Generals Of The Union Army

"The objects of the expedition against the Navajos having been substantially accomplished, Colonel Carson came to Santa Fe, and while visiting with his family at Taos, saw fit to write an historical sketch of the Navajo and his relations with the Spanish and Mexican inhabitants of the country. This sketch shows that Carson was altogether familiar with the history of the country; that he knew of all the efforts on the part of the government of the United States to maintain peaceful relations with this noted tribe; it also shows that Carson had a general knowledge of the history of the country and was capable of giving written expression to his views and information, a demonstration that this boy who had run away from an obnoxious apprenticeship in Missouri was not so entirely deficient in education as some of his college-bred critics of very recent years have seen fit to discuss and would have us believe, taking for their authority the statements of individuals who knew Carson but whose only claim to distinction lies in their being permitted to live so long that no other person now living can give present contradiction to their statements."

"In olden times there existed, in the Rocky Mountains, a race familiarly known by the name of "Trappers and Hunters." They are now almost extinct. Their history has not yet been written. Pen paintings, drawn from the imagination, founded upon distant views of their exploits and adventures, have occasionally served, as do legends, to "adorn a tale." The volume now offered to the public, gives their history as related by one whose name as a trapper and hunter of the" Far West," stands second to none; by a man, who for fifteen years, saw not the face of a white woman, or slept under a roof; who, during those long years, with his rifle alone, killed over two thousand buffalo, between four and five thousand deer, antelope, and elk, besides wild game, such as bears, wild turkeys, prairie chickens, etc., etc. in numbers beyond calculation. On account of their originality, daring, and interest, the real facts, concerning this race of trappers and hunters, will be handed down to posterity as matters belonging to history."

"An oft-repeated anecdote is that which relates of an army officer, somewhat of a hero-worshiper, who, upon meeting Carson, exclaimed, effusively: "So this is the great Kit Carson, who has made so many Indians run!" "Yes," drawled Carson, "sometimes I run after them but most times they war runnin' after me.""

"Kit Carson soon distinguished himself as a superior hunter, which reputation he has maintained ever since, no matter who have been his antagonists. Not but that Kit may have had his equals; but that it is next to an impossibility to find his superior. At all events, the world has given Kit Carson the title of "Nestor of the Rocky Mountains," for his reputation as a hunter alone; and as his biographer, we take pleasure in recording the facts by which the title has been earned and maintained. Let the reader possess himself of the facts, as they shall appear divested of any and every picture which fancy or partiality may accidentally cause us to paint, and even then Kit Carson will not lose the title. On the contrary, it will become the more indelibly stamped upon his brow."

"Early in 1861 the Rebellion broke out, and all minor affairs were swallowed up in the major one of preserving the Union. The troops were recalled from the Navajo country to take part in the struggle, and hardly had they left their stations when the 'war-whoop' of the relentless foe smote the hearing of our peaceable citizens with appalling destruction, the more appalling from being unexpected—owing to their faith in the treaty just concluded. ...and the Navajos were consequently undisturbed in their infernal work of destruction. Well did they take advantage of this opportunity. Never before were their atrocities so numerous. They overran the whole country, and carrying their boldness so far as to enter the settlements and towns, carrying off their stock from before the people's eyes, and murdering citizens, even within two miles of the capital. No place was secure, and every town and hamlet became a fortification to protect its inhabitants. ...Nor were the Mescalero Apaches idle. They took advantage of the withdrawal of the troops from fort stations to pillage and lay waste the flourishing settlements established on the Rio Bonito, Tularosa, and adjacent streams, and this they did effectually—out of a well cultivated country making a desert."

