Thomas County cat., 1890-05-01

correctly stated, he knew what he was
supposed to be fighting for. Hence,
aside from the necessary obedience of
orders and subordination to discipline
imposed by his position as a soldier, he
was Independent in his views, disposed
to be critical of his superior officers on
safe occasions, and was sometimes
given to pointing ont the mistakes of
great generals and telling how cam
paigns that had been attempted could
have been very much better conducted.
This criticism was not-all of it as
suredly was not-ignorant and weak.
General Sherman has told us in his
book of personal memoirs of his visits
to advanced posts, his free talk with
the private soldiers and of their very
frequent shrewd guesses at contem-
plated future movements, and their
sensible observations upon movements
in progress This is readily accounted
for by the intelligence of the soldier,
by his habit of keen observation, by
his facility of picking up information,
and by his close reading of the current
newspapers. He kept himself well
posted as to the general situation in
this way, and was often quite as COM
petent to criticise or advise as those
who We're in authority over him.
The private soldier had an effective
way of sizing up" his officers. From
Generals down to Lieutenants, he was
never deceived nor misled by show or
buster. Deeds and not words were
most convincing with him. The Gen
erals whom he approved were of the
fighting kind He had secret, often
a decidedly expressed, contempt for
the paper collar and general order style
of commanders, who were heard from
eyervwhere but at the time of battle.
am not losing sight of my subject,
but the suggestion of the relation OF
the private soldier to his officers re-
minds me at once of the immense ad-
vantage that the Union cause had over
the Confederate in the popularity of
President Lincoln with the army
From the first call to arms down to the
day of the assassination, the President
had the love and the confidence of the
Union soldier. His plain, simple char
acter, his cOmmonsense expressions,
and his heartiness to thousands of the
soldiers whom he met. both after great
reviews and at the White House, as
well as on his frequent visits to the
hospitals, fixed him firmly in their
affections as their friend. There never
was time when he could appear
before even q single regiment without
receiving spontaneous outburst Of
cheers The soldiers loved him: they
talked of him around their camp-fires
in a strain of affection and pride; there
was not an incident occurring in those
stirring days showing his tenderness
to the soldier-and such incidents were
plenty enough-but it quickly came to
the field and was talked of among the
soldiers. This quality of the Chief
Executive of the United States of win
ming the armies to him, was of the
greatest service to the cause. No man
can tell what it did not do for us. The
merits and dement's of Mcclellan, of
Burnside, Hooker, Meade, even Grant,
were earnestly and sometimes fiercely
debated about the camp-fires. As to
each there was always strong minority
of opposition, but when the question
was mooted as to ~Old Abe" there
we're no two opinions. In the judg-
ment CT the soldiers, freely expressed,
he was the man to have at the head of
affairs; he was one whom they could
understand and appreciate, and they
gave him their perfect confidence.
Now cast J glance at the other side.
We make the parallel in no invidious