PREFACE. The principal purpose of this book is to expose and, if possible, to correct the wrongs and injustice inflicted by unscrupulous and designing officers of the United States Army upon brave and honest junior officers, and not for self-adulation or to leave footprints on the sands of time in my own personal and official career, and I believe the reader can readily observe that all through my experience my only persecutors have been men whose characters would not bear investigation and whose brutal natures are such that they should not be placed in positions where they can take advantage of the authority entrusted to them. Many men are of such caliber that they cannot bear prosperity. The reader of this book who concludes that I may have drawn an unreal picture of Schofield, unfairly indicating his career, should study his life as written by himself. Having kept a diary since 1861, I am enabled to refresh my memory from extracts, omitting many events that would prove interesting, but much too sentimental, but believe I will be upheld. and sustained by all fair-minded persons. From my past career, some may be under the impression that I have been a mischief-maker, meddling with affairs that do not concern me, but the reader can readily see that my course has been taken only in self-defence; that I have given the true caliber of my persecutors and in some cases exposed their unscrupulous dishonesty and brutal acts, showing that they should be classed more as animals than as human beings. There seems to be a determination among Army officers of a certain class that a restored officer should not remain in the Army, and all kinds of underhanded measures are resorted to to make his life unbearable or force him out. In my case it was the determination of General Grierson and others to heap upon me all the indignities possible in order that I might be forced to resign and make room for some one else. When it is found from his record that he sprang up to the position of a Major-General from that of a common bone-rattler in a minstrel troupe you will appreciate the kind of characters that occasionally get into prominent positions. In the Graham case it was known by many that when undergoing a sentence in the peniten General Grierson Entertaining His Friends. Major Page and others took his part against me, although they knew well that he was one of the worst villains that breathed. Being a good gambler, however, some officers were largely indebted to him, and money goes a great way in some places. In regard to the Dutchman, -, he has always had the "cheek" of a brass band and has succeeded in gulling many and making them believe that he is an individual of some importance. |