I bade him good-bye, he only remarked: “This was to be expected.”
The truth was, that his fate had been decided at the national capital early in the month. On the 3d, a telegraphic order was sent to General Grant at Vicksburg, requiring him to proceed at once with his staff and headquarters to Cairo, and to report to the General-in-chief by wire for orders on his arrival there. It was several days in reaching him by boat, but, although he was lamed by an accident at New Orleans, he obeyed at once, and telegraphed from Cairo on October 16 for further instructions. The answer came in the evening of the same day, to the effect to proceed forthwith to the Galt House, Louisville, where he would be met by an officer of the War Department, with orders and instructions. He was also told to take his staff and headquarters with him, so as to be prepared to take the field immediately. This and the direction of his movements made pretty clear to the General and his military household what were the Government's intentions towards him. On reaching Louisville the next day, the officer of the War Department turned out to be Secretary Stanton himself, who delivered to Grant an order of the President constituting the military division of the Mississippi, with the three departments of the Ohio, of the Cumberland, and of the Tennessee, and placing him in command of the division, with headquarters in the field. The order also authorized him to relieve General Rosecrans by General Thomas, if he thought it best to make the change.
Before leaving Washington, the Secretary had wired to Dana on the 16th to meet him in Louisville, in pursuance of which the latter at once started for the North. As he relates in his memoirs, he reached Nashville on the night of October 20, and was intercepted at the station by a staff officer of General Grant, who told him his chief was on a train standing next to his and wished to see him. Dana had heard nothing of the great changes in the military commands, and his surprise when he learned what had hap-
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