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be in Washington at the same time. He knew of my personal relations with Gresham and asked me to solicit for him the support of the Secretary. I made an appointment to call with him on Secretary Gresham the following morning. This I did, and the two old soldiers, one a Federal and the other a Confederate, met for the first time.

Gresham told Shelby that the appointment he was seeking belonged to the Department of Justice and that he did not think it would be proper for him to interfere. The meeting was a very pleasant one, and it could be easily seen that the heart of the Federal General went out in sympathy to the Confederate General. At the conclusion of this conference, the Secretary said he had an appointment with the President and kindly asked me to accompany him to the White House. I accepted his invitation. After meeting the President, the subject of Shelby's application was mentioned and he was told that I favored it. The President asked me how it came that so many Federal soldiers favored Shelby's appointment. I laughingly said that inasmuch as there was but little chance for the appointment of a Federal soldier, they being republicans, they favored the next best thing, the appointment of a fighting Confederate soldier.

The President then said that he had been informed that Shelby drank too much whiskey. I warded off this blow by laughingly saying that I did not suppose that that question would be seriously considered among Democrats. Shelby was appointed, made a most excellent officer and "died in the harness.'

Altogether, my acquaintance with Mr. Cleveland

was most pleasant. I formed a high opinion of his ability, honesty, integrity and courage. The country would be better off if there were more of his kind in official positions. "A public office is a public trust."

XII

CALIFORNIA AND THE WEST

Gen. William T. Sherman - Departure for the West The G. A. R. Encampment at San Francisco — Bishop Tuttle in Salt Lake City-My Colorado Legal Cases-Justice Miller and Judge Usher Clash - Gen. Sherman as Host.

The annual encampment of the Grand Army of the Republic was held in San Francisco, in August, 1886. General William Tecumseh Sherman had been retired from the United States Army and was a resident of St. Louis, living in a splendid home on Garrison Avenue that had been presented to him by citizens of St. Louis, in consideration of the distinguished services by him rendered to the country during the Civil War. He was a member and the first Commander of Ransom Post, Grand Army of the Republic at St. Louis, which was named, upon the recommendation of General Sherman, for General T. R. Ransom, a distinguished soldier who served under him and who died in that service while on "Sherman's March to the Sea."

I was one of the "Charter Members" of Ransom Post and lived within three blocks of General Sherman. It was my great privilege and honor to know him personally and I was, seemingly, a welcome visi

tor at his house. As the time approached for the annual encampment of the Grand Army at San Francisco, great interest was made manifest by its members and by others, as well, who were attracted by the low railroad rates that were allowed for those visiting California at that time. General Sherman left for San Francisco in the early part of July. After reaching there, he wrote me the following letter:

Dear Dyer:

PALACE

HOTEL

San Francisco, July 7, 1886.

I left St. Louis Thursday evening July 1, and arrived here yesterday at noon-four and onehalf days - with as little fatigue as if from St. Louis to New York.

I am very anxious that you should come out with the St. Louis delegation. Come by the Wabash to Omaha, thence by the Union & Central to San Francisco and straight to this, the Palace Hotel, the best in the world. If I know of your coming I can make suitable arrangements for you and any of your comrades at this Hotel, and if crowded, which is hardly possible I can give you a good room in the suite assigned to me. Notwithstanding the allurements of this City and of California I am sure you will return to old Pike with increased faith in its destiny the treeless plains, the sagebrush desert and tiny patches of green made by casual springs, will make you love the land of the oak, hickory, walnut, etc., all the more.

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Last night, though still covered with the dust of travel, I had to speak to the Grand Army Post, and tonight must go to the California Pioneers, of which society I am one of the ancients, and must move on to secure the rest which I seek.

Come and help me, for we must make the "cause" glorious and transcendant. Your friend,

W. T. Sherman.

I had never been in California and upon the receipt of this letter determined to go and attend the encampment. I decided to take with me my wife and my two oldest children, Erza Hunt and Emma Grace. Mrs. Ann Kercheval, a near neighbor and friend of my family, and Miss Nannie Broadhead, daughter of Colonel James O. Broadhead, my old preceptor, desired to go in company with us.

Mrs. Kercheval was a daughter of Eleazor Block of Bowling Green. Block had several children, some of whom had gone to California the year of the gold excitement. They were Emanuel, who a few years before this trip died and was buried at San Francisco, Elias, Sallie, who had been one of my wife's bridesmaids and had married William H. McCormick, and James N. Block. All three of the last named were residents of San Francisco.

Mr. Eleazor Block in his lifetime had been the owner of slaves and one of these was a woman named Rachel. In addition to raising two children of her own, two sons, she was the nurse for each and every one of Mr. Block's children. Aunt Rachel's two boys grew to manhood and at the beginning of the Civil War enlisted in the Union Army. One of them was killed in battle and the other died of disease in camp. Aunt Rachel received quite a pension from the Government on account of her deceased sons and this pension was carefully invested for her by William B. Dean, a son-in-law of Mrs. Kercheval.

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