Introduction to computational linear algebra 1st

Edition Erhel pdf download

https://ebookname.com/product/introduction-to-computational-
linear-algebra-1st-edition-erhel/

Get Instant Ebook Downloads – Browse at https://ebookname.com

Instant digital products (PDF, ePub, MOBI) available
Download now and explore formats that suit you...

Introduction to Linear Algebra 4th edition Gilbert

Strang

https://ebookname.com/product/introduction-to-linear-algebra-4th-
edition-gilbert-strang/

Computational methods of linear algebra 2nd edition

Edition Sewell

https://ebookname.com/product/computational-methods-of-linear-
algebra-2nd-edition-edition-sewell/

Computational Methods of Linear Algebra 3rd Edition

Granville Sewell

https://ebookname.com/product/computational-methods-of-linear-
algebra-3rd-edition-granville-sewell/

Food Safety of Proteins in Agricultural Biotechnology

Food Science and Technology 1st Edition Bruce G.
Hammond

https://ebookname.com/product/food-safety-of-proteins-in-
agricultural-biotechnology-food-science-and-technology-1st-
edition-bruce-g-hammond/
Framing Faust Twentieth Century Cultural Struggles 1st
Edition Professor Inez Hedges

https://ebookname.com/product/framing-faust-twentieth-century-
cultural-struggles-1st-edition-professor-inez-hedges/

Myth of the Sacred The Charter the Courts and the

Politics of the Constitution in Canada 1st Edition
Patrick James

https://ebookname.com/product/myth-of-the-sacred-the-charter-the-
courts-and-the-politics-of-the-constitution-in-canada-1st-
edition-patrick-james/

Curly Like Me How to Grow Your Hair Healthy Long and

Strong 1st Edition Laflesh

https://ebookname.com/product/curly-like-me-how-to-grow-your-
hair-healthy-long-and-strong-1st-edition-laflesh/

Strategic Marketing Planning 1st Edition Colin Gilligan

https://ebookname.com/product/strategic-marketing-planning-1st-
edition-colin-gilligan/

Democratizing Innovation Eric Von Hippel

https://ebookname.com/product/democratizing-innovation-eric-von-
hippel/
Trauma and Cognitive Science A Meeting of Minds Science
and Human Experience 1st Edition Freyd

https://ebookname.com/product/trauma-and-cognitive-science-a-
meeting-of-minds-science-and-human-experience-1st-edition-freyd/
 Mathematics

COMPUTATIONAL LINEAR ALGEBRA

Introduction to Computational Linear Algebra presents class-
room-tested material on computational linear algebra and its appli-
cation to numerical solutions of partial and ordinary differential equa-
tions.
INTRODUCTION TO
The text first introduces BLAS operations of types 1, 2, and 3 adapt-
ed to a scientific computer environment, specifically MATLAB®. It
COMPUTATIONAL

INTRODUCTION TO
LINEAR ALGEBRA
next covers the basic mathematical tools needed in numerical linear
algebra and discusses classical material on Gauss decompositions
as well as LU and Cholesky’s factorizations of matrices. The text
then shows how to solve linear least squares problems, provides a
detailed numerical treatment of the algebraic eigenvalue problem,
and discusses (indirect) iterative methods to solve a system of lin-
ear equations. The final chapter illustrates how to solve discretized
sparse systems of linear equations.
Features
• Discusses the fundamentals needed in numerical linear algebra,
including eigenvalues, vector and matrix norms, orthogonal
matrices, the Gram–Schmidt process, and singular value
decomposition
• Illustrates algorithms for eigenvalue problems with examples
from population dynamics and Google matrices
• Covers iterative methods for solving a system of linear
equations, including stationary methods based on matrix

Nassif, Erhel,
and Philippe
splitting and Krylov methods
• Explains the implementation of algorithms using MATLAB’s

Nabil Nassif
syntax
• Expresses the numerical methods using pseudo-code or a
detailed MATLAB program
• Includes numerous exercises and computer projects that test Jocelyne Erhel
your understanding of both the mathematics of numerical
methods and the art of computer programming Bernard Philippe
K24148

w w w. c rc p r e s s . c o m

K24148_cover.indd 1 5/27/15 6:46 AM

 INTRODUCTION TO
COMPUTATIONAL
LINEAR ALGEBRA
 INTRODUCTION TO
COMPUTATIONAL
LINEAR ALGEBRA

Nabil Nassif
American University of Beirut
Lebanon

Jocelyne Erhel
INRIA, Rennes
France

Bernard Philippe
INRIA, Rennes
France
MATLAB® is a trademark of The MathWorks, Inc. and is used with permission. The MathWorks does not
warrant the accuracy of the text or exercises in this book. This book’s use or discussion of MATLAB® soft-
ware or related products does not constitute endorsement or sponsorship by The MathWorks of a particular
pedagogical approach or particular use of the MATLAB® software.

