garded then and does now as one of the heaviest he was in, he showed a consideration for his men which proved that any coldness of heart of which he has been charged was and is only superficial. A cold and drenching rain contributed to make everybody intensely uncomfortable. The men had to stand behind the breastworks in deep pools of water. Harrison was 66 'one of them," and when during the night, after the firing had ceased, he found his surgeons had been separated from the command, he took off his coat, turned up his shirt sleeves, and tended their wounds compassionately and skillfully himself.

On May 29 he became chief of the First Brigade through the promotion of General Ward to the command of the division. He held this position to the close of the war.

His next share of hard fighting came at the battle of Gilgal Church. The brigade fought the enemy against a line of breast works until their ammunition gave out, when Coburn relieved them.

After this came the great fight at Kenesaw and the battle of Peach Tree Creek, on the close of which Hooker, who was major-general commanding, said to him: "By God, I'll make you a brigadier-general for this fight!" and in a letter by him to Secretary of War E. M. Stanton, he said: "My attention was first attracted to this young officer by the superior excellence of his brigade in discipline and instruction, the result of his labor, skill and devotion. It gives me great pleasure to commend him favorably to the Honorable Secretary, with the assurance that his preferment will be a just recognition of his services and martial accomplishments."

Near the creek was a little stream which provided power for an old mill. On a bluff covered with corn rested Harrison's brigade, some cooking and some sleeping. One of the soldiers was picking blackberries, when he ran up to the creek and reported that the whole rebel army was on the advance. Ward had orders from Hooker to remain in the bottom, but he gave Coburn and Harrison permission to advance to the ridge above. The fate of the Army of the Cumberland depended upon stopping the advance of the enemy. Through a terrific fire, and with the men dropping on all sides, he forged ahead. As at Resaca, it turned into a clubbed-musket fight. How those fellows did fight! Then Coburn brought his men up, followed by Ward, who acted on his own judgment and Coburn's advice not to follow Hooker's orders to stay below. For a time it seemed that they must submit to the attacking force, but just at a critical moment Harrison darted into the thickest of the fight, calling on his men to follow

him. They fought with renewed vigor. The enemy wavered before them, the hesitation ran along the whole line, and the enemy were finally beaten back.

In September, when Sherman took Atlanta, Harrison, after being two years on continuous service, received Sherman's orders to return for special duty to Indiana. He found on arrival there that his success in recruiting the 70th Indiana had brought upon him the task of canvassing the entire State for recruits. In this work he was engaged until November, when he again started for the South on hearing that Sherman had completed arrangements for a new campaign. He got as far as Dalton, Ga., where he was blocked by torn-up railroads. He was ordered to report to General Craft at Chattanooga. Doing so, he was placed in command of a cut-off portion of the 20th Army Corps, and later was given a brigade. A story of his good-heartedness is told by Richard M. Smock of Indianapolis, which happened during the winter. The weather was intensely cold and the ground frozen over. Pickets died at their posts in very many cases. Smock was on picket when Harrison came along with a can of hot coffee, which he was serving out to the men to help to keep the life in them. He had got out of bed in the middle of the night and made the coffee himself. In March, 1865, he was promoted to brigadier-general by brevet. His commission states that it was given "for ability and manifest energy and gallantry in command of the brigade." It is signed by Abraham Lincoln, and countersigned by E. M. Stanton, Secretary of War.

Gen. Harrison was present when Gen. Johnston surrendered to Gen. Sherman, at Durham's Station, N. C., April 26, 1865, and led his brigade in the grand review at Washington, when the soldiers passed through returning to their homes and civil life.

V.

Harrison Resumes Civil Life-Urged for Governor in 1875-Declines-Orth Nominated but withdraws-Harrison Nominated without his Knowledge-He complies with the Popular WishColonel Morgan's Prophetic Suggestion-The Canvass-Barnum's Hordes defeat him-Speech at Danville-Counsel for the Government-The Railroad Strike-His Sympathy for the Laboring Man-Speech at Richmond, Ind.-The Mississippi River Commission-Entertains President Hayes.

