Saturday, August 2, 2014

Brigadier-General James A. Garfield to Burke A. Hinsdale, February 16, 1863

Murfreesborough, Tenn., Feb. 16, 1863.

My horses and part of my staff were delayed on the Cumberland by the attack on Fort Donelson, and did not reach here until a few days ago. I have been the guest of Gen. Rosecrans since my arrival, and I have never been more acquainted with the interior life of any man in the same length of time in my life. He wants me to stay with him as chief of staff instead of taking command of a division. I am greatly in doubt which to choose. He is one of the few men in this war who enters upon all his duties with a deeply devout religious feeling, and looks to God us the disposer of the victory. His very able report of the late battle here ends with this fine sentence from the Catholic Church service, which he does not quote with any cant or affectation: "Non nobis, Domine, non nobis, sed tuo nomine da gloriam."

SOURCE: Jonas Mills Bundy, The Life of Gen. James A. Garfield, p. 63

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