"That certainly would be a generous act upon your part,' said Sheridan, ‘and one which would be appreciated by Sherman and myself. I would rather have you do this service than any other man, because no one could do it with so much propriety. The relations between Grant and you were bound by strong ties of mutual affection. Those between you, Sherman, and myself have been most intimate. We have all been guests at the same time, and many times, at your house. You have come to know us better than other men know us. Grant, Sherman, and myself were closely connected with the suppression of the rebellion. United thus in our lives, we should be placed together here, returned as it were to the Academy from which we started out in the morning of life as second lieutenants. Associated as you have been with us, you are the very man to keep us united after death.'

'The

"All right, General,' said Mr. Childs. portraits shall be painted and hung in the Mess Hall. Now select your artist.'

"When Mr. Childs spoke to General Sheridan in the Mess Hall about painting his portrait, the

latter did not think that Mr. Childs was serious. I happen to know that Mr. Childs formed the determination to add the portraits of Sherman and Sheridan to his contribution prior to his visit to the Academy, and informed General Sheridan of this fact upon his return to Washington from West Point during a conversation in which he related to me what I have stated touching the conversation with Mr. Childs at West Point, and also the conversation between Childs, Sheridan, and Sherman in relation to painting a portrait of the General last named.

"Shortly after the conversation between Childs and Sheridan, on the porch of the superintend ent's house, the battalion was formed on the parade-ground. General Sheridan, accompanied by the superintendent and staff and the board of visitors, had passed down the front and up the rear of the battalion, and had taken his place at the point designated for the reviewing officer, when General Sherman rode up from Cranston's Hotel, located about a mile south of the reservation. Sherman remained in his carriage, which was drawn up in front of the parade-ground and di

rectly in rear of the reviewing officer. As the corps passed in common, and subsequently in double time, Sherman stood up and watched, with old time eagerness and pride, the columns of gray and white until they wheeled into a faultless line, tendered the final salute to the reviewing officer, heard the cadet adjutant announce 'parade is dismissed,' and saw the companies move, to lively music, from the parade-ground to the cadet barracks. Then he alighted from the carriage, pushed through the crowd that always fringes the parade-ground upon occasions of parade and review, and joined Sheridan and the other officials who still lingered on the ground. When the usual salutations and introductions had been concluded, Sheridan drew Sherman and Childs apart from the crowd and said: 'Sherman, Mr. Childs informs me that he intends to have portraits of you and me painted, to hang beside that of General Grant in the Mess Hall. He proposes to wait until we die, but I insisted that the paintings be made before we die, so we may see how that artist executes us. He has agreed to do this, and I told him he is the one man who can and should do it.'"

BY GENERAL O. O. HOWARD,

WHO LED THE RIGHT WING ON THE MARCH TO THE SEA.

NO MAN is better able to give an accurate es

timate of General Sherman as a soldier and

a citizen than Major-General O. O. Howard, now in command of the Division of the Atlantic. He was not only General Sherman's right-hand commander during the historical march to the sea, but he served with him in many other campaigns, saw him under fire as a resourceful leader extricating his command from many a perilous situation and in every other position that could test his qualities as a general. Besides, General

Howard had been his warm and close friend before the war and continued in that relation until General Sherman's death. They started out in their military careers almost together, and it so happened that in their services during the civil war they were more often thrown together than any other two commanders of note in the army:

My intimate associations with General Sherman for so many years in so many situations of danger and hardship made me look upon him as much more than a friend.

"I had a feeling of tenderness toward him almost filial. He was my adviser and support in a good many anxious hours. I never found him other than a wise counselor and true, kindhearted friend.

"He was twelve years older than I when we went west together, and he got his brigade before I did, which was right and proper; but we were together during almost the whole course of the war. He had been in the South, thoroughly understood the plans of the Confederate States, and, having a capacious mind, took in the whole situation at the beginning. His long military experience, with these advantages, made him of invaluable service to his country from the beginning of hostilities.

HIS EARLIER SERVICES.

"His career began as the Colonel of the Thirteenth Infantry in the Army of the Potomac