ENERAL HARRISON, on returning home, resumed his duties as reporter of the Supreme Court, and on the expiration of his term devoted himself to his profession, always speaking in the campaigns and taking an active interest in local and State politics, but never seeking an office himself.

In 1875 General Harrison was urged by many friends to become the candidate in the ensuing election for Governor, but he declined in the following

letter:

"HONORABLE L. M. CAMPBELL, DANVILLE, IND.

66

My Dear Sir:-Your letter of the 25th ultimo has remained unanswered until now for want of earlier leisure. After a careful consideration of the matter in every view in which it has presented itself, I have arrived at this conclusion, viz. To decline to allow my name to go before the Convention in connection with the nomination for Governor. In announcing this conclusion, I have only one regret, and that is the temporary disappointment of some very warm personal friends, among the oldest and most partial of whom I reckon yourself. To these, and to the somewhat wider circle of political friends who have with great kindness urged me to be a candidate, I feel under a very real obligation. Some of the reasons which have led me to this conclusion are already known to you. I need only say here that my personal affairs are not in a situation to make it wise for me to abandon the pursuit of my profession to engage in such a canvass. You will not think that I am without a proper sense of public obli

If any

gation, or devoid of interest in the success of the Republican party. should so think, the time I have given to the public service, and the humble part I have taken in every political campaign since 1860, must witness for me. In every important campaign which our State Convention will inaugurate, I hope to have some part; but you must allow me to follow, not to lead.

"It could hardly be possible that the party who has rejected the greatest idea of our immortal declaration-the equality of all men before the law-and has

denied the right to preserve by force the national unity, will, in this year of great memories, be called to administer our national affairs.

"Please accept for yourself, and for all those who have united in your request, my thanks and good wishes. Very sincerely yours,

"INDIANAPOLIS, December 1, 1875."

"BENJAMIN HARRISON.

The Hon. Godlove S. Orth received and accepted the nomination, but subsequently withdrew from the canvass.

After the Convention in 1876 Gen. Harrison left for the north shore of Lake

Superior for recreation in trout-fishing, preparatory to the campaign. Returning from the woods he learned at Mackinaw from a Chicago paper of Orth's resignation, and en route home a dispatch reached him at Fort Wayne from the State Committee that he had been chosen to be the candidate. At Muncie a delegation awaited him and pressed him to accept the nomination. Arriving home, he was publicly asked by the leading men of his party-his former partner, Governor Porter, delivering an address to him on the door-steps of his house, embodying the wishes of those present. Under the circumstances he did not feel that

he could be guided by his own wishes, but ought in duty bound to comply with those of his party. He accepted the nomination and prepared for a vigorous campaign, as his opponent, the Hon. James D. Williams, locally known as "Uncle Jimmy Williams" and as "Blue Jeans Williams," a character in his way, was the strongest man the Democrats could have nominated.

He commenced his campaign at Danville on August 18, 1876, and until the election in October was en tour, part of the time in company with Senator Hale. It is related that the demonstration at Rockville, where it will be remembered he had had a famous encounter with Hendricks and Voorhees, was noteworthy because of a unique floral demonstration of a shower of flowers over him, as he and Senator Hale passed underneath in an open carriage, from a little girl in a basket suspended to a rope stretched across the street.

Apropos of this canvass the following letter from an old friend and army associate, Col. Thomas J. Morgan, is interesting as it 'suggests his nomination also for the Presidency.

"To the Editor of the Chicago Evening Journal:

"General Benjamin Harrison, the Republican nominee for Governor of Indiana, is an exceptionally good man. He is one of the ablest lawyers in the State, a fine scholar, a gentleman of highly cultivated taste, a Christian and a soldier. He is a grandson of ex-President William Henry Harrison. He entered the army in August, 1862, as colonel of the Seventieth Indiana Volunteer Infantry, and by his high qualities won the respect of all who knew him, both his superiors and subordinates. As an officer in his regiment I had an opportunity of knowing him well. I came to have very high admiration for him, which has been increased by my subsequent knowledge of him. He will make not only a good Governor, but is admirably qualified to be President, a position to which many of his friends hope he is destined.