How slow and torturing the waiting was. How many popular heroes were discovered, and worshipped with passionate devotion for a brief time, only to be revealed, at last, as common clay. But through all these dreadful days, the men who were to lead the Nation to complete triumph were making their way, slowly but surely, to their destined places. At Belmont, in November, 1861, a silent, modest man, just promoted to a Brigadier-Generalship, had fought a battle which gave confidence and courage to the troubled country. At Mill Springs, two months later, another quiet, manly soldier, had won a signal victory over a superior force. In Kentucky, still another soldier was winning confidence and respect by the energy and sagacity of his operations; and a fourth, unknown and unnoted, was looking after the commissary wagons of an army in Arkansas. It is a notable fact that these four men, who were destined, at the close of the war, to be its recognized leaders, began their service in the West, and that they severally represented the cosmopolitan blood of the American people—Grant being of Scotch ancestry, Sherman of Saxon origin, Thomas springing from the Welsh race, and Sheridan coming of Irish stock. Differing widely in characteristics and temperaments, they not only supplemented each other admirably, but each had the firmest confidence in the resources, skill and courage of all the others. Envy or jealousy never distracted them. The same resolute purpose, the same ardent patriotism, the same devotion to duty, animated them all, and each could confidently rely on the support of all the others. I do not intend, however, to draw comparisons of their several careers, nor of their personal characteristics. I mention their association because it happened that he who was the chief of this group of great soldiers was, perhaps, the first to clearly recognize the greatness of his associates, and to assign them to the positions in which they filled the continent with the splendor of their achievements. For it was Ulysses S. Grant who designated William T. Sherman as commander of the Army of the Tennessee, placed George H. Thomas at the head of the Army of the Cumberland, and selected Philip H. Sheridan as chief of cavalry of the Army of the Potomac. Two of these great soldiers yet survive; two have answered their last roll-call on earth. And here, as in every city, town and hamlet throughout the land, the people have assembled to honor the memory of the most distinguished of this group—Ulysses S. Grant.