"In New Mexico there are about half a dozen castes... The common people are incredibly poor. If a late peon, now free, has a dollar, he neither labors nor thinks till it is gone. Twenty-five cents of it buys flour, twenty-five goes for dulces [sweets] for the señora, another twenty-five pays for absolution, and the rest buys a lottery ticket. No matter if his ticket draw a blank a hundred times in succession: "maybe some time I win," is to him sufficient answer. A few families own all the wealth of the country. Even they have their wealth mostly in flocks and herds, and immense as it is, it brings them but few of the luxuries of life. If this Territory is admitted now as a State, it ought to be called the State of Pobritta ("Little Poverty.") Each of these wealthy families has from a hundred to two thousand dependents, some of whom were their peons before that system was abolished, and continue to yield obedience by nature and habit. If a State, this would be a most complete "rotten borough"—the worst "carpet bag" State in the Union. Fifteen families with ease would rule it—the Chaves, Gallegos, Delgados, Señas, Garcias, Pereas, Oteros, Quintañas, and a few others. These families have three-fourths of the wealth of the Territory and all the influence. The poor Mexicans do any thing they are told... These families, in combination with half a dozen priests, and a dozen or more Americans, would divide the home offices between them, and send whomsoever they pleased to Congress. It is usually the aim of speculative Americans to "stand in" with one of the noble families. But many of our people have disdained such sycophancy, and yet won for themselves an honorable place in New Mexican annals. Chief among these was the noted Kit Carson, scout, trapper, and hunter; then guide to Fremont, and afterwards Federal colonel, and last of all Indian Agent for the Utes, in which capacity he died at his home in Taos."

"Owing to the strength of this [the Navajo] tribe which numbered then not less than sixty or seventy thousand (60 or 70,000) souls embracing as it did some of those Indians who now call themselves 'Apaches' but who still speak the same language, and who are so alike, and to the fact that they inhabit a country equal to one-third of the whole Territory; that this section was a 'Terra Incognita' and that there is no portion of the American Continent so well adapted by nature for the peculiar style of warfare adopted by the Indians, it is not at all surprising that the many powerful campaigns made against them by the Spanish Government were entirely barren of results as to their subjugation."

"Well, I'll tell ye. I war down on the plains, an' the Comanches got after me. Thar war 'bout five hundred of 'em, an' they chased me. We run an' we run, an' my hoss war killed an' I clum a sort o' butte. Thar war a leetle split or cañon in it, an' I run up this. One big red rascal kep' right on my heels; my gun war busted, but I had my knife. The split narrered an' narrered, an got smaller an' smaller, an' suddenly it pinched out; an' thar I war, at the end. So I turned, with my knife, an' when he come on I struck at him. But the walls o' the split war so near together that I hit the rock, an' busted my knife squar' off at the hilt. When he seed that he give a big yell, for my scalp, an' at me he jumped. ...then the Injun killed me."

"Particular care should be taken that every promise made to them [the Navajo and Mescalero Apache] should be observed to the letter. In this way I am confident that in a few years they would equal if not excel our peaceful and industrious Pueblos, and be a source of wealth to the Territory, instead of being as heretofore its dread and impoverishers."

"A man of the most kindly and gentle spirit; unassuming, quiet, and the last person that one would suppose to be possessed of qualities that made him famous... He was a very genial man, and there were one or two funny stories that I used to tell him that amused him greatly, especially one that described a fight between two camp-women at Fort Union. I lived in Santa Fe the winter of 1863 and 1864, and he was there at the time, and almost always when I met him he would stop and make me tell him that story. He also used to lend me his horse to ride. It was a very ordinary looking yellow horse, and a pacer, and by no means the prancing steed that he is always pictured as mounted upon. He was so unassuming and kind-hearted that he won me completely, for I was only a boy of seventeen or eighteen, and to have Kit Carson notice me and seem attracted to my yarns meant a great deal to me."

"Jis' to think of that dog Chivington and his dirty hounds, up thar at Sand Creek. His men shot down squaws, and blew the brains out of little innocent children. You call sich soldiers Christians, do ye? And Indians savages? What der yer s'pose our Heavenly Father, who made both them and us, thinks of these things? I tell you what, I don't like a hostile red skin any more than you do. And when they are hostile, I've fought 'em, hard as any man. But I never yet drew a bead on a squaw or papoose, and I despise the man who would."

