pened may be imagined. General Grant informed him also that Secretary Stanton no longer desired him (Dana) to come to Louisville, but to return to the front with himself. Dana accepted the situation, and was directly on his way again to Chattanooga. They reached Bridgeport the next day, and set out for their destination the following morning. Grant's foot troubled him so that he took two days for the trip; but Dana rode through in one. An officer who passed Grant on the way told me that he presented a singular appearance with his white cotton gloves, low shoes, and white socks which were exposed for several inches. Dana reported to Stanton on the 23d that the General arrived “wet, dirty, and well.” Grant himself, in a letter to Halleck, described the roads he had passed over as bad almost beyond conception.
Rosecrans's retirement from active command was the penalty for his loss of the battle of Chickamauga. Nor can it be doubted that his removal was demanded by the interests of the service and of the country. His desertion of the field alone afforded ample justification, and his conduct after the retreat to Chattanooga furnished other good reasons for it. There was the withdrawal from Lookout Mountain, already discussed. Next he was guilty of the presumption of despatching to the President on October 3 the senseless suggestion that he offer a general amnesty to all Confederate officers and soldiers, which gave great offence and raised suspicions of political aspirations on his part, although Mr. Lincoln replied kindly. But the greatest fault he showed was his indecision upon the question of staying in Chattanooga, notwithstanding the strong and repeated admonitions of the Government, and especially of the President, to hold the place. This state of the General's mind is revealed in Dana's despatches to the Secretary of War, but I must in duty point out that the extravagance of their language, in genuine reporter's style, unduly exaggerated the case. As Dana's denunciations were the only information which reached the Government from an au-
