in their brief campaign are the capture of 30 guns, 5,000 prisoners, and some 16 flags, and the destruction or capture of over 400 wagons. One great source of satisfaction is the fact that the Army of the Potomac has completely destroyed, annihilated the Army of Northern Virginia, its old opponent; has made the most wonderful campaign on record and will now receive the credit it was entitled to for former deeds. Glorious two weeks!"

Under the skilful placing and handling of the troops by Humphreys, his reputation as a general would have been added to that already gained, not only as a general in handling a division at Fredericksburg, Virginia, December 13, 1862, and again at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, July 2 and 3, 1863, but as Chief of Staff of the Army of the Potomac, from July 8, 1863, to November 25, 1864, when the Second Corps came into his hands, and from that time onward never met with disaster. But the Fates willed otherwise; had they not so ordered, Humphreys' name would have echoed throughout the country.

J

CHAPTER XX

MADE CHIEF OF ENGINEERS RETIREMENT

ULY 1, 1865, the Second Corps ceased to exist. Humphreys repaired to his home in Washington, reporting for orders to the Adjutant General of the Army.

Orders from the War Department, Adjutant General's Office, assigned Humphreys to the command of the District of Pennsylvania with headquarters in his native city, Philadelphia, where he remained in command until December 9, 1865. On that date, by direction of the War Department, he was placed in charge of the examination of the Mississippi Levees.

May 31, 1866, his report was submitted to the Secretary of War, covering the condition of the levees, from the mouth of the Ohio River to the Gulf of Mexico. This report indicated points along the river where repairs were most urgently required to prevent injury to the agricultural interests of the alluvial region of the Mississippi River as well as to commerce.

July 4, 1866, Philadelphia witnessed the return to the Governor of Flags carried by the Regiments furnished by the State during the Civil War. Their return took place in Independence Square, General Meade presenting them in the presence of a large assemblage of distinguished persons, civil and military. In the evening, at the Union League, General Meade was presented with a Gold Medal, and Humphreys with a handsome sword.

The presentation to Humphreys was made by Honorable Charles Gibbons, who referred in glowing language to the many battlefields Humphreys had been present in, from Yorktown to Appomattox, during which period he was

never absent from duty or failed to perform it; to his unselfish patriotism; to his being a worthy representative of his State and his City, and of his ancestry; and concluding, pointed to his record, not only as a citizen but also as a soldier, as an example for every young man to follow, who was ambitious to serve his country.

Humphreys had written his reply, had committed it to memory, but fearing he might forget it, placed it in his vest pocket. After delivering a few words to those assembled, over five hundred members of the Union League, he was compelled to read his reply. This man who had faced death on many battlefields, had commanded thousands of men, was actually frightened by five hundred gentlemen attired in the conventional evening dress. This was the man who, on a visit to Canada during the 40's, challenged the officers of an English Regiment then serving at Quebec to fight a duel for an insult offered to the American Army, unless ample apology was made, which in due time, at the Mess, came from the lips of its Colonel.

But read Humphreys' reply on accepting the sword. "Mr. Gibbons, I thank you for the very kind manner in which you have made known to me the wishes and sentiments of my friends in Philadelphia, and the flattering terms in which you have referred to my service in the army. My friends, to a soldier the sweetest reward is the approval of his service, and the sanction which you have given to my career touches me deeply; all the more so, that I have been, since boyhood, nearly a stranger to my native city, and until recently unknown unto you personally. The expression of your approval by the gift of a sword I esteem to be the highest form of praise that you could use. More powerful than reason, emblem of Divine justice, the sword is appealed to when reason fails, and