CRC Press
Taylor & Francis Group
6000 Broken Sound Parkway NW, Suite 300
Boca Raton, FL 33487-2742

© 2016 by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC

CRC Press is an imprint of Taylor & Francis Group, an Informa business

No claim to original U.S. Government works

Version Date: 20150529

International Standard Book Number-13: 978-1-4822-5871-4 (eBook - PDF)

This book contains information obtained from authentic and highly regarded sources. Reasonable efforts
have been made to publish reliable data and information, but the author and publisher cannot assume
responsibility for the validity of all materials or the consequences of their use. The authors and publishers
have attempted to trace the copyright holders of all material reproduced in this publication and apologize to
copyright holders if permission to publish in this form has not been obtained. If any copyright material has
not been acknowledged please write and let us know so we may rectify in any future reprint.

Except as permitted under U.S. Copyright Law, no part of this book may be reprinted, reproduced, transmit-
ted, or utilized in any form by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented,
including photocopying, microfilming, and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system,
without written permission from the publishers.

For permission to photocopy or use material electronically from this work, please access www.copyright.
com (http://www.copyright.com/) or contact the Copyright Clearance Center, Inc. (CCC), 222 Rosewood
Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, 978-750-8400. CCC is a not-for-profit organization that provides licenses and
registration for a variety of users. For organizations that have been granted a photocopy license by the CCC,
a separate system of payment has been arranged.

Trademark Notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used
only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.
Visit the Taylor & Francis Web site at
http://www.taylorandfrancis.com

and the CRC Press Web site at

http://www.crcpress.com
To the dear and supporting members of our respective families:

Norma, Nabil-John and Nadim

Yves, Marion and Mélanie

Elisabeth, Isabelle, Hélène, Etienne and Afif

Contents

Preface xiii

About the Authors xvii

List of Figures xix

List of Tables xxi

List of Algorithms xxiii

1 Basic Linear Algebra Subprograms - BLAS 1

1.1 An Introductory Example . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.2 Matrix Notations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.3 IEEE Floating Point Systems and Computer Arithmetic . . 4
1.4 Vector-Vector Operations: Level-1 BLAS . . . . . . . . . . . 5
1.5 Matrix-Vector Operations: Level-2 BLAS . . . . . . . . . . . 8
1.6 Matrix-Matrix Operations: Level-3 BLAS . . . . . . . . . . . 11
1.6.1 Matrix Multiplication Using GAXPYs . . . . . . . . . 12
1.6.2 Matrix Multiplication Using Scalar Products . . . . . 13
1.6.3 Matrix Multiplication Using External Products . . . . 13
1.6.4 Block Multiplications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
1.6.5 An Efficient Data Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
1.7 Sparse Matrices: Storage and Associated Operations . . . . . 15
1.8 Exercises . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
1.9 Computer Project: Strassen Algorithm . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

2 Basic Concepts for Matrix Computations 27

2.1 Vector Norms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
2.2 Complements on Square Matrices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
2.2.1 Definition of Important Square Matrices . . . . . . . . 29
2.2.2 Use of Orthonormal Bases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
2.2.3 Gram-Schmidt Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
2.2.4 Determinants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
2.2.5 Eigenvalue-Eigenvector and Characteristic Polynomial 34
2.2.6 Schur’s Decomposition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
2.2.7 Orthogonal Decomposition of Symmetric Real and
Complex Hermitian Matrices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

vii
viii Contents

2.2.7.1 A Real and Symmetric: A = AT . . . . . . . 39

2.2.7.2 A Complex Hermitian: A = A∗ . . . . . . . . 40
2.2.8 Symmetric Positive Definite and Positive Semi-Definite
Matrices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
2.3 Rectangular Matrices: Ranks and Singular Values . . . . . . 42
2.3.1 Singular Values of a Matrix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
2.3.2 Singular Value Decomposition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
2.4 Matrix Norms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
2.5 Exercises . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
2.6 Computer Exercises . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

