Now, reader, you have followed me in my humble career from the commencement of the war to its close, and you are able to judge whether the part that I have played is of consequence or not. I do not claim that I have always acted wisely; and if I have erred, remember the surrounding circumstances, and then judge indulgently. If I have assisted the return of peace, by bearing faithfully my part in the burden of the war, I have accomplished the purpose for which I enlisted. The war is now over. The flag of our country again proudly floats over the entire domain. Peace, prosperity, and the pursuit of happiness have taken the place of deadly strife. In place of cultivating the art of war, we are now cultivating commerce and friendly intercourse. In a few years the blackened track of contending armies will smile with luxuriant harvests. We have the satisfaction of knowing that American liberty still exists; that the institutions inaugurated by the hardships and sufferings of our fathers, baptized with their blood, and consecrated by their prayers, are renewed and perpetuated. The principles that they struggled to maintain still live. The fires of patriotism that were kindled in the bosoms and burned in flames of heroic valor at Lexington, Bunker Hill, Saratoga, and Yorktown still burn in the bosoms of their children's children, and, have burst forth in glorious illuminations of valor upon such fields as Donelson, Vicksburg, Antietam, Atlanta, and Richmond. The heroes of this war have proved themselves worthy of their ancestry, and have baptized and consecrated anew their precious inheritance by giving of their best blood for its maintenance. Never were prayers more devoutly and fervently uttered, never was blood more freely spilled, never was treasure more extensively lavished, or individual sacrifice more cheerfully borne, than in the war from which we have just emerged. Our children's children will look back upon our deeds of valor and sacrifice with the same feelings of respect that we cherish for the fathers of the Revolution, and the institutions which we have perpetuated will be doubly dear to them for the second sacrifice that they have cost. Let us then watch carefully the treasures of liberty, and so use them as to invoke the smiles of Almighty God upon our sacred trust. Let us acknowledge his directing hand, and, by strict integrity and adherence to the principles of truth, prove ourselves worthy of the trust that we have received. Then will millions yet unborn rise up and thank the God of their fathers that by us our country has been saved.