appreciated the fact that he had ever 
 labored for their welfare. 
 
 In that convulsive period embracing the impeachment trial 
 of President Johnson and the quarrel between the President 
 and Congress over the War Department, he was urged to accept 
 the office of Secretary of War, with the assurance that the contest, 
 which endangered the peace of the country, could be adjusted. 
 He consented, and when his nomination was sent to the Senate, 
 
 58 
 
JOHN MCALLISTER SCHOFIELD. 
 
 that body — in spite of the large majority in opposition to the 
 President — confirmed the appointment with almost entire 
 unanimity. That great mark of confidence touched SciioFiEld 
 very deeply ! AMien he yielded the War Portfolio, in March 
 1S69, to the newly elected President, he had not incurred cen- 
 sure from either party for any of his official acts — he had the 
 approbation of all for impartial discharge of duty. 
 
 Subsequent to his terra as Secretary of War, his services 
 were varied and most valuable : In command of the Depart- 
 ment of the Missouri; as President of the Board on Tactics 
 and Small Arms; in command of the Division of the Pacific; 
 on special m.ission to the Hawaiian Islands; in revising Army 
 Regulations; as superintendent of the United States Military 
 Academy, and in command of the Department of West Point ; 
 as President of the Board of Inquiry, case of General Fitz-John 
 Porter; in command of the Division of the Gulf; in witnessing 
 Autumn Maneuvers of the French Army; in command of the 
 Pacific Division and Department of California; in command of 
 the Division of the Missouri, and of the Division of the Atlantic 
 and Department of the East; as President of the Military Prison 
 Board ; as President of the Board of Ordnance and Fortification ; 
 and as General-in-Chief of the U. S. Army from August, 1888, to 
 September 29, 1905; when, as he has said: "Came the hour 
 when I had done, however imperfectly, all the duty my country 
 required of me, and I was placed on the retired list of the army. 
 Having been, at appropriate periods in my official career, by 
 the unsolicited action of my official superiors, justly and gener- 
 ously rewarded for all my public services, and having been 
 at the head of the army for several years, near the close of the 
 
 59 
 
JOHN MCALLISTER SCHOFIELD. 
 
 period fixed by law for active military service I was made the 
 grateful recipient of the highest honor which the government 
 of my country can confer upon a soldier, namely, that of 
 appointment to a higher grade (laeutenant-General) under a 
 special act of Congress. My public life was, in the main, a 
 stormy one. * * * Many times I felt keenly the injustice 
 of those who did not appreciate the sincerity of mv purpose 
 to do, to the best of my ability, what the Government desired 
 of me, with little or no regard for m}' own personal opinions 
 or ambitions. But I can now concede to nearly all of those 
 who so bitterly opposed me the same patriotic motives which 
 I know inspired my own conduct; and I would be unworthv 
 of m)- birthright as an American citizen if I did not feel grateful 
 to my countrymen and to our Government for all the kindness 
 they have shown me." 
 
 In the foregoing words we see the modesty of an eminently 
 distinguished personage! For the details of his military and 
 civil service, students — particularly the graduates of our Alma 
 Mater — may well study Schofield's "Forty-six years in the 
 Army," as "dedicated to the young citizens whose patriotism, 
 valor and military skill must be the safeguard of the interests, 
 the honor and the glory of the American Union." 
 
 He did not pass his days in calm weather, or in uninterrupted 
 sunshine; and he was familiar with that old remark: "That 
 an unclouded morn is not always followed by a clear and serene 
 evening." He fully realized, at times, "that no virtues, how- 
 ever great — no labors, however disinterested — no piety, however 
 sublime and ardent, could protect him from the storm of 
 persecution." 
 
 60 
 
JOHN MCALLISTER SCHOFIELD. 
 
 In June 1891, at Keokuk, Iowa, he married Miss Georgia 
 Kilboume, daughter of Mrs. George E. Kilbourne of that city. 
 One daughter — Georgia — was born of that union. 
 
 General Grant had not ceased, up to the last day of his life, 
 to manifest for SchofiKld a very kind feeling; and one of his 
 last efforts, when he could no longer speak, was to put on paper 
 a remembrance mentioning SchofiEld's name. We have these 
 words from Schofield : " It was General Grant whose voluntary 
 application, in the winter of 1863-4, relieved me from the disa- 
 greeable controversy with partisan politicians in Missouri, and 
 gave me command of an army in the field. It was upon his 
 recommendation that my services in that command were 
 recognized by my promotion from the grade of Captain to that 
 of Brigadier-General in the regular army, and Brevet Major- 
 General for services in the battle of Franklin. It was Grant 
 who, upon my suggestion, ordered me with the Twentv-third 
 Corps, from Tennessee to North Carolina, to take part in the 
 closing operations of the war, instead of leaving me where 
 nothing important remained to be done. It was he who paid 
 me the high compliment of selecting me to conduct the opera- 
 tions which might be necessary to enforce the Monroe Doctrine 
 against the French army which had invaded Mexico. It was 
 he who firmly sustained me in saving the people of Virginia 
 from the worst effects of the congressional reconstruction laws. 
 It was he who greeted me most cordially as Secretarv of War 
 in 1868, and expressed a desire that I might hold that office 
 under his own administration. And, fmallv, it was he who 
 promoted me to the rank of Major-General in the regular armv, 
 the next day after his inauguration as President." * * * 
 
 61 
 
JOHN MCALLISTER SCHOFIULD. 
 
 "Matchless courage and composure in the midst of the most 
 trying events of battle, magnanimity in the hour of victory, and 
 moral courage to compel all others to respect his plighted faith 
 toward those who had surrendered to him, were the crowning 
 gloriesof Grant's greatness and noble character." * * * 
 
 The concern of education and the interests of youth occupied 
 SchofiEld's attention, and were exemplified by his life work. 
 When consulted he stood ready to give judicious advice. He 
 used his leisure in study, and was familiar with methods in all 
 his undertakings. He was interested in awakening that latent 
 curiosity in the minds of the young which is absolutely necessary 
 for mental improvement. 
 
 In the art military of the Ancients, he studied the under- 
 takings of war ; its declaration ; the choice of generals and 
 oflficers; the preparation — involving supplies; the raising of 
 troops — their pay, provisions and arms; the march of armies; 
 the construction and fortification of the camp, and its disposi- 
 tions ; the employment and exercise of the troops ; the success 
 of battles, with the manner of embattling; punishments — re- 
 wards — trophies — triumphs; sieges, and attack and defense 
 of positions. And thus his taste and favorite studies 
 led him largely to evolution in the direction of those modem 
 sciences which, in a few years, have imparted such enormous 
 strides to the development of those mechanical means of attack 
 and defense, changing, in a corresponding degree, the great 
 problems of war. Illustrative of his bent, and as to artillery, 
 aside from other arms, we have only to refer to his General 
 Order io8, series of 1888, from the Headquarters of the Army. 
 As to mobs and insurrections we have his General Orders 15 and 
 
JOHN MCALLISTER SCHOFIELD. 
 
 23, series of 1894, from the same source. He has said : "Science 
 has wrought no greater revolution in any of the arts of peace 
 than it has in the art of war. Indeed, the vast national interests 
 involved, all over the world, have employed the greatest efforts 
 of genius in developing the most powerful means of attack 
 and defense." 
 
 As a result of his extensive reading and study of Ancient 
 History he could say with the historian: "Before me stand 
 princes and kings full of wisdom and prudence in their counsels, 
 of equity and justice in the government of their people, of valor 
 and intrepidity in battle, of moderation and clemency in vic- 
 tory, subjecting many kingdoms, founding vast empires and 
 acquiring the love of the conquered nations no less than of their 
 own subjects; such was Cyrus. At the same time I see a 
 multitude of Greeks and Romans, equally illustrious in peace 
 and war; generals of the most exalted bravery and military 
 knowledge; politicians of exceeding ability in the arts of gov- 
 ernment; famous legislators, whose laws and institutions still 
 amaze us, while they seem almost incredible, so much they 
 appear above humanity; magistrates venerable for their love 
 of the public good; judges of great wisdom, incorruptible, and 
 proof against all that can tempt audacity; and lastly, citizens 
 entirely devoted to their country, whose general and noble 
 disinterestedness rises so high as the contempt of riches, and the 
 esteem and love of poverty. If I turn my eyes to the arts and 
 sciences, what luster do not the multitude of admirable works 
 come down to us display, in which shine forth, according to the 
 difference of subjects, art and disposition, greatness of genius, 
 riches of invention, beauty of style, solidity of judgment and 
 
 63 
 
JOHN MCALUSTER SCHOFIELD. 
 
 profound erudition." And yet, as to that splendid scene of 
 history, he passed judgment — he found that everything was 
 in esteem except reHgion and piety! And he well appreciated 
 the words of the royal prophet that the "Lord looked from 
 heaven upon the children of men to see if there were any that 
 did understand and seek God." They were wanting in the 
 fear of God without which there is no true wisdom ! 
 
