The National tribune., 1906-05-24
said. "and you bet wen have an old

said. 'and you bet Wen have an old
time picnic
When he read that 1 had gone into
the hotel business he instantly wrote
me that If ever in all the world L needed
"Pirooter" it was now; and Heaven
only knows how nearly right he was
and what a narrow escape my neigh
bors have had.
The last time l heard from Sam di-
rectly was by postal card few months
ago. He wrote as follows. barring the
spelling:
my dear Colonel have just this
minute made a wonderful discovery of
a preparation for cleaning teeth. Make
q paste of emery dust and sweet oil.
rub well with & brush, and wash clean
with kerosene. Make no mistake
mean the teeth of a circular saw"
Only this and nothing more. 1 don't
know where or how he picked up the
vigorous idea, but his announcement of
it to me was peculiarly Sam-ish.
The Buell. Military Commission.
Nov. 4. 1852. Secretary stanton or
dered Gen. Hallcck to organize a mill
tary commission to inquire into and re-
port upon the operations of Gen. Buell..
and particularly as to his suffering Ken
lucky to be invaded. his failure to re-
lieve Munfordsville. his conduct nj Per
ryville, and his allowing the Confeder-
ate forces to escape without Toss or cap
ture The detail for the commission
were Maj.-Gens. Lew Wallace and +. o
c. ord. Brig.-Gens Albin Schoepf. y. J
T. Dana and Daniel Tyler. Maj. Dom
Piatt was appointed Judge-Advocate
and Recorder.
The commission sat at Cincinnati. be
ginning its sessions Nov. -. 1862. These
were quite extended Gen. Buell. was
present, and most of the officers who
had taken part in the campaign gave
testimony. The commission found:
/. That Gen. Buell. was not justified
in falling back from MurfreeSbOrO to
Nashville. and that he should have at
tackled the rebel army before it crossed
the Cumberland.
2. That he was not responsible for the
capture of Munfordsville. except from
his failure to attack Bragg before he
crossed the Cumberland.
3. That at Perryville he was to blame
for not being either on the field him
self or having others there to constantly
inform him. and was the more culpable
because he had well-organized signal
corps there. Gen. McCook was equally
to blame in not promptly informing his
commanding officer. Buell. allowed
great opportunity to slip through his
fingers from his ignorance of the con-
ditiOns of the battle.
4. Buell. was lamentably slow in fol-
lowing up Bragg after Perryville. and
his movements could hardly be called
pursuit. He had the opportunity. after
he discovered the retreat from Perry
vile. to have thrown Bragg's army into
rout and probably crush it between Per-
ryville and Dicks River. At Crab Or
chard Bragg had divided his forces. and
given still further opportunity to Buell.
to attack and destroy either that pOr-
that going by the way of Somerset.
Buell. left both unharmed.
5. That there was no evidence worthy
of consideration against Buells loyalty.
6. AS to his policy toward the inhab-
tants of the disaffected country, it de-
served neither blame nor praise, since
at that time that was the policy of the
Government.
Upon this report Gen HalIeck in
dorsed the denial that Buelrs march on
Chattanooga was delayed by his having
to repair the Memphis & Chattanooga
Railroad. He was not delayed an hour
beyond what he himself deemed ner-
essary. 1t was his line of supply, and
one which he had selected for himself.
AS the commission reported no charges
against Gen. Buell., nor recommended
any further proceedings, il was dis
solved. and its members repaired to
other duty. Buell. thereupon went into
retirement was mustered out of the
volunteers May %, 1864, and resigned
from the army. June 1, 1864. When
Gen. Grant succeeded to the command
Of the whole armies of the United States
in 1864 he was very desirOus to avail
himself of Buell's undeniably great
abilities, and offered him command in
the field, but Buell. replied that any
such acceptance would place him under
Sherman and Candy. who were his ju-
niOrs, and he therefore declined. He
was not so eager to serve his country
as to sacrifice little of his personal
dignity. He resided at Airdrie, near
Louisville. and President Cleveland ap-
pointed him Pension Agent for Louis
vile. He died Nov. 19, 1898.
(To be continued.)