3 Gauss Elimination and LU Decompositions of Matrices 57

3.1 Special Matrices for LU Decomposition . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
3.1.1 Triangular Matrices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
3.1.2 Permutation Matrices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
3.2 Gauss Transforms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
3.2.1 Preliminaries for Gauss Transforms . . . . . . . . . . . 60
3.2.2 Definition of Gauss Transforms . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
3.3 Naive LU Decomposition for a Square Matrix with Principal
Minor Property (pmp) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
3.3.1 Algorithm and Operations Count . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
3.3.2 LDLT1 Decomposition of a Matrix Having the Principal
Minor Property (pmp) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
3.3.3 The Case of Symmetric and Positive Definite Matrices:
Cholesky Decomposition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
3.3.4 Diagonally Dominant Matrices . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
3.4 P LU Decompositions with Partial Pivoting Strategy . . . . 69
3.4.1 Unscaled Partial Pivoting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
3.4.2 Scaled Partial Pivoting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
3.4.3 Solving a System Ax = b Using the LU Decomposition 72
3.5 MATLAB Commands Related to the LU Decomposition . . . . 73
3.6 Condition Number of a Square Matrix . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
3.7 Exercises . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
3.8 Computer Exercises . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77

4 Orthogonal Factorizations and Linear Least Squares

Problems 79
4.1 Formulation of Least Squares Problems: Regression Analysis 79
4.1.1 Least Squares and Regression Analysis . . . . . . . . . 79
4.1.2 Matrix Formulation of Regression Problems . . . . . . 80
4.2 Existence of Solutions Using Quadratic Forms . . . . . . . . 80
4.2.1 Full Rank Cases: Application to Regression Analysis . 82
4.3 Existence of Solutions through Matrix Pseudo-Inverse . . . . 83
4.3.1 Obtaining Matrix Pseudo-Inverse through Singular
Value Decomposition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
 Contents ix

4.4 The QR Factorization Theorem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87

4.4.1 Householder Transforms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
4.4.2 Steps of the QR Decomposition of a Matrix . . . . . . 91
4.4.3 Particularizing When m > n . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
4.4.4 Givens Rotations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
4.5 Gram-Schmidt Orthogonalization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
4.6 Least Squares Problem and QR Decomposition . . . . . . . . 98
4.7 Householder QR with Column Pivoting . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
4.8 MATLAB Implementations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
4.8.1 Use of the Backslash Operator . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
4.8.2 QR Decompositions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
4.9 Exercises . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
4.10 Computer Exercises . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102

5 Algorithms for the Eigenvalue Problem 105

5.1 Basic Principles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
5.1.1 Why Compute the Eigenvalues of a Square Matrix? . 105
5.1.2 Spectral Decomposition of a Matrix . . . . . . . . . . 107
5.1.3 The Power Method and its By-Products . . . . . . . . 112
5.2 QR Method for a Non-Symmetric Matrix . . . . . . . . . . . 115
5.2.1 Reduction to an Upper Hessenberg Matrix . . . . . . 115
5.2.2 QR Algorithm for an Upper Hessenberg Matrix . . . . 117
5.2.3 Convergence of the QR Method . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
5.3 Algorithms for Symmetric Matrices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
5.3.1 Reduction to a Tridiagonal Matrix . . . . . . . . . . . 121
5.3.2 Algorithms for Tridiagonal Symmetric Matrices . . . . 122
5.4 Methods for Large Size Matrices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
5.4.1 Rayleigh-Ritz Projection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
5.4.2 Arnoldi Procedure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
5.4.3 The Arnoldi Method for Computing Eigenvalues of a
Large Matrix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
5.4.4 Arnoldi Method for Computing an Eigenpair . . . . . 130
5.4.5 Symmetric Case: Lanczos Algorithm . . . . . . . . . . 131
5.5 Singular Value Decomposition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
5.5.1 Full SVD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
5.5.2 Singular Triplets for Large Matrices . . . . . . . . . . 136
5.6 Exercises . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
5.7 Computer Exercises . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141

6 Iterative Methods for Systems of Linear Equations 149

6.1 Stationary Methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
6.1.1 Splitting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
6.1.2 Classical Stationary Methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
6.2 Krylov Methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
6.2.1 Krylov Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
x Contents

