He has been always modest concerning his achievements, discussing them in the few words of an official report. When he has spoken at all it has been his habit to present the general result, rather than his part in it. It was this characteristic that made difficult the securing of material for these chapters. In preparing for the Rio Grande battle, for instance, I said to him:
"Of course you hit some of those Mexicans?"
"Well, you see, standing up as I was I had a good place to shoot from."
"Then you did hit some of them?"
"Well—of course, as I say, I had the best place to shoot from, and I felt as if I could pick the buttons off their coats."
"But, Captain, what I want to know is, if you think you really hit any of them."
"Oh, well, hell (very reluctantly), I don't guess I missed any of 'em!"
"Did you feel afraid?"
"No—I don't reckon I thought of that."