PARTING WITH HARDEE.
On the displacement of Gen. Johnston in July, 64, Gen. Hardee, as the ranking lieutenant general in the Army of Tennessee, felt aggrieved at the promotion of Gen. Hood above him, but was too patriotic to ask for an assignment to other fields while his lines were facing the enemy. At the close of the campaign he did prefer this request and on Sept. 28 took leave of his old corps. Many of them had followed him from Shiloh to Jonesboro. His almost unbroken success as brigade, division and corps commander had given him the title of the "Old Reliable." Even at Missionary Ridge his corps held its line and on a portion of it, at the suggestion of Gen. Alfred Cumming, made a counter charge, driving the enemy from their front. At Ringgold Gap and in every assault upon his lines during the Dalton and Atlanta Campaign Hardee had repulsed the attacking column, with the single exception of Jonesboro, where ten lines of battle had been massed against Govan's thinly manned trenches. For these reasons his old corps was loth to give him up. On the evening before his departure large numbers of his command went over to bid him good-bye. In a simple and touching address he expressed his deep regret at parting from those with whom he had been associated so long, but said that he would be with them in spirit if not in person and hoped they would always sustain the reputation they had so gallantly won. "I leave you," said he, "but I leave you in good hands, Frank Cheatham's. Frank and Pat go well together. If Frank fails you, you have Pat to fall back upon." Just then a soldier, who had climbed a tree and was sitting on a limb 20 feet from the ground, sang out, "Yes, General, and Crazy Bill ain't far off," alluding to Gen. Bate. The scene was a very affecting one and after speeches by Gen. Gist and Gen. Capers of So. Ca., closed with appropriate music rendered by the band.