6.2.2 Subspace Condition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153

6.2.3 Minimization Property for spd Matrices . . . . . . . . 154
6.2.4 Minimization Property for General Matrices . . . . . . 155
6.3 Method of Steepest Descent for spd Matrices . . . . . . . . . 156
6.3.1 Convergence Properties of the Steepest Descent Method 157
6.3.2 Preconditioned Steepest Descent Algorithm . . . . . . 157
6.4 Conjugate Gradient Method (CG) for spd Matrices . . . . . 158
6.4.1 Krylov Basis Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
6.4.2 CG Algorithm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
6.4.3 Convergence of CG . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162
6.4.4 Preconditioned Conjugate Gradient . . . . . . . . . . 163
6.4.5 Memory and CPU Requirements in PCG . . . . . . . 164
6.4.6 Relation with the Lanczos Method . . . . . . . . . . . 164
6.4.7 Case of Symmetric Indefinite Systems: SYMMLQ
Method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
6.5 The Generalized Minimal Residual Method . . . . . . . . . . 165
6.5.1 Krylov Basis Computation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166
6.5.2 GMRES Algorithm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166
6.5.3 Convergence of GMRES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
6.5.4 Preconditioned GMRES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168
6.5.5 Restarted GMRES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
6.5.6 MINRES Algorithm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
6.6 The Bi-Conjugate Gradient Method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
6.6.1 Orthogonality Properties in BiCG . . . . . . . . . . . 170
6.6.2 BiCG Algorithm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172
6.6.3 Convergence of BiCG . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172
6.6.4 Breakdowns and Near-Breakdowns in BiCG . . . . . . 173
6.6.5 Complexity of BiCG and Variants of BiCG . . . . . . 173
6.6.6 Preconditioned BiCG . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
6.7 Preconditioning Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174
6.8 Exercises . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175

7 Sparse Systems to Solve Poisson Differential Equations 177

7.1 Poisson Differential Equations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177
7.2 The Path to Poisson Solvers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
7.3 Finite Differences for Poisson-Dirichlet Problems . . . . . . . 179
7.3.1 One-Dimensional Dirichlet-Poisson . . . . . . . . . . . 180
7.3.2 Two-Dimensional Poisson-Dirichlet on a Rectangle . . 187
7.3.3 Complexity for Direct Methods: Zero-Fill Phenomenon 192
7.4 Variational Formulations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195
7.4.1 Integration by Parts and Green’s Formula . . . . . . . 195
7.4.2 Variational Formulation to One-Dimensional Poisson
Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197
7.4.3 Variational Formulations to Two-Dimensional Poisson
Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198
 Contents xi

7.4.4 Petrov-Galerkin Approximations . . . . . . . . . . . . 200

7.5 One-Dimensional Finite-Element Discretizations . . . . . . . 201
7.5.1 The P1 Finite-Element Spaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202
7.5.2 Finite-Element Approximation Using S1 (Π) . . . . . . 203
7.5.3 Implementation of the Method . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205
7.5.4 One-Dimensional P2 Finite-Elements . . . . . . . . . . 211
7.6 Exercises . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214
7.7 Computer Exercises . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215

Bibliography 227

Index 233
Preface

This work results from two decades of common academic experience shared by
the authors in teaching, between 1996 and 2003, introductory and advanced
material in computational linear algebra and its application to numerical so-
lutions of partial and ordinary differential equations. During that period, the
authors worked as a team in a Master’s program on “Mathematical Modeling
and Numerical Simulation” managed jointly in Beirut by French, Swiss and
Lebanese universities. Since 2003, that common experience has continued and
is still pursued through multiple French-Lebanese collaborations in various
research projects, teaching missions and co-tutoring of Master’s and PhD the-
ses.
The core of the book is adapted to a course on Numerical Linear Algebra
offered yearly in the American University of Beirut to senior undergraduate
students in Mathematics, Applied Mathematics and Engineering. Additional
applications are also included. These are usually given to first-year graduate
students in Engineering and Computational Science.
The main learning objectives of the book stand as follows:
1. In Chapter 1, the reader is exposed to BLAS operations of types 1, 2 and
3. These are particularly adapted to a scientific computer environment
such as MATLABr version 7. Please note that:
MATLAB is a registered trademark of The MathWorks, Inc.
For product information, please contact:
The MathWorks, Inc.
3 Apple Hill Drive
Natick, MA 01760-20098 USA
Tel: 508-647-7000
Fax: 508-647-7001
E-mail: info@mathworks.com
Web: www.mathworks.com
2. Chapter 2 presents the basic mathematical tools needed in Numeri-
cal Linear Algebra: ranks, determinants, eigenvalues, vector and matrix
norms, orthogonal matrices, Gram-Schmidt process, Schurs Decomposi-
tion and Singular Value Decomposition (SVD).
3. Chapter 3 gives the classical material on Gauss decompositions followed
by LU and Choleskys factorizations of matrices. Additionally, it provides