"The valley of Taos, with its two great Pueblos, the old town of Fernando de Taos and the still more ancient settlement known as Ranchos de Taos, is one of the most fascinating and historical points in the entire West. Taos was for many years following the American occupation, the chief political storm-center of the Territory. The presence there of such men as Charles Bent, the first Governor (whose death in the revolution of 1847 is among the first events officially recorded in the county) Colonel Christopher ("Kit") Carson, the famous scout and guide; Colonel Cerean St. Vrain, the well known merchant; "Don Carlos" Beaubien, one of the original proprietors of the notorious Maxwell land grant and first Chief Justice of New Mexico; Father Martinez, demagogue, traitor, conspirator against peace and as great a rascal as ever remained unhung in New Mexico, whether viewed from a political or moral standpoint—such as these gave the community a position in Territorial affairs equal to that of Santa Fé, the capital. The halo of romance and the glamour of tragedy with which it became invested in the early days, though somewhat dimmed during the more peaceful years that have followed, still surround the name of Taos, and always will."

"From California we have intelligence to the 16th of September. The State election, which took plum on the 7th, resulted in the complete triumph of the Democratic ticket.—Governor Bigler was re-elected by a majority of about a thousand, and the Legislature is largely Democratic in both branches. Lieut Beale, concerning whose safety some fears had begun to be entertained, arrived at Los Angeles on the 27th of August, having made the entire trip from Westport Mo., in about fifty days. He reports the route traveled entirely practicable for a railroad, and in many parts abounding in wood and water. The party met with no hostility from the Indians. It is announced that the Indian difficulties on the Rogue River have ceased. Several duels, murders, and robberies are reported, but none of them present any remarkable features. The celebrated Kit Carson had reached California, with over nine thousand sheep from across the Plains. The miners were doing well, and fresh discoveries of gold in different parts of the State continued to be announced."

"Peters laid it on a leetle too thick."

"When Carson was organizing the First Regiment of New Mexico Volunteers, and was at Fort Union, he was a member of our mess, which consisted of Captain P.W.L. Plympton, now deceased, Captain (General) A.B. Carey, now retired, two or three others, and myself. I was only a government clerk. In the cold winter evenings, over a roaring fire-place and a steaming bowl of punch we smoked our pipes and told stories. Carson was usually reticent and sparing in speech, but whenever he got warmed up a little with a sip or two of punch his tongue would loosen itself somewhat and he would join in the "story telling." He had one account of a buffalo hunt, to the effect that somewhere down on the lower Cimarron, on a scout with General Carleton, the soldiers kept returning empty-handed to camp, with reports of poor shooting and bad luck, etc. Carson told them that he would wager he could go out and kill ten buffalo with ten balls. He went out and killed the ten buffalo with nine balls, having got two of the animals in line and killed both with the one shot!"

"The government now tried coercion and vigorous campaign reduced a portion of them [the Navajos] to apparent submission. Again a treaty was made... Another and several other expeditions were organized, all ending and being followed with like results, not because the troops did not bravely energetically and intelligently carry out their instructions; but because the policy adopted was erroneous. The last and perhaps most successful expedition sent against them under this policy, was that of 1860-61 under command of Bvt. Col. (now Brig, Gen.) E.R.S. Canby, U.S. Army. The treaty made on this occasion was signed by twenty-two Chiefs, a greater number than on any other previous occasion. From this fact and other concurrent causes, it was believed that permanent peace and security was at last bestowed on the Territory, and commensurate to the boon was the joy of the people."

"Shortly after the ignominious expulsion of the Texas invaders, General J.H. Carleton was appointed to the command of this Department, and with the greatest promptitude he turned his attention to the freeing of the Territory from these lawless savages. To this great work he brought many years' experience and a perfect knowledge of the means to effect that end. He saw that the thirty (30) millions of dollars expended and the many lives lost in the former attempts at the subjugation, would not have been profitless, had not there been something radically wrong in the policy pursued. He was not long in ascertaining that treaties were as promises written in sand. nor in discovering that they had no recognized 'Head' authority to represent them; that each chief's influence and authority was immediately confined to his own followers or people; that any treaty signed by one or more of these chiefs had no binding effect on the remainder, and that there were a large number of the worst characters who acknowledged no chief at all. Hence it was that on all occasions when treaties were made, one party were continuing their depredations, whilst the other were making peace. And hence it was apparent that treaties were absolutely powerless for good. He adopted a new policy, i.e., placing them on a reservation (the wisdom of which is already manifest); a new era dawned on New Mexico, and the dying hope of the people was again revived; never more I trust, to meet with disappointment. He first organized a force against the Mescalero Apaches, which I had the honor to command. After a short and inexpensive campaign, the Mescaleros were placed on their present reservation."

