he had secured their entire confidence. They had tried him and were satisfied."

The confidence and love won by General Howard increased to the last moment of service in the field; and his elevated Christian character, when the army disbanded, secured his appointment to the responsible post of chief in the Freedmen's Bureau.

His clear, well-poised intellect, purity of character, his kindness and godliness, invest him with a peculiar and almost solitary distinction in the annals of the war.

We shall never forget our first meeting with him, upon a Sabbath-school celebration, his first public appearance after his arm was amputated. He addressed the children in his own earnest, happy manner; the unhealed stump vainly attempting to respond, as of old, to the glowing thoughts, with its appropriate gesture. His noble purpose toward the South is expressed in his own language:--

"We must do what we can to overcome prejudice and opposition, by carrying with us the spirit of Christ into every nook and corner of the South, rejoicing over every foot of ground gained, and being never discouraged at contumacy and failure."

Such a man is worthy of all honor-and as Washington and Lincoln will be forever associated together-so will be Howard and Havelock among the less conspicuous Christian heroes of the world.

MAJOR-GENERAL JAMES BIRDSEYE MCPHERSON

Was a native of Sandusky County, Ohio. He was born November 14th, 1828, and entered the Military Academy at West Point, in June, 1849. He graduated at the head of the same class, with General Schofield, July 1st, 1853, brevet second lieutenant, and was assigned to the Corps of Engineers. At the close of his graduating furlough, he returned to West Point, and was a year assistant-instructor of practical engineering. In December, 1854, he was made first-lieutenant, and about the same time detailed as assistant-engineer of the defenses of New York harbor.

The first half of the year 1857, he had in charge the

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building of Fort Delaware, on the Delaware River, and in December went to California, to superintend the construction of fortifications on Alcatras Island, in the bay of San Francisco. The August following the commencement of the civil war, he was put in charge of the defenses of Boston Harbor, and on the 6th of that month promoted to a captaincy.

The twelfth of the November succeeding, by the request of General Halleck, Captain McPherson was made aid-de-camp, with the rank of lieutenant-colonel. He was ordered to report at St. Louis, where he was assigned to engineer duty on the staff of the commander.

Later, he was chief-engineer on the staff of General Grant in the victorious movements against Forts Henry and Donelson. His bravery won for him the rank of brevet-major in the regular army, and, when the terrific battle of Shiloh was fought, gained additional promotion to a lieutenant-colonelcy in the regular service. In the siege of Corinth, he was chief of engineers on General Halleck's staff, with the rank of colonel. After the evacuation of that place, he was created brigadier-general, the appointment dating from November 15th, 1862.

He was general superintendent of railroads in the Department of Tennessee, and on General Grant's staff at the battle of Iuka.

He led troops in the fight, for the first time, while the rebel general Price was investing Corinth; cutting his way through their lines, he relieved the garrison, and rejoined the main force pursuing the enemy.

So clearly shone the martial genius of the youthful officer, that General Grant asked for a major-general's rank, which was conferred, October 8th, 1862. The next December, he was assigned to the command of the Seventeenth Army Corps. The fall of Vicksburg, in which General McPherson sustained his growing reputation for ability and heroism, was followed by his promotion to the rank of brigadier-general, United States Army, and the command of the conquered city.

His part in the battles connected with this grand achievement will appear in the future record of the Potomac army.

His exposure to the rebel guns, near Atlanta, and his untimely death, as it seems to us, the nation will never cease to regret and mourn.

The touching and fitting tribute of grateful love from General Grant is given in the correspondence of the chief with the grandmother of the slain hero, in another place. Writes a military friend of the departed :

"He was tall in person, being over six feet in height, well proportioned, and erect, easy, and agreeable in his manners, frank in conversation, accessible to all; gallant and dashing in action; regardless of danger; strictly honorable in all his dealings with men and with the Government.

"Schofield, young but matured, well poised, thoroughly scientific by education, thoroughly practical by contact with men, habituated to command; McPherson, in the full flower of his life, bold and enthusiastic, just emerging from a complete mastery of the science of defensive war into the wider field of the offensive, trained to command under the eye and by the example of Grant and Sherman; Thomas, the ripe growth of years and experience, of balanced and crystalized mind, strong and patient, steadfast and prudent, a true soldier, no genius, but a master of his profession; exhaustive in preparation, deliberate in action, ponderous and irresistible in execution. Such were the men upon whom, under the leadership of Sherman, the destiny of the campaign was to rest.”

General McPherson was unquestionably among the great military characters brought out by the war. No one can tell us what he might have been; for his life went out in the storm of battle before it bloomed into ripest manhood-one of the heroes whose promise was the greatest, when the sword dropped from his gallant and dying hand.

Nor will the names of Logan, Hooker, Hancock, Slocum, Rosecrans, Burnside, Schofield, Hazen, Warren, McClernand, Terry, Sigel, and Sedgwick, the lion-hearted, be forgotten by a grateful country-a constellation around the central double stars, Grant and Sherman-without rival splendor in the firmament of fame arching the field of national conflict and victory.

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History does not furnish a sublimer war-field for contemplation, than now lay before these great captains. Calmly, almost silently, the strong intellect and brave heart of the chief surveyed the vast territory, the embattled hosts confronting each other, and, without confusion of thought, or a shadow of doubt respecting the issue, laid his gigantic plans, and looked upward for the divine benediction upon them.

CHAPTER XXIII.

THE ARMY IN THE WILDERNESS.

The Order to March.-The Grand Advance.-The Wilderness.-The Meeting in Battle of the Hostile Armies.-The Fighting of Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. The Midnight March.--The Enthusiastic Welcome of the Lieutenant-General by the troops.-Sabbath, May 7th.-The Death of Generals Sedgwick and Hays. A Splendid Charge by Hancock's Troops.-Coolness of General Grant. -A Pause in the Race for Richmond.-Telegrams from the Seat of War.-The Struggle Renewed.-Severe Battle.-The Field.-The Fortunes of the Day.

THE order to march was issued to the Army of the Potomac, from General Meade's head-quarters, on the morning of May 3d, and by two o'clock P. M. was read to the whole army. The myriad tents disappeared like frostwork before the sun; the knapsacks were packed, the horses caparisoned, and the trains in motion.

General Gregg's cavalry division, accompanied by a portion of the canvas pontoon train, moved in the afternoon toward Richardsville, and were engaged until late at night repairing the roads to Ely's Ford. Soon after midnight that division moved to the ford named, to establish a crossing. About midnight the Third Cavalry Division, with another portion of the canvas pontoon train, left for Germania Ford, five or six miles above, there to establish another crossing; both efforts were successful.·

The advance of the Second Corps, Major-General Hancock commanding, broke camp at midnight and moved down the Stevensburg and Richardsville road toward Ely's Ford. The entire corps were on the march before three o'clock in the morning, in the same direction, and effected a crossing soon after daylight.

The Fifth Corps, under Major-General Warren, commenced moving at midnight. The advance, consisting of two divisions of infantry and a portion of the artillery, passed through Stevensburg, closely followed by the