xiii
xiv Preface

the use of condition numbers for evaluating the effect of finite precision
arithmetic when solving directly a system of linear equations Ax = b.
4. Chapter 4 illustrates the use of Householder transforms in obtaining
the QR orthogonal factorization of a rectangular matrix that leads to
finding its pseudo-inverse. This is followed by applications to least square
solutions of rectangular systems and statistical regression analysis.
5. Chapter 5 is a detailed numerical treatment of the algebraic eigenvalue
problem, starting with the power method and followed by the QR and
Householder-Givens algorithms. Several applications are given as exer-
cises, in particular examples from population dynamics and “Google”
matrices.
6. Chapter 6 discusses at length (indirect) iterative methods to solve a
system of linear equations Ax = b. It exposes stationary methods based
on matrix splitting (Jacobi, Gauss-Seidel, SOR, SSOR) as well as Krylov
spaces methods (steepest descent, Conjugate Gradient, GMRES and Bi-
Conjugate Gradient). The determinant role of preconditioners is also
exhibited.
7. Finally, Chapter 7 illustrates practices on solving discretized sparse sys-
tems of linear equations AU = F , obtained using either finite differ-
ences or finite elements when approximating the solutions of ordinary
and partial differential equations. It provides a complete treatment of
the problem from generating nodes and elements, computing local coef-
ficients and “assembling” the sparse linear system. Various solvers are
then implemented and compared in a number of computer projects.
The core material can be easily achieved in one-semester by covering:
• Sections 1.1 to 1.6 of Chapter 1.
• Chapter 2, without necessarily “insisting” on the proof of Shur’s decom-
position theorem.
• All of Chapter 3.
• Sections 4.1, 4.2, 4.4.1, 4.4.2, 4.5, 4.6 and 4.8 of Chapter 4.
• Sections 5.1.3, 5.2, 5.3 and 5.5 of Chapter 5.
• Sections 6.1, 6.2, 6.3 and 6.4 of Chapter 6.
The selection of additional topics, particularly that of applications, is left to
the course instructor, particularly that regarding Sections 1.7 and 1.9 (sparse
matrices and Strassen algorithm), Sections 4.11, 5.7 and 5.8, and selected ma-
terial from Chapter 7 on sparse systems resulting from finite differences and
finite element discretizations of ordinary and partial differential equations.
Throughout the book, special attention is given to algorithms’ implementa-
tion using MATLAB’s syntax. As a matter of fact, each of the numerical meth-
ods explained in any of the seven chapters is directly expressed either using a
 Preface xv

pseudo-code or a detailed MATLAB program.

Exercises and Computer Projects

Each chapter ends with a large number of exercises. Throughout the seven
chapters, several computer projects are proposed. These aim at testing the
student’s understanding of both the mathematics of numerical methods and
the art of computer programming.
Nabil Nassif, Jocelyne Erhel and Bernard Philippe
About the Authors

Nabil Nassif received a Diplôme d’Ingénieur from the Ecole Centrale de Paris
and earned a Master’s degree in Applied Mathematics from Harvard Univer-
sity, followed by a PhD under the supervision of Professor Garrett Birkhoff.
Since his graduation, Dr. Nassif has been affiliated with the Mathematics
Department at the American University of Beirut, where he teaches and con-
ducts research in the areas of mathematical modeling, numerical analysis and
scientific computing. Professor Nassif has authored or co-authored about 50
publications in refereed journals and directed 12 PhD theses with an equal
number of Master’s theses. During his career, Professor Nassif has also held
several regular and visiting teaching positions in France, Switzerland, the U.S.
and Sweden.

Jocelyne Erhel is Senior Research Scientist and scientific leader of the Sage
team at INRIA, in Rennes, France. She received her PhD from the University
of Paris in 1982 and her Habilitation at the University of Rennes in 1992. She
has been working for many years on parallel numerical algorithms. Her main
subjects of interest are sparse linear algebra and high performance scientific
computing applied to geophysics, mainly groundwater models. She coordi-
nated and participated in several national and international grants and she
published more than 90 papers.

