John Harrison Wilson, The life of Charles Henry Dana

[347] kind afforded by the war. It was the only case on either side in which an army, surprised and driven from the field in the morning, had rallied and returned to the fight the same afternoon and gained a complete victory. Even without the dramatic incidents which the reporters and the poets have connected with it, the performance was a sufficiently notable one to entitle Sheridan to a special reward, and this the government at once determined to bestow upon him. To that end, it promoted him to the rank of major-general in the regular army, and, as an additional expression of its satisfaction, sent Dana to deliver the commission in person. The journey was made by special train over the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad to Harper's Ferry, and thence on horseback with a cavalry escort to Sheridan's camp, some fifty miles farther up the Valley. After performing the agreeable duty intrusted to him, and riding through the enthusiastic army, Dana returned overland to Washington by the way of Manassas Gap. Throughout his journey along the Valley of Virginia, and from the Valley to Washington, although under escort, he was constantly in danger of capture by Mosby and his enterprising guerillas. Up to that time they had made that entire region most dangerous to all such parties, but Dana passed through it unmolested, and seems to have been scarcely conscious of the danger he was incurring.

Shortly after returning to Washington, he was sent to Indianapolis for the purpose of conferring with Governor Morton in reference to some new cavalry regiments for which horses, arms, and equipments were required. Having satisfied himself of the merits of the case, he returned to Washington and settled down for the winter at the routine work of the department.

On November 14th he wrote to me:

I don't believe General Grant is coming to Washington.