imperturbable tenacity, particularly in the Wilderness and on the march to the James, without which the almost insurmountable obstacles of that campaign could not have been overcome.  During it and in the siege of Petersburg he met with many disappointments—­on several occasions the shortcomings of generals, when at the point of success, leading to wretched failures.  But so far as he was concerned, the only apparent effect of these discomfitures was to make him all the more determined to discharge successfully the stupendous trust committed to his care, and to bring into play the manifold resources of his well ordered military mind.  He guided every subordinate then, and in the last days of the rebellion, with a fund of common sense and superiority of intellect, which have left an impress so distinct as to exhibit his great personality.  When his military history is analyzed after the lapse of years, it will show, even more clearly than now, that during these as well as in his previous campaigns he was the steadfast Centre about and on which everything else turned.

CHAPTER IX.

Ordered to Greensboro’, N. C.—­March to the Dan river—­assigned to
the command west of the Mississippi—­leaving Washington—­flight of
general early—­Maximilian—­making demonstrations on the upper Rio
Grande—­confederates join Maximilian—­the French invasion of Mexico
and its relations to the rebellion—­assisting the liberals
—­restoration of the republic.

The surrender at Appomattox put a stop to all military operations on the part of General Grant’s forces, and the morning of April 10 my cavalry began its march to Petersburg, the men anticipating that they would soon be mustered out and returned to their homes.  At Nottoway Court House I heard of the assassination of the President.  The first news came to us the night after the dastardly deed, the telegraph operator having taken it from the wires while in transmission to General Meade.  The despatch ran that Mr. Lincoln had been, shot at 10 o’clock that morning at Willard’s Hotel, but as I could conceive of nothing to take the President there I set the story down as a canard, and went to bed without giving it further thought.  Next morning, however, an official telegram confirmed the fact of the assassination, though eliminating the distorted circumstances that had been communicated the night before.