 He profited by ancient history, and gained a fund of knowl- 
 edge and gratification through a narrative deeply imbued with 
 antiquity — its spirit and feeling. He delved, for he knew that 
 history recites maxims drawn from experience. But by pagan 
 lore his mind, while enlarged, was not paganized ! 
 
 With his knowledge of the evolution of ages, he was led to 
 general military education, and his constant effort was to 
 advance it — he claimed that it was indispensable to good citi- 
 zenship, and to all in the legislative and executive departments! 
 He held as to civic virtue, that it must be preserved to an 
 extent such that in trying times, "men will not only die for 
 their country, but that all men shall be compelled to live for it!" 
 
 He strenuously held: "that the great object of education 
 at West Point and other military schools is not to make high 
 commanders, but to make thorough soldiers, men capable of 
 creating eflfective armies in the shortest possible time, and of 
 commanding small bodies of men. 
 
 If great commanders are ever again required in this country 
 they will come to the front in due time. They cannot be 
 selected in advance of actual trial in war. Even West Point, 
 though one of the best schools in the world, can, at the most, but 
 lay the foundation for a military education. Each individual 
 
 64 
 
JOHN MCALLISTER SCHOFIELD. 
 
 must build for himself, upon that foundation, the superstructure 
 which is to make his place in the world. If he does not build, 
 his monument will hardly appear above the ground, and will 
 soon be covered out of sight." 
 
 And, in that connection, he did not lose sight of "General 
 Military Education " as indispensable; and pointedly referred 
 to in his "Forty-six Years in the Army," page 519, and 
 following. 
 
 He was wedded to the necessity for thorough preparation 
 for war at all times, and said : "Let the schools, of all kinds and 
 grades, teach patriotism, respect for law, obedience to authority, 
 discipline, courage, physical development, and the rudiments 
 of practical military maneuvers; let the national and state 
 military schools be fostered and protected, and the volunteer 
 citizen soldiery given material aid proportionate to their, 
 military zeal." 
 
 I knew ScHOFiELD as my class-mate, room-mate and section- 
 mate at West Point. We sat on the same bench in the section- 
 room. We knew each other intimately, and our converse 
 was ever open and most cordial. At his marriage to Miss 
 Bartlett I was his groom's-man. After the death of his wife — 
 the great aflfliction of his life — I stood by his side ; and when a 
 like sorrow fell to my lot, he stood by my side. I served near 
 him during his incumbency as Secretary of War; when com- 
 manding the Division of the Gulf; when temporarily com- 
 manding the Department of Texas; and when — for seven 
 years — he commanded the Army of the United States, I was 
 his Adjutant-General and Chief -of-Staff. While he was Super- 
 intendent of the Military Academy, he asked the Secretary 
 
 65 
 
JOHN MCALLISTER SCHOFlELD. 
 
 of War to assign me to the charge of the War Department 
 MiHtary Academy Division, thus that there might be one in 
 that position who knew him, and that, formally and informally, 
 he might be in close touch with the Secretary as to Academy 
 affairs. 
 
 Subsequent to his retirement from active ser\'ice we met 
 quite frequently and maintained our correspondence. AVhen 
 in Europe he wrote, September, 1904: "My health seems 
 to be much better than it has been for several years, and that 
 is the main element in comfort and happiness." He had 
 concluded to remain abroad for another year; but in June, 
 1905, said: "We are at length on our way home * * * 
 my health is slowly improving, but I am still far from well 
 * * * I shall be glad to breath my native air again." In 
 the autumn of 1905, he as usual went to St. Augustine, Florida, 
 for the winter. January 8, 1906, he informed me, in connection 
 with a pamphlet I had sent him : " I shall examine, with great 
 interest, as soon as my head has its normal condition again. 
 Just now a conflict is on between Malaria and Quinine with the 
 usual disturbance of quiet thought. My system seems never 
 to have been relieved entirely from poison absorbed so many — 
 52 — years ago in Florida, * * * otherwise I have been 
 very well indeed so far this winter." That was his last letter 
 to me. I was shocked when informed by telegram that he 
 died March 4, 1906. 
 
 The "Pale Horse" stood to bear him forth; and ''Kindly 
 Light" led through the encircling gloom — thus marking his 
 requiem, in the arms of lasting peace ! 
 
 We have the comforting assurance that, at his last conscious 
 
 moment, he could say: 
 
 66 
 
JOHN MCALLISTER SCHOFIELD. 
 
 "I feel within me 
 A peace, above all earthly dignities, 
 A still and quiet conscience." 
 
 Onl}^ a few days prior to his death he made a trip to Key- 
 West over the railroad now passing near the region of his 
 early service as an officer, in 1853-4, and the battlefields of 
 Jupiter (1836) and Okeechobee (1837). No doubt during the 
 trip his thoughts reverted to his severe illness at Forts Jupiter 
 and Capron, and his almost fatal relapse on the St. Johns River. 
 It is an incident, that, over that river, his remains were carried 
 to their final resting place at Arlington ! 
 
 He had returned to St. Augustine February 17, and had 
 been unusually well and happy during his absence, and up to 
 the day of his death. 
 
 Under the orders of the President of the United States, the 
 funeral honors, due to a Secretary of War, marked the last 
 tribute of respect. The services at St. John's Church were 
 impressive and pathetic. The church was thronged — embracing 
 the President and members of his Cabinet ; Senators and Repre- 
 sentatives of the Congress ; the Chief Justice of the Supreme 
 Court ; the Lieutenant-General, and other officers of the Army ; 
 officers of the Navy; delegations from the Loyal Legion, Grand 
 Army, Army of the Ohio, and other patriotic organizations. 
 The Right Reverend Bishop, Alexander Mackay-Smith, offi- 
 ciated with touching sadness, as he remembered "the last 
 great figure of national importance, in the history of the Civil 
 War, forty years ago," and contemplated the drum-beat, 
 soon to sound, which he associated with the military signal 
 
 67 
 
JOHN MCALLISTER SCHOFIELD. 
 
 "Lights out" * * * "of a sublime epoch, significant in all 
 the ages." Outside the church, the adjoining streets were 
 filled by the imposing funeral escort, and a great multitude. 
 As the cortege moved — "sad and slow, as fits an universal 
 woe, with martial music" — thousands stood, reverently, looking 
 upon the funeral bier, with its casket covered by a wealth of 
 flowers, the tribute of military organizations and mourning 
 friends. At Fort Myer — entrance to Arlington — minute guns 
 sounded, and soldiers bowed their heads. The commitment 
 services — "Ashes to ashes, dust to dust" — were followed by the 
 volleys, the salute due to a Secretary of War, and "taps." So 
 closed the earthly honors extended to John McAllister Scho- 
 FiELD. The lamentations of the country marked his burial ! 
 
 As I now think of the past, my beloved and devoted friend 
 of 57 years stands before me : 
 
 * * * "A promontory rock, 
 That compass'd round with turbulent sound, 
 In middle ocean meets the surging shock, 
 Tempest-buffeted, Citadel-crowned." 
 
 Additional well known words are applicable :* 
 
 "Let his great example stand 
 Colossal, seen by every land. 
 To keep the soldier firm, the statesman pure; 
 Till in all lands, and thro' all human story, 
 The path of duty be the way to glory. * * * 
 He that walks it, only thirsting 
 For the right, and learns to deaden 
 Love of self, before his journey closes. 
 He shall find the stubborn thistle bursting 
 Into glossy purples, which outredden 
 All voluptuous garden roses." .* * * 
 
 *Ode on the death of the Duke of Wellington. — Tennyson. 
 
 68 
 
JOHN MCALLISTER SCHOFIELD. 
 
 Let his countrymen : 
 
 " For many and many an age proclaim * 
 Their ever loyal leader's fame. 
 With honor, honor, honor, honor to him. 
 Eternal honor to his name. * * * 
 He is gone who seemed so great — 
 Gone; but nothing can bereave him 
 Of the force he made his own 
 Being here, and we believe him 
 Something far advanced in State. 
 And that he wears a truer crown 
 Than any wreath a man can weave him. 
 God accept him, Christ receive him." 
 
 Thomas MacCukdy Vincent. 
 
 69 
 
3In iiptttoriam. 
 
 Companion JOHN McALLISTER SCHOFIELD. 
 
 By 
 
 Companion Colonel Felix A. Reeve, U. S. Volunteers. 
 
 As a member of the Committee appointed by the Commandery 
 to prepare an appropriate In Memoriam tribute to our deceased 
 Companion Lieutenant -General John McAllister vSchoeiELD, 
 U. vS. Army, it is my pleasure to co-operate with the other members 
 of the Committee for two reasons. The first is my admiration 
 for the splendid record made by General SchofiELD in his long 
 career as a soldier and as a citizen ; and the second is for the 
 more personal reason that he was my friend tried and true, 
 and at a time when as the head of an executive bureau I was 
 sacrificed for my poUtical convictions— dismissed from an office 
 reached on civil service lines. 
 