"While at Taos, I saw for the first time and made acquaintance of Kit Carson, the celebrated mountaineer. I was standing in front of Major Blake's quarters, when I saw a small-sized, modest-looking person approaching who, I was told, was the famous mountain-man of whom I had heard so much. He is about five feet eight inches in height, rather heavy set, and a little bow-legged; he is a mild, pleasant man in conversation, with a voice almost as soft as that of a woman. He has brown eyes and dark hair, with a face somewhat hard-featured from long exposure among the mountains. He was dressed plainly, and his whole personal appearance was entirely different from what I had imagined this celebrated trapper and hunter. There is nothing like a fire-eater in his manners, but, to the contrary, in all his actions he is quiet and unassuming. His has been a romantic, roving life, and his personal history embraces as much of wild adventure and hair-breadth escapes as that of any man in the Union. He has been fairly cradled among the Rocky Mountains and upon the desert plains that lie in the heart of the American continent, and is familiar with the fastnesses of the one and the trackless pathways of the other. He has endured all imaginable hardships with a steady perseverance and unflinching courage. A history of his adventures would make one of the most interesting volumes ever presented to the public."

"Sir: We, the undersigned citizens of the Territory of New Mexico, have been acquainted with Mr. Christopher Carson for a number of years, indeed almost from the time of his first arrival in the country. We have been his companions both in the mountains and as a private citizen. We are also acquainted with the fact that for the past few months, during his leisure hours, he has been engaged dictating his life. This is, to our certain knowledge, the only authentic biography of himself and his travels that has ever been written. We heartily recommend this book to the reading community for perusal, as it presents a life out of the usual routine of business, and is checkered with adventures which have tried this bold and daring man. We are cognizant of most of the details of the book, and vouch for their accuracy."

"Certainly the most (inf)famous person who came along this way was Major General Philip Henry Sheridan, a squat-little thirty-four-year old, foul-mouthed Ohioan. He was supposed to have graduated from West Point in 1852, but he had been suspended for gross misconduct during his senior year and therefore did not graduate until 1853, when he ranked in the bottom third of his class, Sheridan began his Civil War service in the western army, where his rise had been meteoric. It has been suggested that war seemed to have been a tonic for Philip Sheridan. Simply put, with regards to military results Sheridan just got better and better the longer the war continued. His earliest achievement of note had occurred as a dramatic divisional leader of infantry at Chattanooga in November of 1863."

"During the century and a half since the Civil War, however, many historians have offered more measured opinions about General Sheridan, both as a human being and as a military leader. A far more critical appraisal of him as emerged in recent literature. Be that as it may, there can be little doubt that at the end of the American Civil War, three men- Sheridan and Sherman and Grant- stood together in the universal praise of the Northern press, the army veterans, and a grateful civilian population."

"General Phil Sheridan... had urged the destruction of the bison herds, correctly predicting that when they disappeared the Indians would disappear along with them; by 1885 the bison were virtually extinct, and the Indians were starving to death on the plains."

"Probably no living soldier was ever more terrible in battle than Sheridan. With the first smell of gunpowder he became a blazing meteor, a pillar of fire to guide his own hosts. The rather small short, heavily built man rose to surpassing stature in his stirrups, to the sublimity of heroism in action; and infused a like spirit in his troops. I think it no exaggeration to say that America never produced his equal, for inspiring an army with courage and leading them into battle. Absolutely fearless imself, with unwavering faith in his cause and his plans, he always raised the courage and faith of others, to the level of his own; passed from rank to rank in action, flaming, fiery, omnipresent, and well-nigh omnipotent."

