“willing testimony to the completeness of this whole business.  All the officers charged with the work were present and manifested a skill which I cannot praise too highly.  I have never beheld any work done so quietly, so well, and I doubt if the history of war can show a bridge of * * 1350 feet, laid down so noiselessly and well in so short a time.  I attribute it to the genius and intelligence of General William F. Smith.”

The genuineness of this praise is strikingly attested by General Grant, who almost immediately after the battle again urged the Secretary of War to give Smith the promotion which he had previously recommended.  Unmistakably referring to the part taken by Smith in making and carrying out the plans which had yielded such notable results, he wrote, among other things:  “Recent events have entirely satisfied me of his great capabilities and merits.  I hasten to renew the recommendation and to urge it.”

Shortly afterwards Grant followed this letter by another asking for Smith’s assignment to the command of East Tennessee, to succeed the luckless Burnside, with whom he was dissatisfied, but in so doing he intimated that it would be agreeable to him if the government should, in pursuance of a personal suggestion sent to the War Department about the same time by Mr. Dana, give General Smith even a higher command.  It is now well known that Grant had in mind the command of the Army of the Potomac, and not only then, but frequently afterwards, assured General Smith of his support for that great position.

The friendship of Grant, Sherman and Thomas, for Smith, was at that time genuine and unmistakable.  Neither of these great generals had ever served with him before.  He was a comparative stranger to them, and that he should have come amongst them from the East under a cloud as he did, and should in less than two months have won such unusual praise and recommendations is stronger testimony than their words themselves to the masterful part he had played at Chattanooga, and in recognition of which the President made haste to promote him again to the rank of Major General, at that time the highest grade in the service.  It is to be regretted, however, that the vacancy made by his previous non-confirmation, having long since been filled, and opposition having arisen on the part of other generals already promoted and confirmed, the President did not feel justified in dating his new commission back to the date of his original appointment.  The action of the President, the Secretary of War, who concurred in it, and the Senate which acted upon it, this time without reference to the military committee, set the seal of government approval in the most signal manner upon the services and abilities of General Smith.  No subsequent action or criticism can deprive him of the great praise and unusual honors which were then bestowed upon him.