his skillful leadership. Every soldier in his army felt that he
had a personal friend in "Old Rosy." His troops never for a moment
faltered in their devotion to him or confidence in him. They felt
that he had been made the victim of a foolish interpretation of an
order that brought ruin and disaster upon his army, for which he
was not responsible, but for which he was made to suffer.

General Rosecrans, to his subordinates, was one of the most genial
of men. Kind and good-natured, he at times failed to act as
decisively as occasion required, deterred by the fact that, should
he do so, some of his subordinates would suffer. His restless
activity led him to give attention to details that he should have
been entirely relieved of by his subordinates. But no amount of
work daunted him. He lived almost without rest and sleep, and would
wear out two sets of staff officers nightly, and then, if occasion
required it, be up and out before daylight. To his superiors
he unfortunately allowed his high spirit to get the better of his
judgment, and many times when he was in the right he ruined his
position by his hasty temper. His fame, despite his enemies--and
no general in the field had stronger nor more unscrupulous ones--as
the greatest strategist of the war, is permanently fixed in history.
What it might have been had he not been hampered, annoyed, and
insulted as no other commanding general was at any time by both the
Secretary of War and the General-in-Chief, is merely problematical.
Personally, he regarded all this as mere "incidents of the service,"
and strove to the best of his ability to do his whole duty to his
country. His combination with Thomas--Rosecrans to plan brilliant
campaigns, with Thomas's great abilities to aid him in carrying
them out--made the Army of the Cumberland the great aggressive force
moving on the centre, gaining territory after each campaign. But