At Jonesboro, as his troops went into action by my side, just to the left of Logan's corps, his old stout horse, that hated to trot when laden with two hundred and twenty pounds, actually roused himself to a gallop; and his master was almost furious at a stupid officer who had failed to comprehend the situation.

No one needs the details of the battle of Nashville, on the 15th and 16th of December, 1864. That glorious success, together with Sherman's Christmas present of Savannah, was a good wind-up to the whole year's campaigning.

General Sherman, commanding the Western armies, had selected Thomas and sent him back to Nashville, giving him the Fourth Corps (Stanley), the Twenty-third Corps (Cox), A. J. Smith's division, and all the cavalry under Wilson, with such other re-enforcements as he could pick up by withdrawing garrisons and bringing forward furlough men and recruits.

At best it was but a patchwork, yet Thomas could make the quilt if Sherman gave him time. General Schofield, Thomas's second in command, conducted rearward the retir ing troops. It required Schofield's fierce battle at Franklin, with Stanley and Cox on the front lines, before Thomas could get together his far-scattered fragments. Again sheets of ice delayed him. But at last, in spite of Grant's impatience and Logan's approach to supersede him, all was ready. Hood, with a veteran Confederate army long organized, wellcommanded, and nearly equal in numbers to Thomas's, had marched northward, crossed the Tennessee, fought at Franklin, and sat down before him. Both being fairly well. intrenched, unavoidable delays followed. The impatience. of the authorities at this situation belabored Thomas till his sensitive heart bled; but he would not attack till he and nature were ready, and then he did attack, rested a night, and attacked again. Who has heard of Hood's army since? It was beaten, it was scattered. The swiftness and depth of the grand old Tennessee could not arrest the flight of its individual and repellent atoms. As an army it was wrecked against "the Rock of Chickamauga."

We had a hearty correspondent of the New York Herald who was with us during the Atlanta campaign. His picture of Thomas then given, interested me. He said: “Major-General Thomas is quite the reverse of Sherman in manner and appearance. He is tall, stout, with brawny frame and shoulders. His head is slightly bent forward, as if drooping with thought and care. His hair and beard, which he wears pretty short, are rather dark and slightly sprinkled with gray. He is about fifty years of age and looks his age fully. He is very reserved; speaks but little." He adds: "His cold, phlegmatic features never wear a smile, or if he smiles, he smiles in such a sort as if he mocked himself, and scorned. the spirit that would be moved to smile at anything.

"As a general, Thomas is calm and cautious; does everything by rule, leaves nothing to chance. He makes his arrangements for a battle with caution and foresight, and is sure to have every column and division move with clockwork regularity, and strike at the proper time and place. Nothing disturbs or unnerves him.”

So much for the correspondent. "Would some power the giftie gie us, to see ourselves as others see us!" To me General Thomas's features never seemed "cold." His smile of welcome was pleasant and most cordial. His words and acts of confidence drew toward him my whole heart, particularly when I went into battle under him. If I succeeded, he commended me without stint. If my attack failed, he quickly saw the cause, and never, as some others did, blamed me in order to shield himself.

When the blacks came near him, he befriended them. He often gave colored women and children protection papers and sent them North. He was habitually kind and gentle, and eminently just in all the relations of life. His horse, the mules around him, and the sleek cat that followed him and lay purring at his feet, received unfailing evidence of his gentle soul.

Lee had numerous and devoted friends. Stonewall Jackson, for other reasons, had his large, enthusiastic following,

and has those who still love and cherish his memory. But Virginia did not furnish to the entire war a better general or greater man than George H. Thomas. When a cadet, his comrades gave him the sobriquet of "Washington"; and indeed he was like Washington in figure and strength of frame, in mental ability and acquirement, in gentle but manly and indomitable spirit; and with less opportunity, his achievements put him by Washington's side. A manly man, sans peur et sans reproche.

SERVICE IN THE MISSISSIPPI SQUADRON,

AND ITS CONNECTION WITH THE SIEGE
AND CAPTURE OF VICKSBURG.

A Paper read by Lieutenant GEORGE W. BROWN, late U. S. N., at a Meeting of the Commandery, State of New York, Military Order of the Loyal Legion, December 3, 1890.

ON the 11th of October, 1862, I was detached from the mortar schooner "Dan Smith," which vessel I had commanded at the bombardment of Forts Jackson and St. Philip, and at the first year's attack on Vicksburg. Afterwards, with several other vessels of the same class, she was ordered North to coöperate with the army in the capture of Richmond; but a "change of base" occurring about that time, our Army of the Potomac being called to repel Lee's raid into Maryland, we were sent to Baltimore to protect that city. Here the "Dan Smith" remained for repairs, and I was ordered to proceed to Cairo, Illinois, and report to Acting Rear-Admiral Porter for duty.

Sailors have an antipathy for fresh water, and I was no exception to the rule; but as I learned that my orders were at my old commander's request, the compliment overcame my prejudices, and I obeyed without protest. Soon after my arrival at Cairo I was ordered to Cincinnati to assist Lieutenant-Commander Watson Smith in the selection, purchase, and fitting out of that afterwards numerous class of "tinclads," or light-draft gun-boats, that did such good service in keeping open communication on the Mississippi and tributary waters during the siege of Vicksburg and until the close of hostilities in the West.

These vessels were stern-wheelers of the lightest draft that could be found, and fitted with a sloping casement for

ward, extending to the cabin deck, of four inches wood and one and a quarter inches iron. The sides were covered with boiler iron, making them only bullet-proof. They mounted ten guns-two thirty-pound Parrotts, two thirty-two-pound smooth-bore, and six twenty-four-pounders-and one or two twelve-pound field howitzers on hurricane deck; and they drew, with all outfit on board, from forty to forty-two inches.

I was assigned to the command of the first completed of these "tin-clads," the "Forest Rose," and in the early part of December I started for Cairo to receive my full crew and armament, having had until that time only a working crew on board.

It was on reaching Louisville that I played my first game of bluff. We arrived at the lock about midnight; it was bitterly cold, and all hands at the canal locks had "turned in." We ran into the basin and I went ashore, called up the superintendent, and told him that I wanted to be locked through at once, as my orders were to push on to Cairo with all despatch. The superintendent, not being in sympathy with us, told me in very plain terms that he would see me where they are said to use brimstone for fuel before he would call out his men to let a gunboat through before sunrise. We had not so much as a musket on board, but I had an executive officer that could take a hint; so, calling to him, I gave the order: "Mr. Morgan, man No. I gun; load with grape; train it on the crew-house, and be ready to fire at the word." "All right, sir," was his reply. I gave the superintendent ten minutes to get his men out and at work. at the gates. A short log was pointed out of one of our bow-ports, and before five minutes had passed his men were opening the gates, and we went through without further delay. You may imagine the Kentucky blue smoke when the superintendent stepped on board to collect the dues and saw the improvised or "Quaker gun."

About this time an advance fleet of gunboats under Captain Walke had been sent to the mouth of the Yazoo to clear the channel of torpedoes and prevent the erection of bat