"As once his fellow soldiers we mourn universally for the dead commander, whose great heart made us all his own and made his own virtues seem to us like personal benefactions. "As members of this Military Order we deplore the loss of a companion whose honors added to the value of those ties which his fellowship helped to endear, and whose frequent and cordial visits to the New York Commandery will be cherished in our memories as so many occasions to be often and affectionately recalled. "To his children and relatives, to whom his great renown, his honors and his tenderness do but enhance their loss, we tender all that sympathy may, and trust that a place in our regard henceforth may be accepted by them as a little heritage from him." General Howard made a brief address, in the course of which his emotion was strong and interrupted his utterances. "General Sherman," he said, "had more personal friends and could call more men by name probably than any other man in the country. "A few days ago, Sherman and Slocum and I met in Brooklyn and the conversation turned on death. Some one remarked that he hoped it would not come to Sherman for many years. I exclaimed, on the impulse of the moment, 'General, you will never die.' He answered, sharply and strongly, 'My body will die.' God bless General Sherman," was the peroration of General Howard's speech. General Slocum followed with a warm panegyric on the march to the sea. "Sherman was to me something more than a companion," he said. "He gave me his confidence in war and his friendship in peace. He opened to me what is dear to every soldier, an opportunity to link my name with his. "In the coming time there will be no dispute about his career. It may be in the future that some man will say that he furnished the idea of the march to the sea to Sherman. That man must have been with him at the time, or subsequent, when Sherman captured Atlanta, for when he did so he had no idea of cutting aloof from his base of supplies. When he got back from the battle of Jonesboro he took down a map and said, 'I will make Atlanta my base of supplies.' He went so far as to throw up intrenchments. That was before Hood pushed up toward the Tennessee and Nashville; and then he changed his mind. "After Sherman had taken Savannah certain persons at Washington urged him to take his troops to City Point by sea. Had he been a timid man he would have been content to rest upon his laurels, knowing that he had already won an imperishable fame, but he said: 'No; I will take my chances in South Carolina,' and he did so, and everything went like clockwork, and success again crowned his efforts."