 But as the last consideration can be of little interest to any 
 one except myself, and as the public services of General Scho- 
 FiELD both as a military and a civil officer is faithfully and 
 comprehensively commemorated by the other members of the 
 Committee, my own part in the tribute to his memory will 
 be easily performed. 
 
 At the beginning of the Civil War, SchofiELD, then a first 
 lieutenant, and without hope of immediate promotion, accepted 
 
 71 
 
JOHN MCALLISTER SCHOFIELD. 
 
 the professorship of ph}'sics in Washington University, vSt. 
 Louis. When the war seemed inevitable, he informed the 
 War Department of his readiness to return to duty as a soldier, 
 and was thereupon detailed to muster in the troops required 
 of the State of Missouri. vSoon after he was appointed Major 
 of the ist Regiment of the Missouri Reserve Corps, and report- 
 ing to General Lyon on the 26th of June, 1861, he began duty 
 as his adjutant-general. From that time Schofield's ser- 
 vices became more and more conspicuous and his rise was 
 rapid. 
 
 It was in 1862 that the unseemly Missouri quarrel began 
 between the conser\'ative and radical policies that endangered 
 the cause of the Union in that State, and a committee was sent 
 to Washington to demand the removal of vSchofield, who was 
 then a Brigadier-General, on account of alleged inefliciency. 
 His nomination as Major-General hung fire in the Senate. His 
 friend, General Halleck, had not been able to sustain him against 
 intrigue in Kansas, Missouri, and Washington, but in compHance 
 with his request ordered him to Tennessee, where, with much 
 satisfaction, he reported to Rosecrans and Thomas at Mur- 
 freesboro, and was assigned to Thomas's old division of the 
 Fourteenth Corps. But in May, 1863, President Lincoln 
 reappointed him Major-General, and ordered him back to the 
 "old scene of unsoldierly strife and turmoil in Missouri and 
 Kansas." On the 24th of May, he reheved General Curtis in 
 command of the Department of the Missouri. This was a dis- 
 tinct triumph as the appointment was due to President Lincoln, 
 whose support as well as that of his distinguished Attorney - 
 General, Edward Bates, he had from the first. And to show 
 
 72 
 
JOHN MCALLISTER SCHOFIELD. 
 
 the well-deserved confidence the President had in General 
 ScHOFiELD and at the same time the tactful and unfaiUng com- 
 mon sense of the great President, I will here insert, with no 
 risk of being tedious, the letter addressed by the President to 
 General SchofiEld, May 27, 1863: 
 
 "Executive Mansion, 
 
 Washington. 
 
 "My dear Sir: Having relieved General Curtis and as- 
 signed you to the command of the Department of the Mis- 
 souri, I think it may be of some advantage for me to state to 
 you why I did it. 
 
 "I did not reUeve General Curtis because of any full convic- 
 tion that he had done wrong by commission or omission. I 
 did it because of a conviction in my mind that the Union 
 men of Missouri, constituting, when united, a vast majority of 
 the whole people, have entered into a pestilent factional quarrel 
 among themselves— General Curtis, perhaps not of choice, being 
 the head of one faction, and Governor Gamble that of the 
 other. After months of labor to reconcile the difficulty, it 
 seemed to grow worse and worse, until I felt it my duty to 
 break it up somehow; and as I could not remove Governor 
 Gamble. I had to remove General Curtis. 
 
 " Now that you are in the positipn, I wish you to undo noth- 
 ing merely because General Curtis or Governor Gamble did it, 
 but to exercise your own judgment and do right for the public 
 
 interest. 
 
 "Let your military measures be strong enough to repel the 
 invader and keep the peace, and not so strong as to unneces- 
 
 73 
 
JOHN MCALLISTER SCHOFIELD. 
 
 sarily harass and persecute the people. It is a difficult role, 
 and so much greater will be the honor if you perform it well. 
 If both factions, or neither, shall abuse }'ou, you will probably 
 be about right. Beware of being assailed by one and praised 
 by the other. 
 
 "Yours truly, 
 
 A. Lincoln." 
 
 But, as stated, I propose to present only a consecutive 
 summary of the military fortunes of General SchoFiELD in 
 this sketch, and will pass on to the time when I had the 
 honor to serve under his command. 
 
 In August, 1863, General Bumside crossed the Cumberland 
 mountains with an army of 18,000 men for the long deferred 
 relief of East Tennessee. It was on the 12th of the month 
 when the 23d Army Corps, Department of the Ohio, commanded 
 by General Burnside, left Danville, Kentucky. My regiment, 
 the 8th Tenn. Vol. Infantry, was in the 2d Brigade of the 2d 
 Division of that Corps. After campaigning up and down the 
 valley of East Tennessee with undecisive results. General 
 Burnside found his army besieged at Knoxville from November 
 1 7, to December 4, 1863. On the 21st of December, Gen. Jacob 
 D. Cox superseded General Manson in connnand of the 23d 
 Corps. On the nth of December Gen. John G. Foster had 
 superseded General Burnside in command of the Depart- 
 ment of the Ohio. 
 
 General Schofield arrived at Knox\dlle on Febniarj'S, 1864, 
 and on the following day relieved General Foster, and took 
 command of the campaign in East Tennessee, and in March 
 conferred with General Sherman about the plans for the coming 
 
 74 
 
JOHN MCALLISTER SCHOFlELD. 
 
 campaign in Georgia. In his entertaining account of it, Dalton, 
 Snake Creek Gap, Resaca, Rocky-face Ridge, Kenesaw, and 
 Atlanta, become once more familiar, and it scarcely seems that 
 forty-three years have elapsed since these and other places were 
 made forever famous by that brilliant and successful invasion. 
 
 On the 3d of November, General vSchofield was ordered by 
 General Thomas to proceed at once to Nashville with the 23d 
 Corps, to repel the invasion of the State by General Hood. The 
 result was the signal victories at Franklin, Nashville, and other 
 points, for the Union arms. The gallantry and skill of General 
 ScHOFiELD in all of these engagements are familiar to every 
 reader of that important campaign. And it is gratifving to 
 observe the credit accorded to the 23d Army Corps and its 
 brave and capable commander. Gen. J. D. Cox, as well as other 
 commanders of corps, divisions, and brigades who proved 
 themselves worthy of their wise, prudent and successful leader, 
 Gen. George H. Thomas. 
 
 General Schofield's conspicuous services did not terminate 
 with the disastrous and final overthrow of General Hood at 
 Franklin and Nashville. And it should here be noted that 
 for his gallant and meritorious conduct at the battle of Franklin, 
 General Schofield was made a Brigadier-General and a brevet 
 Major-General in the Regular Army. 
 
 In January, 1865, he was detached from Thomas's command 
 and sent with the 23d Army Corps to Washington and thence 
 to the mouth of Cape Fear River. In February he was assigned 
 to the command of the Department of North Carolina, and 
 after several engagements joined General vSherman at Golds- 
 boro. He was present at the surrender of General Johnston's 
 
 75 
 
JOHN MCALLISTER SCHOFIHLD. 
 
 army on April 26, 1865, and was charged with the execution 
 of the details of the capitulation. In June of that year he was 
 sent to Europe on a special mission from the vState Department 
 in regard to French intervention in Mexico. On his return 
 in 1866, he was assigned to command the Department of the 
 Potomac. In 1868 he succeeded Mr. Stanton as Secretary 
 of War and remained in that office until the close of Johnson's 
 administration, and under Grant until March 12, 1869, when 
 he was appointed Major-General in the U. S. Army and ordered 
 to command the Department of the Missouri. He was in com- 
 mand of the Division of the Pacific from 1870 to 1876, when he 
 was assigned to the superintendency of the U. S. miUtary 
 academy, and in 1883 to the command of the Division of the 
 Missouri, where he remained till 1886, when he took charge of 
 the Division of the Atlantic. He was appointed Lieutenant- 
 General in February, 1896, and retired in September of that year. 
 
 As intended, I have briefly referred to the brilliant and mer- 
 itorious services of our beloved Companion, Lieutenant -General 
 ScHOFiELD. They are written in the annals of the great Civil 
 War and in the hearts of all who had the fortune to serve under 
 his command. He was not only a successful soldier, but he 
 also distinguished himself in the discharge of the more pacific 
 and not less onerous executive duties of a Secretary of War, 
 and as a diplomatic agent of the Government at a critical time. 
 
