Show PHIL SHERIDANS APOLOGY The Amende Honorable to the Captain Cap-tain of His Escort I On this particular morning of which I I write for some good reason the hour I I annotated to move was earlier than usual us-ual Four oclock found the head ouarter tents struck and the genera and staff mounted ready to move out I but no escort A moment or two later I and amid the blare of bugles and roll of drums the troops started and the I road was filled with the marching I arm Still no escort I Turning impatiently to his chief of i staff Colonel J W Forsythe the gent gen-t eral said Where is the escort What does I this mean Was the commanding officer of-ficer notified I Certainly was the reply Send an aide and find out the I trouble An officer dashed off to where the escort es-cort was encamped ona little stream a few hundred yards away and returned return-ed saying that the escort were saddling in haste and would be there in a few moments Shortly after the squadron dashed 1 > at a gallop and fronting into in-to line ilmost on a run Captain Claf lin saluted and turning to the chief of staff was about to speak when he was interrupted by General Sheridan I Sheri-dan who said Captain Claim when I issue an order or-der to move at 4 oclock it means sixty six-ty minutes p ist 3 not nearly twenty minutes past 4 This must not occur again sir But General No excuse sir We have lost tim enough already Move out And the general urged his horse into a trot t overtake the corps with which headQuarters head-Quarters was t march during the day A few moments after one of the acting act-ing aides turned t the officer he was riding behind and said Great Scott All this delay was really my fault What do you mean The chief of staff ordered me to inform in-form Clafiin of the hour of march and I neglected to do i The mischief you did What shall I do He knew well enough and in a moment more he had nushed to the head of the staff and re I norted his dereliction of duty to the commanding general himself I On his return the question was asked Well what did the general say I Thats the worst of it was the reply I re-ply not a single word I Nothing Absolutely nothing Then after a nause I wonder i he will send me I back to my regiment I dont think so was the response Nothing more was said during the day to my knowledge but I afterwards after-wards learned that the officer spoke to the chief of staff regarding his failure to deliver the order and apologize to Captain Cap-tain Claflin for the position he had unfortunately un-fortunately placed him in The next morning after the general and staff were mounted he suddenly rode out towards the front of the escorting es-corting squadron as it stood in line and i awaited orders and facing Captain Claim said he leaned slightly forward and saidCaptain Claflin yesterday morning I I reproved you sharply in the presence of your command and my staff for what I thought was a neglect of duty I have since ascertained you were not at all at fault in the matter but that the fault was on the part of one of my staff who neglected to deliver an order or-der to you and raising his cap and bowing sir courteously I beg your pardon General began the captain I al ready knew but the general had replaced his cap and touching it in answer to the captains salute turned Quickly away and gave the order Move out I do not think the officer in fault ever forgot the occasion and I know that Captain Claflin never did for we talked talk-ed the matter over in his camp in northern nor-thern Texas the year before he died Turning t me at the close of fur conversation con-versation he said Only think of it the commanding general of the army publicly apologizing to the captain com I J I mandinsr his escort for having mistakenly mistak-enly reprimanded him the day before enb I could have died for him that day I |