The National tribune., 1897-03-25
footsteps.

Almost Immediately after reaching
the Kanawha, the division, together
with Hunters command, was transferred
to Parkersburg by boat, and from thence
by rail to the Shenandoah Valley.
For Early, after ceasing his pursuit
from Lynchburg, turned his columns
north into the Valley, and. the two
armies that SO recently confronted each
other at Lynchburg were again facing
each other in the Valley.
The series of brilliant victories which
the Union army won there under Gen.
Sheridan have been celebrated in both
song and story, and are perhaps the
most Familiarity known of any of the
battles of the war. Under the leader
ship of Gen. Crook, the part taken by
the Kanawha Division in these battles
was of the highest importance and of
the most brilliant character. Again
and again it was the keen Damascus
blade, failing with swift and unexpected
strokes on flank or rear, which was the
turning points of victory. This part of
its history, so we'll known, need not be
repeated in these pages.
These battles heaped up and
rounded over" the
FULL MEASURE OF SERVICE
of a division that was unsurpassed in
the brilliancy of its conduct in battle,
in its record of hard marching, in its
patient endurance of hardship, and il
its high patriotic devotion to the cause
in which it was enlisted. Whether its
battles were fought with the eyes of the
Nation beholding, or while wholly shut
in and surrounded in the heart of the
enemy's country, its conduct was always
characterized by the same cool intre-
pidity.
Its strong selfreliance, the result of
its isolation in the mountains, was not
lost in its association with larger. armies,
and it performed its part in the greater
battles without thought of or depend
ence on supporting columns.
The record of its services, SO briefly
and imperfectly outlined in these pages,
does but scant justice to its merits and
gives but an unsatisfactory and made
quate understanding of the herculean
labors it performed; of the heroism and
devotion to duty it displayed.
No mention has been made of many
of its greatest heroes, and of many minor
engagements in which it was concerned,
when all the heroism Of great battles was
exhibited. Thousands of unrecorded in
cidents connected with its history will
live but in the memories Of its survivors
OF all those of its number who have
risen to fame and position of high trust
in civil and military affairs, no one is
more truly representative of its rank and
file than
MAJ. WILLIAM M'KINLEY.
The great, sterling qualities which SO
distinguish him now received their first
recognition while he was yet private in
its ranks. He shared in all its hard
marches, its dangers, its privations, and
its victories Defeats it had none.
In regiment where talent was album
dant, and promotion followed merit, not
preferment, he steadily rose from pri.
vate to be the trusted staff officer of his
commander.
To all the survivors of the old Kama
wha Division this second call upon its
ranks for one TO FIJI the highest office in
the gift of the people is a cause of justifi-
able pride.
They well know that in him the people
will have one to serve them whose pat
riotism has been tested $50 as by fire."
and who has been taught in the great
school of experience through which he
has passed to cherish the things that
make for the honor, the peace, and the
prosperity of his country and theirs.
The endl