"General Grant tended to pick men in his own mold to lead his armies in the field. Phil Sheridan fit his style, as did William Tecumseh Sherman, whose Army of the Cumberland cut a swath into Georgia that resulted in the capture of Atlanta on September 2. This news hit Washington just three weeks after Admiral Farragut had captured Mobile Bay in Alabama and, coupled with Sheridan's victory in Virginia, virtually assured Lincoln's reelection. The next six months would see an endless string of Union victories that all but destroyed the Confederacy. The fall of such Southern strongholds as Nashville, Savannah, Wilmington, Columbia, Petersburg, and Richmond insured a final Union victory that was to come at Appomattox Courthouse in Virginia on April 9, 1865."

"If I owned Texas and Hell, I would rent Texas and live in Hell."

"The proper strategy consists in the first place in inflicting as telling blows as possible upon the enemy's army, and then causing the inhabitants so much suffering that they must long for peace, and force their government to demand it. The people must be left nothing but their eyes to weep with over the war."

"The only good Indians I ever saw were dead."

"One other exciting- and totally unpredictable- face and force had been added to Grant's arsenal on March 25 when General Philip Sheridan arrived on the Petersburg front with his Army of the Shenandoah, which was primarily a cavalry command. Sheridan was definitely a mercurial personality and often an insubordinate officer, yet it is no accident that Lee's surrender occurred just fourteen days after Sheridan joined Grant at Clay Point, Virginia, absolutely determined to be "in on the kill.""

"Now, boys, lie low, you know, and let 'em come up close, you know, and then rise up and give 'em ———, you know."

"In fact during this retreat week- and unbeknownst to the gullible inhabitants of Southside Virginia- some of these advance "Confederate-appearing" cavalrymen were definitely not who they seemed to be. Acting on his own without official authorization from his superiors, Major General Phil Sheridan had recruited several specialized groups of spying cavalrymen (whom he designated as "Jesse scouts") who were the proverbial "wolves in sheep's clothing," clad as Confederate horsemen who would question gullible Southern soldiers and civilians concerning "the best routes to take" and exactly where some food supplies might be available for the army. This was a dangerous scheme that Sheridan was employing because under the so-called "rules of war" which both sides had endorsed, presenting oneself in the uniform of the enemy and posing as a member of "the other side" was punishable by an immediate execution, without the slightest pretending of a military court martial or public hearing."

"In this assembly, every political school has its teachers — every creed has its adherents — and I may safely say, that this banquet is the tribute of United Ireland to the representative of American benevolence. Being such, I am at once reminded of the dinner which took place after the battle of Saratoga, at which Gates and Burgoyne — the rival soldiers — sat together. Strange scene! Ireland, the beaten and the bankrupt, entertains America, the victorious and the prosperous! Stranger still! The flag of the Victor decorates this hail — decorates our harbour — not, indeed, in triumph, but in sympathy — not to commemorate the defeat, but to predict the resurrection, of a fallen people! One thing is certain — we are sincere upon this occasion. There is truth in this compliment. For the first time in her career, Ireland has reason to be grateful to a foreign power. Foreign power, sir! Why should I designate that country a "foreign power," which has proved itself our sister country? England, they sometimes say, is our sister country. We deny the relationship — we discard it. We claim America as our sister, and claiming her as such, we have assembled here this night. Should a stranger, viewing this brilliant scene inquire of me, why it is that, amid the desolation of this day — whilst famine is in the land — whilst the hearse-plumes darken the summer scenery of the island, whilst death sows his harvest, and the earth teems not with the seeds of life, but with the seeds of corruption — should he inquire of me, why it is, that, amid this desolation, we hold high festival, hang out our banners, and thus carouse — I should reply, "Sir, the citizens of Dublin have met to pay a compliment to a plain citizen of America, which they would not pay — 'no, not for all the gold in Venice' — to the minister of England.""

