The National tribune., 1904-06-09

and Castle Thunder. and they looked
across the vacant lots to observe the regi-
ment under arms.
what troops are those?" Meade asked.
cry DETAIL of one of his staff
THAT is the 2OOth Ind, of the Four
teenth Corps. Sherman's Army" answered
the officer. "It came across the. river yes
terday, the head Of Sherman's column,
and | camped it there, until the remainder
of the Corps came up. and line of march
could be given: It's still waiting orders"
"One of Sherman's." repeated Gen.
Meade with his olden irascibility. "Well.
troubles commenced then. l expect no
end Of difficulty with that army as it
passes through. Sherman's men have
been running loose SO long down there in
the Carolinas that it is said they are as
unmana geabln as herd of buffaloes They
lost all discipline wading through those
swamps and eating the country bare"
Don't be SO sure of that. General"
responded Gen. Halleck, who considered
himself Western man. and was proud
of Western troops. "You Eastern men
cipline ai.iong the Western troops. But
you will notice that they all had disci-
pline enough to get into line Of battle and
stay there as long as they were needed.
l commanded Western troops from the
first, and while they were little wild,
as on this side Of the AlleglTanies. they
were the easiest men / ever saw to put
where you wanted them on the field Of
battle. All that was needed was to tell
them what You wanted done. and they all
piled in to do it. l made a great mistake
Washington. Gordon Granger told me at
| the time that | was digging my profess
siOnal grave"
The usually outspoken Meade refrained
the expression of the ardent general wish
in the Army of the Potomac that Halleck
Washington to bother them infinitely.
II wonder that the Old Man neglected
that opening to lay it into Halleck," said
one of Meade's staff. nudging another off,
Ger. 'The Old Man can be usually
counted on to give you whatever is in
booming. with trimmings that you don't
hear in Sunday School. And how he has
hated old Halleck I've known him to
wake up in the middle OF the. night to
cuss the old meddler for everything that
he could lay his tongue to. After he had
relieved his mind by cnssing Halleck un-
til the sheetirOn stove in the tent refused
to draw, he'd sink into a sleep as sweet
as baby's. l used to be fraid to 60 near
the Old Man until the next day after he
had received a letter or dispatch from
AHcIc were OtHeTS, answered HIS CON-
panion. "There can't be anything in ones
ears burning when people are talking
about them. or Halleck's ears would have
been burned TO crisp even as long ago
as our campaign against Corinth. don't
believe there's another man in the whole
army who's got SO many officers down
on him. good many hate Secretary
Stanton. but shade of Sennacherib.
how sore they are on Halleck! I've heard
Sheridan curse Halleck until the oak
leaves frizzled."
Yet Halleck couldn't have been so
bad. He was strictly honest I never
heard his worst enemies accuse him of
making a dollar out of the war. And he
played no favOrites. He had no clique"
''Thats probably one reason why he is
so generally unpopular. He has nobody
to speak good word for him. Mcclellan,
Hooker, Fitz-John Porter. Buell. Rose
Grams, Grant, Sherman. Sheridan and all
the rest of them had their prime favorites.
They all had their cliques. who are all
shouters for them. Halleck had nobody.
He was too self-sufficient. He thought he
knew it all. and could run the whole thing
all out Of his own head. No man can do |
that. He must have help"
~Yes, Halleck was stuck on himself
and what he knew. He thought he had
learned everything out of books and was |
continually meddling with officers in the |
field, to make them carry out some trick |
that Julius Cesar. or Hannibal, or Alex
ander, or some other foreign Dago once |
was patting himself on the bark that he |
had formed line of 10000 men to the
mile, just as the European books laid