Oliver Otis Howard, Autobiography of Oliver Otis Howard, major general , United States army : volume 2

I do not think I have ever met with an officer abler to plan a campaign or more thoroughly to execute one planned by another than he.

In 1897 I had command of the veterans during the inauguration ceremonies of McKinley March 4th. Again in 1901 I enjoyed a double duty. In the morning General Sickles and I led the escort from the White House to the Capitol. This took about two hours. Later in the day I had charge of a division of the veterans of both wars. When the day was over I found that I had been in the saddle seven hours. That ride, which inaugurated McKinley for the second time, was taken in my seventieth year.

For several years I had kept up the custom of riding on horseback. Accompanied by my friend Frederick Chamberlin, three times I rode through the mountains of Kentucky, Tennessee, and Virginia about the time of the annual Commencement of our Lincoln Memorial University. We habitually made twenty miles a day for a week's time.

At the next inauguration, 1905, I was requested by President Roosevelt to perform a similar part in commanding the veterans; this I gladly did, and was honored by a special review in front of the Capitol, which was given me by Lieutenant General Chaffee.

I may remark here that I participated in the canvass of 1900 for McKinley, making extensive trips and many addresses, mostly in the West, for McKinley and Roosevelt.

In 1904 I did the same for Roosevelt and Fairbanks, going as far as Colorado, but spending most of my time in New York and Brooklyn. I made a special point of sustaining Governor Higgins, whom some politicians wished to lay aside under false assumptions.