 For myself I may be permitted to say that I not only admired 
 General Schofield as a soldier, but esteemed him as a personal 
 friend, and it is with no little satisfaction I remember that some 
 years ago when I was recommended for Judge-Advocate-Gen- 
 eral of the Army in view of an expected vacancy, I was informed 
 
 76 
 
JOHN MCALLISTER SCHOFIELD. 
 
 by General Schofield that my appointment, if made, would 
 be wholly gratifying to him. In our temporal fortunes, or 
 misfortunes, it is a hopeful and encouraging asset to have 
 the confidence of such a man, and it becomes a pleasant memory 
 in the after years. 
 
 General SchoFiELD was richly endowed with a miUtary instinct 
 and was gifted with the "genius of common sense." His whole 
 career in the service of the country was ever characterized by 
 a conscientious devotion to duty; and we may well believe 
 that when the inevitable end came, crowned with the shining 
 deeds of a good and patriotic Ufe, he was ready to join the other 
 great soldiers of the RepubUc who already in answer to the 
 summons of the Master, had assembled on the far-extending 
 encampment beyond the river! 
 
 In his decUning days at St. Helena, Napoleon said, "I shall 
 join my brave companions in the Elysian Fields. Yes, Kleber, 
 Desaix, Bessieres, Duroc, Ney, Murat, Massena, Berthier. will 
 all come to meet me. They will speak to me of what we have 
 done together, and I will relate to them the last events of my 
 Ufe. On seeing me again, they will all become once more 
 animated with enthusiasm and glory. We will talk of our wars 
 with the Scipios, Hannibal. Caesar, Frederick." vSo, we may 
 believe that in the glorious, peaceful, and eternal world, our 
 Companion is again with Grant, and Sherman, and Thomas, 
 and Sheridan, and Rosecrans, and the thousands of others 
 who in their respective places co-operated in a common cause 
 
 to save the life of the Nation ! 
 
 FELIX A. REEVE. 
 
 Washington, D. C, 
 
 October lo, 1907. 
 
din iE^mortam. 
 Companion JOHN McALLISTER SCHOFIELD. 
 
 By 
 
 Companion Acting Assistant Paymaster Frank W. 
 Hackett, IvATE U. S. Navy. 
 
 When a man of unusual distinction goes out of the world, 
 leaving behind him a record of achievement that is one unbroken 
 line of success, we are apt to refer much of his good fortune to 
 the circumstance that he had pursued the Ufe-work that best 
 suited him. The inference in most instances, is doubtless 
 correct. But now and then an individual appears, whose 
 display of ability in many directions is so marked that it occurs 
 to us to speculate a little ; and we enquire, how came this man 
 to make the choice that he did ; and what measure of success 
 is it Hkely that he would have attained, had he selected some 
 other pursuit. 
 
 John McAllister SchofiEld was a many-sided man. A 
 great soldier; had fate assigned him another road upon which 
 to travel, he still would have reached eminence. Certain it is 
 that he would have made his mark as a lawyer or a judge 
 had he studied law, as when a boy it was his purpose to do ; 
 for it was by the merest accident that an appointment to West 
 
 79 
 
JOHN MCALUSTER SCHOFlELD. 
 
 Point fell to him. Had he turned to teaching as a profession, 
 he would undoubtedly have become an educator of the very 
 first rank. In a word, the youth had in him the making of 
 a great man. 
 
 Fortunately for his country, our friend chose the profession 
 of arms. His fitness for that profession, and the services 
 which he has rendered, have been the subject of judicious and 
 well-deserved praise. That his military efficiency was of an 
 unusually high order is generally conceded. Had opportunity 
 favored, there is reason to beUeve that SchoFiELD would have 
 taken rank as one of the world's great commanders ; for he was 
 endowed with that rare combination of qualities that means 
 success in the problem of planning a campaign and handling 
 a great army in the field. 
 
 So brave and skillful a general did he prove himself, that 
 one may very readily be excused for overlooking the fact that 
 there exists another side to Schofield's record which is deserv- 
 ing of special mention — and that is, his aptitude for perform- 
 ing the duties of a statesman. 
 
 Let me briefly refer to one or two spheres of activity, wherein 
 he did work of inestimable value. When we remember that 
 General Schofield at the close of the war had scarcely reached 
 the age of thirty-five, we may well feel surprised that he did 
 so much in the field that could only have been done by a soldier 
 of a cool head and matured judgment. Indeed, this quality 
 of an admirable self-control is a marked feature of his character. 
 
 He proved to be just the man that was needed during the 
 very trying period of reconstruction. But before his talent 
 was availed of in this direction, he had been selected by 
 
 80 
 
JOHN MCALLISTER SCHOFIELD. 
 
 Secretary vSevvard to go abroad upon a diplomatic mission of 
 the highest importance. In June, 1865, he went to France, em- 
 powered to act largely upon his own discretion in determining 
 the means of conveying to the Emperor a plain intimation 
 that the French Army had best get out of Mexico without 
 further delay. The simple fact that a duty so deUcate in its 
 nature should have been entrusted to him, itself testifies to 
 the worth and ability of this modest soldier. 
 
 Coming home after a year's absence, he was called into the 
 Cabinet of President Johnson, where he served efficiently as 
 Secretary of War. He knew and understood Andrew Johnson 
 far better than did the vast majority of northern men. While 
 Secretary of War he demonstrated his fitness for the position 
 of President of the United States, though it is not possible that 
 an idea of reaching that position had ever entered his mind. 
 Few men have possessed in a higher degree than he the habits 
 of thought and the training needful for that exalted ofiice. 
 Firm, but not opinionated; industrious, and yet knowing how 
 to despatch business expeditiously ; broad-minded so as to view 
 all parts of the Union with like interest and devotion; and 
 above all, entertaining a profound respect for law and author- 
 ity, such a man as General SchoField fully met, it seems to 
 me, the exacting qualifications necessary for a successful admin- 
 istration of the Presidency. 
 
 He was no politician, but a straightforward, open-hearted 
 officer of the army. His instincts were sound; his loyalty 
 unquestioned; his knowledge of human nature far-reaching 
 and thorough. Public questions with which he had to deal 
 he examined most carefully. To his vision the limit between 
 
 81 
 
JOHN MCALLISTER SCHOFIELD. 
 
 the military and civil authority was precisely defined. No man 
 revered the Constitution more. He was a firm believer in the 
 endurance of democratic instituitons, and in the assured 
 happy fortune of his country for the future. 
 
 We gain an insight into the character of our Companion, 
 not only from the record of what he did in the field, and in the 
 Cabinet, but from an interesting and valuable book that he 
 gave to the pubhc, about ten years ago, entitled "Forty-six 
 Years in the Army." 
 
 Here, to any one who reads between the lines, there is plainly 
 disclosed the strength and fiber of General SchofiELD's character. 
 He modestly tells the reader that he has meant this volume 
 to be nothing more than a contribution of material for the 
 future historian. The entire absence of self-laudation, the 
 generous estimate of his companions in arms, the clear, lucid 
 narrative, and the calm, impartial tone of his comments, all 
 combine to stamp the author as a man of unselfish disposition 
 and of fine intellectual endowment. 
 
 The caUber of the man is distinctly shown in what he tells 
 us in this book as to the Board of Review, over which he pre- 
 sided in 1878, constituted to hear new evidence in the case of 
 Major-General Fitz John Porter. Here Schofield did what it 
 was difficult to do — rose above prejudice. He expresses it 
 as his opinion that "no Government can be regarded as just 
 to its Army unless it provides, tmder appropriate conditions, 
 for the rehearing of cases that may be tried by court-martial 
 in time of war." 
 
 The strong sense of justice displayed in advancing such an 
 opinion as this, is worthy, it needs hardly be said, of the highest 
 
 82 
 
JOHN MCALLISTER SCHOFIELD. 
 
 commendation. General Schoi'iELD exercised a clear insight 
 into the proper methods of securing efficiency in the Army. 
 He loved his profession, and he gave his best thought to the 
 means of steadily improving that branch of the ser\'ice, of which 
 he was so conspicuous an ornament. 
 
 To conclude, we may praise the late Commander-in-Chief 
 of the Loyal Legion of the United States without fear of passing 
 the bounds of just and well-founded admiration. The secret 
 of his success was that he was a man of abounding common 
 sense. It is matter of histoiy that for many }'ears when he 
 was in Washington, pubUc men of the Cabinet, or of the Senate, 
 or of the House, used to resort to him to ask his opinion upon 
 questions then before the country. They always found him 
 sagacious, competent and helpful. Schofield was a most use- 
 ful man. He did his whole duty faithfully. His name and 
 his fame will ever be a pride to the Army, and to every lover 
 of the Union. 
 
 FRANK WARREN HACKETT. 
 
 Washington, D. C, 
 
 December 30, 1907. 
 
 83 
 
3ltt ilpmortam. 
 Companion JOHN McALLISTER SCHOFIELD. 
 
 By 
 Companion Major-General Joseph P. Sanger, U. S. Army. 
 