"We now look into history with the generous pride of the nationalist, not with the cramped prejudice of the partisan. We do homage to Irish valour, whether it conquers on the walls of Derry, or capitulates with honour before the ramparts of Limerick; and, sir, we award the laurel to Irish genius, whether it has lit its flames within the walls of old Trinity, or drawn its inspiration from the sanctuary of Saint Omer’s. Acting in this spirit, we shall repair the errors and reverse the mean condition of the past. If not, we perpetuate the evil that has for so many years consigned this Country to the calamities of war and the infirmities of vassalage, "We must tolerate each other," said Henry Grattan, the inspired preacher of Irish nationality — he whose eloquence, as Moore has described it, was the very music of Freedom — "We must tolerate each other, or we must tolerate the common enemy..."But, sir, whilst we must endeavour wisely to conciliate let us not, to the strongest foe, nor in the most tempting emergency, weakly capitulate...Let earnest truth, stern fidelity to principle, love for all who bear the name of Irishmen, sustain, ennoble and immortalise this cause. Thus shall we reverse the dark fortunes of the Irish race, and call forth here a new nation from the ruins of the old.Thus shall a Parliament moulded from the soil, pregnant with the sympathies and glowing with the genius of the soil, be here raised up. Thus shall an honourable kingdom be enabled to fulfil the great ends that a bounteous Providence hath assigned her—which ends have been signified to her in the resources of her soil and the abilities of her sons."

"Whilst my country remains in sorrow and subjection, it would be indelicate of me to participate in the festivities you propose. When she lifts her head and nerves her arm for a bolder struggle — when she goes forth like Miriam, with song and trimble, to celebrate her victory — I too shall lift up my head, and join in the hymn of freedom. Till then, the retirement I seek will best accord with the love I bear her, and the sadness which her present fate inspires. Nor do I forget the companions of my exile. The freedom that has been restored to me is embittered by the recollection of their captivity. My heart is with them at this hour, and shares the solitude in which they dwell. Whilst they are in prison a shadow rests upon my spirit, and the thoughts that otherwise might be free throb heavily within me. It is painful for me to speak. I should feel happy in being permitted to be silent for these reasons you will not feel displeased with me for declining the honours you solicit me to accept."

"War is very uncertain in its results, and often when affairs look most desperate they suddenly assume a more hopeful state."

"The country looks to this army to relieve it from the devastation and disgrace of a hostile invasion. Whatever fatigues and sacrifices we may be called upon to undergo, let us have in view constantly the magnitude of the interests involved, and let each man determine to do his duty, leaving to an all-controlling Providence the decision of the contest."

"He had to do the honorable thing, he understood that. Today of all days, it was vital to remain a gentleman, to speak faithfully and betray no emotions to his career's executioner. His family seemed ever destined for disappointment: his father, now him. Yet, he had done much, giving them all the victory they needed, that victory and more... Only to have a low cabal poison Lincoln against him. Liars. Devils. Whoremongers. Intimating, in the wake of Mine Run, that he sympathized with the Confederacy, that he was unfit to command, even that he was cowardly. All because he would not squander thousands of men to no purpose. Oh, yes. Had he overruled all military judgment, common sense, and decency and ordered Warren to attack, had he sacrificed five thousand soldiers in an act of folly, he might have been forgiven. But powerful men never spotted near a battlefield had seized upon his refusal to charge Lee's entrenchments, coiling like snakes to strike his reputation. Their ardor for slaughter repelled him. Perhaps he was better off being relieved. He could put this filth behind him, this infinite human vice of cold ambition. He could not understand how men could tell a public lie and then stand by it. He was not made for the politics of command, not for politics of any kind. He knew that his notions of honor seemed quaint, even laughable, to the likes of Sickles, Hooker, and Butterfield. But he could not imagine a life lived another way."

