History tells of but few who so blended the grace and the gentleness of the friend with the dignity, courage, faith and manliness of the soldier.
Grenville Dodge
The Public Record
Grenville Mellen Dodge was a Union Army general on the frontier and a pioneering figure in military intelligence during the Civil War, who served as Ulysses S. Grant's intelligence chief in the Western Theater. He served in several notable assignments, including command of the XVI Corps during the Atlanta campaign.
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The achievements of this hour will give a new meaning to this memorable day, and Vicksburg will brighten the glow of the patriot's heart which kindles at the mention of Bunker Hill and Yorktown.
The plaudits of an admiring world will hail you wherever you go, and it will be an ennobling heritage, surpassing all riches, to have been of the Army of the Tennessee on the Fourth of July, 1863.
Faithful in every duty, true in every trust, though dead he is not forgotten; though gone forever, yet he will ever live in affectionate remembrance in the hearts of all who knew him.
His name is woven in indelible colors in the history of our country, and is linked with a fame that is undying.
In no army did the soldier enjoy greater liberty, consistent with military discipline, than in the Army of the Tennessee, and in none were his rights and his life more carefully guarded.
From those whom we fought and defeated have come the most gallant words of praise and touching sympathy.
Grant made his answer at Appomattox, bringing peace to our nation and gratitude to the conquered.
As an Army, the Army of the Tennessee never sustained a single defeat during four years of war.
Every force arrayed against it was either defeated, captured, or destroyed.
Ho! comrades of the brave old band, we gather here once more, With smiling eye and clasping hand, to fight our battles o'er.
As myriad sparks of war's romance our meetings warm inspire; The heady fight, the anxious march, the jolly bivouac fire; The days of doubt, of hope, of care, of danger, and of glee; Oh, what a world of racy thought illumines Tennessee!
Our roster thins; as years pass on we drop off one by one; Ere long, too soon, to yearly call, there will be answer--none; Then as along the record page these mourning columns creep, The whisper comes to closer still our living friendships…
Another thought we forward cast to that not distant day, When left of all our gallant band will be one veteran gray, And here's to him who meets alone--wherever he may be, The last, the lone survivor of the grand old Tennessee.
No one who knew or saw Sheridan then thought of the great position he was to occupy in our Army, but when he took hold of that Army and stripped it and fed it, three hundred miles away from rail or water communication, we all knew that his…
One of the pleasantest recollections of my life is that I received a letter from General Smith, thanking me for appreciating their condition, and having in Nashville when they arrived, everything they needed.
He said that it was the first time they had been treated decently, and they were thankful they had fallen into the hands of some one who appreciated them.
Had the Sixteenth Corps given way the rebel army would have been in the rear of the Seventeenth and Fifteenth Corps, and would have swept like an avalanche over our supply-trains, and the position of the Army of the Tennessee would have…
During the two or three days we were with Grant he outlined in a general way his plan of campaign that every Army should move as early as possible in the spring, all on the same day against the enemy, so that Lee and Johnston could not…
With the small force we had it would have been impossible to maintain our mail, telegraph and overland routes successfully, if it had not been for our system of block-houses and stockades, dotted for thousands of miles over each of the…
It is evident from our experience in the West that our block-house and stockade system of defending our lines of communication was a great success, not only as against raids of cavalry, but from attacks of infantry and artillery, and saved…
He knew to a certainty, if he informed me of the facts, that Shaw would be executed, for he was a far more important person to us than was Davis.
It is not, therefore, necessary for me to state that I regretted to see sentence executed; but it was one of the fates of war, which is cruelty itself, and there is no refining it.
The severe penalty of death, where a spy is captured, is not because there is anything dishonorable in the fact of the person being a spy, as only men of peculiar gifts for such service, men of courage and cool judgment and undoubted…
The fact that the information they obtain is found within their enemy's lines, and the probability of great danger to an Army, is what causes the penalty to be so very severe.
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