 I have been asked to prepare a short sketch of General 
 SCHOFIELD during my ser\ace with him as aide-de-camp, 
 inspector-general, and military secretary. 
 
 During this period, 1884 to 1895, he commanded the Division 
 of the Missouri; the Division of the Atlantic and the Army, 
 adding largely to his already great reputation as a wise and 
 able commander and administrator of civil and military affairs. 
 
 The principal events which occurred during this period were 
 the establishment of Fort Sheridan, the disorders at Salt Lake 
 City and other places in Utah in 1885-6, growing out of the 
 enforcement of the Edmunds law for the suppression of polyg- 
 amy; the massacre of Chinese miners at Rock Springs, Wyo- 
 ming, September, 1885, by white union miners; the anti-Chinese 
 strikes and riots in Washington and Oregon, 1885-6; the threat- 
 ened uprising of the Cheyennes and Arapahoes, Indian Terri- 
 tory; the regeneration of the Artillery, 1886 to 1895; the out- 
 break of Sioux Indians and battle of Wounded Knee, 1 890-1; 
 
JOHN MCALLISTER SCHOFIELD. 
 
 the Cour d'Alene strikes and riots initiated and carried out 
 by the Miners' Union, July, 1892; the municipal trouble^ in 
 Denver, March, 1894, and the labor strikes and riots in Chicago 
 , in July of the same year. 
 
 I joined the General as aide-de-camp in the fall of 1884, 
 and found him deeply interested in the idea of a military post 
 near Chicago which he regarded as "the most important stra- 
 tegical center of the entire northwestern frontier," as well as 
 "the most important center of interstate commerce and trans- 
 portation in the entire country." Old Fort Dearborn, which 
 stood at the mouth of the Chicago River, had been abandoned 
 and the reservation devoted to other uses many years before. 
 The railroad riots of 1877 had shown the paramount importance 
 of a miHtary post near the city, and while General Sheridan, 
 when in command of the Division of Missouri, had fully real- 
 ized this, but httle had been done to vitahze the idea when 
 General Schofield assumed the command. 
 
 Learning from Senator Logan, then Chairman of the Mili- 
 tary Committee of the Senate, that an appropriation by Con- 
 gress for the purchase of sufficient land was highly improbable, 
 yet if the United States owned the land an appropriation to 
 build a post could no doubt be readily obtained, it was suggested 
 by the General to a few of his Chicago friends that the neces- 
 sary land be purchased by subscription and presented to the 
 United States. Pending the consideration of this suggestion, 
 all suitable and available sites within a radius of twenty-five 
 miles of the city, including that on which the post was subse- 
 quently located, were carefully examined, the prices of all 
 sites obtained, and through the medium of the Chicago Com- 
 
 86 
 
JOHN MCALLISTER SCHOFIELD. 
 
 mercial Club, the money pledged. Soon after this General 
 Sheridan was sent to examine the sites proffered, and selected 
 that on which the post now stands. 
 
 General SchofiEld had been in Chicago but a short time 
 when he became satisfied that under whatever form, or for 
 whatever reason, mob violence was certain to occur there again, 
 and that the presence of United States troops would no doubt 
 be necessary, hence his keen interest in the establishment of 
 Fort Sheridan. 
 
 At that time, 1884, twenty-five railroads entered the city, 
 which is divided by the Chicago River into the north, south 
 and west sides, connected by bridges and one tunnel, and it 
 was deemed of importance to decide definitely after careful 
 consideration, at what point in the city United States troops 
 should be concentrated in order to best subserve the interests 
 of the United States Government. Accordingly, the General 
 went over the subject carefully and decided that in view of 
 the location of the government buildings, troops entering the 
 city should be sent to the south side, and that from no point 
 on the south side could a small force be more effectually used 
 at the outset, than from the Lake Front Park. 
 
 Subsequent events proved the wisdom of this selection, 
 and illustrated the General's life-long practice of preparing in 
 advance for any contingency, however remote. It was one of 
 his axioms, frequently asserted, that in considering miUtary 
 operations, no matter how insignificant, every detail should 
 be carefully studied, and as far as possible provided for; noth- 
 ing left to chance. Many soldiers have had the same views 
 but have sometimes failed to carry them into practice. With 
 
JOHN MCALUSTER SCHOFIELD. 
 
 General Schofield, it was a guiding principle and his success 
 as a general having great civic and military responsibilities 
 throughout a long and notable career, was largely due to his 
 careful observance of this rule. 
 
 The disturbances which occurred in Utah, Wyoming, Colorado 
 and New Mexico in 1886 gave me an excellent opportunity 
 of learning the General's methods of deaUng with such occur- 
 rences. Of some of them I was an eye-witness as his aide-de- 
 camp, and in all cases I had personal knowledge of his views 
 and the orders and instructions issued by him. Of the other 
 disorders which occurred while I was on duty in Washington 
 as inspector-general, I knew only so much as was current in 
 the War Department, or as he chose to tell me at the time. 
 Subsequently, when I became his miUtary secretary, I learned 
 a great deal more. 
 
 What impressed me, however, from the very first, and on 
 all subsequent occasions when the General was called on to 
 consider the employment of U. S. troops in cases of domestic 
 violence, threatened or actual, was his perfectly clear concep- 
 tion of the distinction between the military authority of the 
 United States and the States, as well as the relations between 
 the civil and military authorities of the United States, based 
 on his profound knowledge of the Constitution and laws of the 
 United States bearing on those subjects. Not only was he 
 able to quote the exact language of the Constitution and of 
 many of the laws, but what was of more consequence he under- 
 stood thoroughly the principles underlying them, as well as 
 their proper application under all circumstances. In short, 
 he was an authority on that subject. I did not know the reason 
 
 88 
 
JOHN MCALI.ISTER SCHOFIELD. 
 
 of this at first, but I learned it long before our official relations 
 were ended. He had made them a study during his entire 
 service, beginning when he was a second lieutenant of artillery. 
 In fact, he has said of himself in his Memoirs that after leaving 
 West Point where he had been Assistant Professor of Philosophy 
 and Astronomy, he found more use for the law than for physics 
 and astronomy, and little less than for the art of war. 
 
 Just before he was appointed Secretary of War in 1868, he 
 had several conferences with Mr. Kvarts, who said of him that 
 he was the best constitutional lawyer he knew; a very high 
 compliment from a very distinguished man. 
 
 The troubles in Colorado, Utah and New Mexico, 1885-6, 
 were not sufficiently serious to demand the presence of the 
 General, or active interference on the part of the troops, but 
 when the massacre of Chinese miners at Rock Springs occurred, 
 and on the request of the Governor of Wyoming, two companies 
 of the 2d Infantry from Fort Fred Steele were sent to preserve 
 the peace and protect property. 
 
 As the case involved a violation of our treaties with China 
 the President directed General SchoField to go to Rock 
 Springs, and I went with him. Before leaving Chicago it was 
 reported that a strike of the Union Pacific trainmen which had 
 been pending for some time was imminent, and it was not 
 altogether certain we could get through. 
 
 On arriving in Omaha, General Howard, several reporters 
 and certain delegates representing the employees of the Union 
 Pacific R. R. boarded our car. General Howard explained 
 the progress of events at Rock Springs, adding that a general 
 strike of the Union Pacific employees was feared. This gave 
 
JOHN MCALLISTER SCHOFIELD. 
 
 the delegates an opening and they laid their grievances before 
 General SchoFiELD, expecting, as I thought at the time, some- 
 thing in the way of arbitration or sympathetic suggestion. 
 But the General had given some thought to the subject, and 
 while he hoped they might be able to adjust their differences 
 with the oflicials of the road, he told them quite plainly a few 
 facts with which they did not appear to be familiar, and which 
 evidently weakened their purpose. 
 
 He called their attention to the fact that the Union Pacific 
 Railroad was established under an act of Congress as a post 
 route and military road subject to the use of the U. S. for postal 
 and military purposes ; that it was one of his lines of communi- 
 cation and indispensable to the transportation and supply of 
 the troops along the Hne of the road; that he was traveling 
 over it on military duty under orders of the President, and 
 that any interference with the road by strikers or their sym- 
 pathizers would be regarded by him as an act of war, and that 
 if necessary he would use the entire force in the division, num- 
 bering at that time about 15,000 men, to protect the road and 
 preserve good order. He also advised them to make known 
 his intentions to their confederates in Denver and other places. 
 
 The delegates were apparently very much impressed with 
 what he said, as well as with his manner, which as usual was 
 entirely devoid of excitement, but conveyed beyond the shadow 
 of a doubt the absolute sincerity of his purpose and his firm 
 resolve to carry it out. At all events, this terminated the 
 interview as Avell as all preparations for a strike, which, under 
 existing conditions, would have been a most serious matter 
 for the Government. The opinion expressed by General 
 
 90 
 
JOHN MCAI.USTER SCHOFlELD. 
 