"A mighty burst of rain assaulted the canvas, conjuring Gettysburg: his hour of glory, of triumph. The smoke, confusion, and carnage had calmed to reveal his army victorious. Lee had been defeated. Lee! His elation on that July afternoon had soared beyond all words, beyond his deathly exhaustion, and he had thought, mistakenly, that all might be well thereafter. Only to spend the night wrapped in an oilcloth, sitting on a rock amid the mud, under a tree that channeled the rain into torrents. Every roof had been required for the wounded his victory cost. The wounded, in their legions. Damn Washington, and damn the New York papers. None of the men in frock coats and cravats understood the human side of an army. How they had howled- and were howling still- because he had not chased Lee like an ill-trained dog. They refused to hear that three hard days of battle had left tens of thousands of wounded men in his care and thousands more as prisoners in his hands. They did not want to hear that his army, too, had been mauled and thrown into confusion, that officers had been slaughtered by the hundredfold, that ammunition pouches and caissons had been emptied, that entire divisions had nothing to eat and no water untainted by blood, that the corpses of the brave baked in the sun, or simply that he had done the best he could. The Army of the Potomac had worked a miracle, sending Lee home in shame, but it had not been wonder enough for the stay-at-homes."

"In 1877, Rutherford B. Hayes was the first president to make a strong case for universally available public education. "Universal suffrage should rest upon universal education," he said in his inaugural address, adding, "Liberal and permanent provision should be made for the s support of free schools." For Hayes, a Republican, education was the basis for full economic and political participation, and the basis for prosperity. I agree."

"The purity of his private and personal life was never questioned, and during his term of office at Washington there was a distinct elevating of the tone and standard of official life. There is no doubt that his Administrations served a very useful purpose in the transition from sectional antagonism to national harmony, and from the old methods of dealing with the public service as party spoils to the new method of placing ascertained merit and demonstrated fitness above party service or requirements. It was an inevitable consequence that he should lose popularity and political influence in serving these important ends, but the value of his services will nevertheless be permanently recognized."

"Had West Virginia been nothing more than a mountainous bulwark around which rushed the main currents of American life, its fate would probably have resembled that of Vermont. In fact, Rutherford B. Hayes made this comparison and concluded that there was "Nothing finer in Vermont or New Hampshire" than the western Virginia scenery he enjoyed. If the resemblance had continued to hold, West Virginia would have remained a backwater during the agricultural and industrial revolutions of the nineteenth century but still would have enjoyed two compensating mid-twentieth-century trends: the federal policies and programs that have worked to iron out differences in material standards of living among the various states, and the rise of tourist and recreational industries. Even today, notwithstanding all the violence that has been visited on the landscape, West Virginia's scenery and the recreational potential of its mountains, forests, and streams have proved its most enduring economic resources. Thus for states like Vermont and for those small portions of eastern West Virginia that have nothing but scenery to depend on, modern affluence and aesthetic values may finally break down the barriers that once separated mountain regions from full participation in the nation's economic life."

"His public service extended over many years and over a wide range of official duty. He was a patriotic citizen, a lover of the flag and of our free institutions, an industrious and conscientious civil officer, a soldier of dauntless courage, a loyal comrade and friend, a sympathetic and helpful neighbor, and the honored head of a happy Christian home. He has steadily grown in the public esteem, and the impartial historian will not fail to recognize the conscientiousness, the manliness, and the courage that so strongly characterized his whole public career."

"That's an amazing invention, but who would ever want to use one of them?"

"Torpedoes in His Path: Can he, with that load, get through without exploding them?"

"Conscience is the authentic voice of God to you."

"Partisanship should be kept out of the pulpit... The blindest of partisans are preachers. All politicians expect and find more candor, fairness, and truth in politicians than in partisan preachers. They are not replied to — no chance to reply to them.... The balance wheel of free institutions is free discussion. The pulpit allows no free discussion."

"One of the tests of the civilization of people is the treatment of its criminals."

"Wars will remain while human nature remains. I believe in my soul in cooperation, in arbitration; but the soldier’s occupation we cannot say is gone until human nature is gone."

"Do not let your bachelor ways crystallize so that you can’t soften them when you come to have a wife and a family of your own."

"The unrestricted competition so commonly advocated does not leave us the survival of the fittest. The unscrupulous succeed best in accumulating wealth."

"All appointments hurt. Five friends are made cold or hostile for every appointment; no new friends are made. All patronage is perilous to men of real ability or merit. It aids only those who lack other claims to public support."