 ScHOFiELD on this occasion both as to the status of the U. P. 
 R. R. and the authority of the Government and its military 
 officers over it, was by no means new or hastily formed. He 
 had held it and suggested it before but had never been called 
 on to act under it. 
 
 When in 1894 riots and disturbances of all kinds were prev- 
 alent in the states of North Dakota, Montana, Idaho, Washing- 
 ton, Wyoming, Colorado and California, the Territories of 
 Utah and New Mexico and all the Pacific and other postal 
 and military roads were threatened by mobs, the General's 
 instructions to the several Department Commanders of July 
 7, as well as the proclamation of the President of July 9, 
 officially accepted this view, to-Mdt: that it is not necessary 
 for the President of the United States to call on the United 
 States courts or United States civil officials to give protection to 
 military roads established by Congress. He does this, ex-officio, 
 as commander-in-chief. Neither is it incumbent on him in 
 order to enforce United States laws, to protect the mails 
 or United States property anywhere in the United States to 
 wait for the action of legislatures or governors, and to General 
 ScHOFiELD belongs the honor and the credit of making this 
 principle perfectly clear, and the great railroad strike of 1894 
 was the occasion. 
 
 It will be remembered that this strike originated with em- 
 ployees of the Pullman Company at Pullman, Ills., about two 
 thousand of whom stopped work in May, over a refusal of the 
 company to raise wages. This was followed by a boycott 
 against Pullman cars by the American Railway Union, and 
 strikes were ordered on several of the railroads entering Chicago 
 
 91 
 
JOHN MCALLISTER SCHOFIELD. 
 
 as well as on the Union Transit Stock Yard Co., and there was 
 a general refusal to haul Pullman cars. To this end they were 
 detached from trains by the strikers, and either badly damaged 
 or destroyed, and trains hauling Pullman cars were derailed, 
 thus interrupting traffic and obstructing the mails. As soon 
 as this state of affairs became known in Washington the United 
 States Attorney-General ordered the United States District 
 Attorney in Chicago to protect the mail trains with United 
 States marshals, and the district court issued an injunction 
 against the strikers, to which, however, they paid no attention, 
 thus defying the laws and the authority of the United States. 
 
 As the courts were powerless to enforce their decrees, and 
 the violence of the mob was sufficient to excite apprehension 
 for the safety of United States property in Chicago, the 
 question arose at the White House as to whether or not United 
 States troops could be ordered to Chicago to enforce the laws, 
 protect the government property and remove all obstruction 
 to the mails, without a call from the Governor or Legislature 
 of Illinois. General SchofieLD had no doubt that they could 
 be, as he had studied that question long before, and being 
 called to attend a meeting of the Cabinet where the subject 
 was considered, so informed the President, who reached the 
 same conclusion after some investigation of the laws by the 
 Attorney-General . 
 
 In anticipation of this result the General on July 2 telegraphed 
 the Commanding General, Department of Missouri, to make 
 all necessary arrangements, confidentially, for the transporta- 
 tion of the entire garrison of Fort Sheridan to the Lake Front 
 Park, Chicago, and that the orders for the movement might 
 
JOHN MCALLISTKR SCHOFmLD. 
 
 be expected at any time. On the following day the orders 
 .were issued to move the troops to Chicago, "there to execute 
 
 the orders and processes of the United States courts, to prevent 
 
 the obstruction of the mails, and generally to prevent the 
 
 obstruction of the laws of the United States." 
 
 Nothing could have been plainer than these two orders, one 
 
 designating the precise place in Chicago, Lake Front Park, to 
 which the troops were to go, and the other the exact nature 
 of the duties devolving on them. Nevertheless, on the request 
 of the United States marshal they were diverted from the Lake 
 Front Park and the purpose for which they were sent to Chicago, 
 and divided into detachments to protect private property, 
 thus violating the posse commitatus law of 1878, disobeying 
 their instructions and leaving the protection of the mails and 
 United States property to the care of the marshals.* It was 
 not the President's intention, nor had he any authority to use 
 the troops to preserve the peace in Chicago, or to protect 
 private property; for such a purpose the troops could not be 
 used without a call from the governor or the legislature. But 
 the governor up to that time had not even called out the Na- 
 tional Guard, and shortly after protested to the President 
 against the presence of United States troops in Chicago, claim- 
 ing that they were unnecessary and that the state authorities 
 were amply able to enforce the laws, preserve the peace and 
 protect property in the city. Of course he was mistaken and 
 eventually it required the garrisons of Forts Wayne, Omaha 
 and Riley to carry out the President's orders. 
 
 I have cited this case somewhat at length because it shows 
 
 * The Department Commander was absent when these orders were re- 
 ceived, but returned to Chicago July 4. 
 
 93 
 
JOHN MCALLISTER SCHOFlELD. 
 
 how perfectly clear-headed General Schofield was, not only 
 as to the authority of the President, but as to the nature of 
 the duty demanded of the troops and their tactical employ- 
 ment. Concentrated at Lake Front Park and acting as a 
 single compact body, as General Schofield intended and 
 supposed they would be, the garrison of Fort Sheridan would 
 have been amply able, at that stage of the disorder, to execute 
 the President's orders, and that was their sole duty. Divided 
 into detachments and sent to look after private property, they 
 were too weak at all points to make any serious impression 
 on the mob, and if while so employed they had been called 
 on to protect the property and enforce the laws of the United 
 States they would have been unable to do so without a delay 
 which might have proved disastrous. 
 
 On the death of General Hancock in the spring of 1886, 
 General Schofield was tendered and accepted the command 
 of the Divisionof the Atlantic, believing, as he did, that Indian 
 wars were approaching an end and that the relative importance 
 of the two divisions would change once Congress was aroused 
 to the necessities of the sea coast defenses and those of our 
 northeastern frontier. He reUnquished command of the Divi- 
 sion of the Missouri April 9, and on April 13 assumed com- 
 mand of the Division of the Atlantic. 
 
 He immediately commenced an investigation of the arma- 
 ment and condition of all the defenses in the division as well 
 as the condition and employment of the artillery troops where- 
 ever stationed. 
 
 There were at that time sixty-six military posts in the 
 Division of the Atlantic, of which twenty-seven were garrisoned 
 
 94 
 
JOHN MCALLISTKR SCHOFIELD. 
 
 and thirty-nine nngarrisoncd. Of the total number, fifty-one 
 were sea coast forts, and the remainder barracks, properly 
 speaking. Of the garrisoned forts fifteen had no armaments 
 and the armaments of all the others were the old muzzle load- 
 ing types of low power, mounted usually on barbette carriages. 
 The efficiency of the artillery personnel was far from satisfactory, 
 owing to a lack of proper instruction, due in turn to a lack of 
 proper facilities. Artillery target practice, except at Forts 
 Hamilton, Wadsworth and Monroe, had practically ceased 
 in the Division, and of the forty-five companies of artillery 
 comprising seventy-five per cent of the entire artillery troops 
 of the army, only ten batteries, continually at the artillery 
 school, Fort Monroe, had had annual target practice during the 
 preceding ten years, and some of the batteries had not fired a shot. 
 Of course the General was unable to efifect any immediate 
 improvement in the armament; that could only be done by 
 the Ordnance Department under an appropriation bv Congress. 
 Nevertheless, through his annual reports, and other commu- 
 nications, written and oral, and his personal influence as a 
 general officer of artillery training and high scientific accom- 
 plishments, he was able to present the defects of our defenses 
 so graphically as to excite public interest in a subject which, 
 except in the Engineer and Ordnance Departments, had been 
 allowed to sleep since the report of t}ie Endicott Board had 
 awakened the country to our defenseless condition. But 
 while improvement in the forts and guns must be necessarily 
 slow, no reason was apparent why the foot artillery' should not 
 be aroused from its condition of lethargy as ' ' red legged inf antr}', ' ' 
 and made efficient in its legitimate and paramount duties. 
 
 95 
 
JOHN MCALLISTER SCHOFIELD. 
 
 General Schofield recognized at the outset that, however 
 desirable, this would not be an easy matter. All of the field 
 officers and many of the captains and lieutenants of artillery 
 were past middle age, and had grown old under a system of 
 instruction which was confined mainly to the manual of the 
 piece and infantry drill. The suggestion that there was any 
 necessity for a change was met by a counter suggestion that 
 the change would come with the change of armament, and that 
 in the meantime, as one old officer put it, "they wanted to be 
 left alone." But having once gone over the subject with great 
 care, considering it as was his habit, from all points of view, 
 including the apathy and indifference to be overcome among 
 the older officers, the General resolved to go ahead. 
 
 It is not necessary to relate in detail the story of artillery 
 regeneration ; it is sufficient to say that within two years after 
 he assumed command of the Division of the Atlantic, a system 
 of target practice and fire control had been initiated, applicable 
 to all the sea coast defenses in the Division, and that on his 
 accession to the command of the army in 1888 he extended 
 this system to the other coast defenses. 
 
 Meanwhile, September 22, 1888, the Board of Ordnance and 
 Fortifications was established and General SchoFiEld was its 
 first president. Nothing could have been more fortunate for 
 the artillery. His evenly balanced mind, his scientific training 
 and his knowledge of existing defects in the artillery, enabled 
 him to direct the operations of the Board with such wisdom 
 and discretion as to be highly beneficial to the military needs 
 of the country. 
 
 The start thus given the artillery by General SchoField as 
 
 96 
 
JOHN MCALLISTER SCHOFIELD. 
 
 a division commander received such an impetus at his hands 
 after he succeeded to the command of the army, that it has 
 been able to overcome all obstacles, and no one would think 
 of comparing the artillery of 1886 with the highly trained 
 and expert artillery corps of the present day. 
 
 It must not be supposed that in his anxiety to reform the 
 foot artillery, General ScHOFiELD overlooked the field artillery. 
 On the contrary, back in 1868, while Secretary of War, he es- 
 tablished a school for field artillery at Fort Riley, which for 
 some unexplained reason was broken up by his successor a 
 few years later. As soon, however, as he assumed connnand 
 of the Division of the Missouri (1883), he revived the idea of 
 a field artillery school at Fort Riley, and as General vSheridan 
 was equally interested in a school for cavalry, they joined 
 forces and the present school for Cavalry and Light Artillery 
 at Fort Riley was the result. 
 
 It would be difficult to estimate the great value of General 
 SchofiEld's services in reforming the artillery. Gen. Henry 
 J. Hunt and other prominent artillery officers were fully aware 
 of its defects, but from causes inherent in the organization of 
 our army and from personal jealousies they were never able 
 to stir the "authorities that be," or infuse into the artillery 
 itself a full reaUzation of the importance of doing something 
 besides criticize. The infantry and cavalry had always been 
 looked after, owing to the large preponderance of general and 
 staff officers appointed from among them. The artillery, 
 on the contrary, despite its glorious services during the Mexican 
 and Civil Wars, had been allowed to remain stagnant, unaf- 
 fected by the progress of science and the artillery reforms 
 everywhere adopted in the armies of Europe. 
 
 97 
 
JOHN MCALLISTER SCHOFIELD. 
 
 However he might have wished to do so, it is extremely 
 doubtful whether any other general officer of our army could 
 have done for the artillery what General Schofield did. Some- 
 thing more than high rank and the ability to command large 
 bodies of troops was necessary, and this General SchoFiELD had, 
 namely, a mind thoroughly trained to scientific investigation, 
 a full knowledge of the status of foreign artillery systems and 
 a practical idea of what was necessary. Besides this he enjoyed 
 the confidence of the army and of the artillery which soon 
 entered into his plans for its amelioration, reaching at last its 
 present high state of efficiency. 
 
 One other event occurred while the General was in command 
 of the Division of the Atlantic which is worthy of note as it 
 brought to light very forcibly one of the most pernicious and 
 demoralizing theories which ever emanated from the War 
 Department. I refer to the theory of multiple command 
 under which the order of the chief of a bureau of the War 
 Department was claimed to be the order of the Secretary of 
 War in the same way that the order of the Secretary of War 
 is the order of the President, and equally operative and binding 
 on the army. It so happened that a contract for beef approved 
 by General SchofiELD, was awarded by the Chief Commissary 
 of the division. It was not given to the lowest bidder who 
 had defaulted on the contract of the previous year, and whose 
 bondsmen had failed to qualify as required by law;. He ap- 
 pealed to the War Department, whereupon the Commissary 
 General ordered the Chief Commissary of the Division in a 
 letter sent to him direct, and without notice of any kind to 
 General SchofiELD, to annul the contract already awarded, 
 and make a new contract with the lowest bidder. 
 
 98 
 
JOHN MCALLISTER SCHOFIELD. 
 
 Against this wholly unprecedented overruling of his authority 
 as Division Commander by a subordinate officer of the War 
 Department the General appealed to the Secretary of War; 
 but it so happened that when his letter reached the War Depart- 
 ment the Commissary General was acting Secretary of War, 
 and promptly decided against him for the reason already 
 stated, which caused the General to remark that "it was quite 
 important for an officer not to enter a combat where he is sure 
 to be beaten, as, for instance, where his opponent is the judge 
 who is to decide the issue." Of course that put an end to the 
 controversy for the time being, but soon after he was assigned 
 to the command of the army the General brought the case 
 to the attention of the Secretary, who promptly disclaimed 
 ever having knowingly given his sanction to the doctrine 
 proclaimed by the Commissary General. 
 
 In a short time this theory was utterly repudiated as no 
 doubt it should have been, for nothing in the way of mal- 
 administration could have been more pernicious and subversive 
 of the authority of division and department commanders. 
 Under this theory military operations could be so jeopardized 
 by the chiefs of the staff departments acting through their 
 subordinates on the staffs of military commanders as to make 
 them all but impossible, and General Schofield could have 
 rendered no greater service to the army and the country at 
 that time than by courageously denouncing this absurd and 
 unwarranted assumption of the authority of the Secretary of 
 War and in trying to put an end to it. 
 
 No other event occurred at all commensurate with this 
 unless it was the regeneration of the artillery, while General 
 
 99 
 
JOHN MCALLISTER SCHOFIELD. 
 
 ScHOFiELD remained in command of the Division. Of minor 
 events I can recall the Inauguration of the Statue of Liberty 
 Enlightening the World, of which he had charge, the visit of 
 Queen Kapiolani of the Hawaiian Islands, and the first attempt 
 to inaugurate joint maneuvers of the Army and Navy sug- 
 gested by General Schofield and Rear Admiral Luce for the 
 purpose of testing the efficiency of our coast defenses and which 
 has now become a part of our annual artillery instruction. 
 
 In June, 1888, under a change in the Army Regulations 
 affecting aides, I was reUeved from duty with General Schofield 
 and ordered to join my company in California, and soon after 
 General Schofield, on the death of General Sheridan, was placed 
 in command of the army. 
 
 In the spring of 1889 I was appointed Major and Inspector- 
 General and ordered to the Department of the Missouri, with 
 headquarters at Fort Leavenworth. In the fall of that year 
 the Secretary of War accompanied by General Schofield visited 
 Fort Leavenworth and I then learned from him of his first 
 experiences in command of the army, an account of which 
 will be found in his published Memoirs. I was not surprised 
 to hear that an attempt had been made to misrepresent him 
 to the Secretary, or that the attempt had failed, and its 
 author discredited and humiliated. General Schofield was 
 fully conversant with the methods prevailing in the War Depart- 
 ment by which the Commanding General was stripped of all 
 authority and made to appear as a mere figurehead, and he 
 was resolved before he went to Washington not to be victim- 
 ized as his predecessors had been. Accordingly he took advan- 
 tage of the first opportunity to expose those methods to the 
 
JOHN MCALLISTER SCHOFIKLD. 
 
 Secretary, square himself with that official, and, if possible, 
 gain his confidence. All officers who served in the War Depart- 
 ment while he was there know how well he succeeded, becoming, 
 in fact as in name, the Commanding General of the army. 
 
 In the fall of 1890 I was reHeved from duty as Inspector- 
 General, Department of Missouri, and ordered to report to 
 the Inspector-General of the army. I continued on duty in 
 the War Department as an inspector until General Schofield, 
 by a special act of Congress, was appointed Lieutenant-General 
 (1895), when I became his military secretary. 
 
 During this period I saw a great deal of the General and 
 made several inspections for him, the most important of which 
 was the entire line of sea coast defenses from Fort Livingston, 
 Barataria Bay, Gulf of Mexico, to Fort Delaware on the Dela- 
 ware River. This inspection grew out of the agitation over 
 Cuba, and General Schofield's desire to know the exact state 
 of all the forts, whether garrisoned or not. 
 
 The riots and mob violence already mentioned developed 
 much ignorance as to the duty of troops in such cases, and 
 called forth the instructions of May 25 and July 9, 1894, for 
 the government of the army in dealing with mobs, prepared 
 by General Schofield. These instructions embodied the legal 
 and tactical considerations involved in the employment of 
 troops acting under the orders of the President to enforce the 
 laws of the United vStates and protect government property. 
 They were embodied in the Army Regulations of 1895, and 
 settled for all time, it is hoped, a question about which there 
 had existed a great deal of misapprehension even among 
 officers of the highest rank. It may be said that this was 
 the last great service rendered by General Schofield to the 
 
JOHN MCALLISTER SCHOFIELD. 
 
 Government, as on the 29th of September, 1895, he was placed 
 on the retired list of the army. 
 
 In this brief sketch I have endeavored to set forth so much 
 of General Schofield's miHtary services as came under my per- 
 sonal observation during a period of comparative peace, and 
 while the events herein stated, as compared with the more 
 stirring incidents in General Schofield's life, may seem to the 
 reader of little importance, they served to demonstrate his 
 unusual foresight and how thoroughly competent he was to 
 deal with complex and obscure military questions but little 
 understood, apparently, by the army, and to act as military 
 adviser to the President and vSecretary of War. In this last 
 respect he probably met with greater success than any of his 
 predecessors. General Grant alone excepted. That he should 
 have won their confidence was natural enough as he was rarely 
 if ever mistaken on any question involving a knowledge of our 
 laws or the appHcation of broad principles of military command 
 and administration. This was no doubt due in great measure 
 to his unusual power of concentrated and long sustained men- 
 tal effort, which, united with his love of investigation and analy- 
 sis, enabled him to go to the bottom of every question, and to 
 discern its vital point in the cold light of reason, unclouded 
 by sophistry of any kind. 
 
 Toward the end of his life he gave up certain field sports 
 of which he was very fond, and did not take quite as much 
 physical exercise perhaps, as he should have done, but on no 
 occasion did his brilliant mind give the least indication of lost 
 power until death claimed him. 
 
 In manner he was deliberate, quiet and reserved, as are 
 most men of strong, well equipped minds and large experience. 
 
JOHN MCALLISTER SCHOFIELD. 
 
 but beneath his reserve was a gentleness and kindness rarely 
 met with in public men. He was modest and unassuming 
 and of great nobility of character. In all my intercourse 
 with him as his aide, his companion and intimate friend, I never 
 knew him to lose control of his temper, although sometimes 
 irritated or annoyed. He usually took things as they came 
 with quiet dignity and neither longed for the impossible nor 
 found fault with the inevitable. 
 
 These traits of character, his profound knowledge of all 
 branches of military art and science, his clear and convincing 
 orders and instructions, his tolerance of the views of others, 
 and the fact that he was never meddlesome, impatient or over- 
 exacting, made service on his staff not only a delight but a 
 professional education of the highest order, to which I always 
 look back with the greatest pleasure and satisfaction. 
 
 In his own home and in all his family relations he was an 
 idol of affectionate regard, sharing generously with those who 
 had been less fortunate, the fruits of his industry and success. 
 
 While his services during the Civil War were not as great 
 or as conspicuous as those of Grant or Sherman or Sheridan, 
 his services after the war, in their importance and their influ- 
 ence on the army, were unexcelled by the services of any other 
 general officer, and I have no doubt the future historian will 
 record the fact. 
 
 Finally, he was an exalted patriot, loving and serving his 
 country with exceptional honor and intelligence and with a 
 single eye to its interests. He died, full of years and honors, 
 having the respect, confidence and affection of all with whom 
 he was closely associated, and leaving to coming generations 
 a lasting example of the highest type of American soldier. 
 
 JOSEPH P. SANGER. 
 103 
 
3n Msmav'xmn, 
 
 Companion JOHN McALLISTER SCHOFIELD. 
 
 By 
 
 Companion Colonel John W. Foster, U. S. Volunteers. 
 
 Washington, D. C, 
 
 May 22, 1907. 
 General Thos. M. Vincent. 
 
 My dear General: — Referring to your letter of the 20th; 
 as I expect to go abroad in a short time I thought I had better 
 comply with your request at once. I therefore send you, 
 herewith, a brief paper on General John M. Schofield. 
 Very truly, 
 
 JOHN W. FOSTER. 
 
 My acquaintance and association with General John M. 
 Schofield during the Civil War was brief. He assumed com- 
 mand of the Department of the Ohio, which included the 
 Twenty-third Army Corps, in February, 1864. I was at that 
 time in command of the Second Cavalry Division of that Corps, 
 bivouacked north of Knoxville watching the movements of 
 Longstreet's army. Six months of continuous and active 
 campaigning and the unusual severity of the winter made it 
 
 105 
 
JOHN MCALLISTER SCHOFIELD. 
 
 necessary for me to accept a sick leave, and before it expired 
 General Schofield and his army had joined in Sherman's 
 advance upon Atlanta, and the remainder of my service during 
 the Civil War was under other commanders. I never met 
 him again until many years after the war was over. 
 
 Having formed a pleasant acquaintance with him, however, 
 I followed his later military career with deep interest, and 
 heard much especially of probably the most brilliant of his 
 victories, the battle of Franklin. The Sixty-fifth Indiana 
 Regiment, of which I was the first colonel, bore a conspicuous 
 part in that contest, and my old comrades delighted in after 
 years in telling me of General Schofield's gallant and skillful 
 management on that memorable occasion. The account 
 which the General himself has given of that battle in his book 
 "Forty-six Years in the Army," is a modest but thrillingly 
 interesting narrative. 
 
 After I parted from him in February, 1864, we did not meet 
 for more than twenty-five years. During that time we had 
 both been in the service of our country in widely separated 
 and different fields. We came together in Washington, he at 
 the head of the Army of the United States, and I as Secretary 
 of State, and in our official relations we were often thrown 
 into each other's company. In 1892 the Grand Army of the 
 Republic met in Washington, and at the reunion of the Twenty- 
 third Army Corps I was asked to preside and General Schofield 
 was the chief guest of honor, on which occasion he was pre- 
 sented with a richly jeweled badge of the Corps and responded 
 very feelingly to the presentation address. The hearty mani- 
 festation of the battle-scarred veterans at that reunion testified 
 
 106 
 
JOHN MCALLISTER SCHOFIELD. 
 
 to the high regard they had for his services to his country 
 and their esteem for him as a citizen. 
 
 After that date I was frequently in his company, as following 
 his retirement it was his custom to make a visit to Washington 
 every year, and we spent many pleasant and interesting hours 
 together, discussing war times and the public questions of the 
 day. He was a man of wide study and information, of clear 
 and positive views of current affairs, and of the most exalted 
 patriotism. He was one of the best examples of the utility 
 of the West Point military education. He was not only a 
 trained soldier, but he followed up the instruction given at 
 the Academy by a careful study of the writers on military 
 science, and sought to fit himself to give his country the very 
 best service he could render it. Not the least of his labors 
 was the preparation and publication of his life experience 
 in his book, "Forty-six Years in the Army, "which is not only 
 a valuable contribution to the history of the period, but abounds 
 in useful observations for the military and poUtical student. 
 
 JOHN W. FOSTER. 
 
 Washington, 
 
 May 22, 1907. 
 
 107 
 
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 of tl|f 
 
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 BY-LAWS. 
 ***** 
 
 Deaths. 
 21. The death of a Companion shall be announced in a Circular, which 
 shall give his official record in the military or naval service, and record 
 in the Order. 
 
military (^vhn of tift Ungal ICl09t0n 
 
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 ]obn IDcJillistcr Scboficld* 
 
 Born at Gerry, New York, vSeptember 29, 1831. 
 Died at St. Augustine, Florida, March 4, 1906. 
 
 Cadet, U. S. Military Academy, July i, 1849. 
 
 Brevet Second Lieutenant, 2d U. vS. Artillery, July i, 1853; Second Lieu- 
 tenant, I St Artillery, August 31, 1853; First Lieutenant, March 3, 1855; 
 Captain, May 14, 1861. 
 
 Brigadier-General, U. S. Army, November 30, 1864; Major-General, 
 March 4, 1869; Lieutenant-General, February =, 1895; Retired, September 
 29, 1895. 
 
 Brevet Major-General, U. S. Army, March 13, 1865, for "gallant and 
 meritorious services in the battle of Franklin, Tennessee." 
 
 Major, ist Missouri Infantry, April 26, 1861; Major, ist Missouri Artil- 
 lery, June 26, 1861. 
 
 Brigadier-General, U. S. Volunteers, November 21, 1861; Major-General, 
 November 29, 1862; Expired by Constitutional limitation, March 4, 1863; 
 Brigadier-General, March 4, 1863; Major-General, May 12, 1864; honorably 
 mustered out, September i, 1866. 
 
 Elected through the Commandery of the State of Pennsylvania, April 
 12, 1 87 1. Original. Insignia 1274. 
 
 Transferred to the Commandery of the State of California as Charter 
 Member, May 3, 1871; to the Commandery of the State of New York, 
 October 31, 1878; to the Commandery of the State of California, February 
 7, 18S3; to the Commandery of the State of Illinois, May 5, 1884; to 
 the Commandery of the State of New York, October 16, 1886; to the 
 Commandery of the District of Columbia, May 7, 1890. 
 
 Commander of the Commandery of the State of GaHfornia, May 3, 1871, 
 to May I, 1876. 
 
 Commander of the Commandery of the State of New York, May 7, 1879- 
 May 4, 1 881, and May 4, 1887, to May i, 1889. 
 
 Commander-in-Chief of the Order, October 18, 1899, to October 21, 1903. 
 
LIBRftRY OF CONGRESS 
 
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