Bernard Philippe was Senior Research Scientist at INRIA in Rennes,

France, up until 2014 when he retired. After a 9-year period of teaching math-
ematics in secondary schools in Algeria and in France, he received his PhD
at the University of Rennes in 1983 and his Habilitation at the University of
Rennes in 1989. He has been working for many years on parallel numerical
algorithms. His main subject of interest is matrix computing with a special
emphasis on eigenvalue problems for large size matrices. He coordinated and
participated in several national and international grants and published more
than 60 papers. For three years he has also been Scientific Manager for the
areas of Africa and the Middle East in the International Relations department
of INRIA.

xvii
List of Figures

1.1 Typical two-dimensional storage of a banded matrix . . . . 16

2.1 A Gram-Schmidt process transforming {u1 , u2 } into {v1 , v2 } 32

5.1 Approximating eigenvalues by Ritz values . . . . . . . . . . 129

5.2 The graph of a set of 8 web pages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
5.3 A graph for a network of 8 web pages . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146
5.4 A graph for a network of 6 web pages . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146

7.1 Non-zero fill: profiles of an spd matrix (left) and Cholesky’s

factor (right) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194
7.2 Layout for one-dimensional finite-element . . . . . . . . . . 205
7.3 One-dimensional elements for P2 elements . . . . . . . . . . 211

xix
List of Tables

1.1 Mathematical notations versus MATLAB notations. . . . . . . 4

1.2 Basic vector-vector operations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
1.3 Complexities in flops and memory references (Level-1 BLAS). 6
1.4 Basic matrix-vector operations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
1.5 Complexities in flops end memory references (Level-2 BLAS). 10
1.6 Complexities in flops end memory references (Level-3 BLAS). 11

2.1 MATLAB notations for some square matrices. . . . . . . . . . 29

7.1 One-dimensional Nodes structure. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181

7.2 Storage of MATLAB sparse matrices. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182
7.3 Matrix coefficients for one-dimensional finite difference. . . . 184
7.4 Two-dimensional Nodes structure. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
7.5 One-dimensional finite element Nodes structure. . . . . . . . 206
7.6 One-dimensional Elements structure for finite element. . . . 206
7.7 Edited one-dimensional Elements structure for finite element. 206
7.8 A complete one-dimensional Elements structure for finite el-
ement. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208
7.9 Local coefficients storage prior to using the sparse command. 211

xxi
List of Algorithms

1.1 GAXPY Implementation Using Saxpy . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

1.2 GAXPY Implementation Using Scalar Product . . . . . . . . 10
1.3 Matrix Product Implementation Using GAXPY . . . . . . . . 12
1.4 Sparse GAXPY Implementation Using Scalar Products . . . . 18
1.5 Sparse Matrix Multiplication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
1.6 Strassen’s Algorithm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
2.1 Gram-Schmidt Orthogonalization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
2.2 A Classical Gram-Schmidt Orthogonalization Process . . . . 53
2.3 Implementation of Schur’s Decomposition . . . . . . . . . . . 54
2.4 Singular Value Decomposition Using MATLAB Commands . . . 55
3.1 LU Decomposition for A with Principal Minor Property . . . 65
3.2 Unscaled Partial Pivoting LU Decomposition . . . . . . . . . 71
3.3 Optimal Storage Algorithm for Scaled Partial Pivoting . . . . 72
3.4 A Direct Cholesky’s Decomposition for an spd Matrix . . . . 77
3.5 Algorithm for the Inverse of a Square pmp Matrix . . . . . . 78
4.1 General Procedure for Gram-Schmidt Projections . . . . . . . 95
4.2 CGS: Classical Gram-Schmidt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
4.3 MGS: Modified Gram-Schmidt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
4.4 BGS: Block Gram-Schmidt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
4.5 B2GS: Safe Block Gram-Schmidt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
5.1 Algorithm of the Power Method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
5.2 Algorithm of the Inverse Iteration Method . . . . . . . . . . . 113
5.3 Algorithm for the Rayleigh Quotient Iteration . . . . . . . . . 114
5.4 Arnoldi Procedure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
5.5 Arnoldi Method for Computing the Dominant Eigenpair . . . 130
5.6 Lanczos Procedure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
5.7 The Power Method to Find the PageRank of a Network . . . 147
6.1 Relaxation Iterative Method (0 < ω < 2) . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
6.2 Algorithm of Steepest Descent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156
6.3 Preconditioned Steepest Descent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
6.4 Conjugate Gradient Algorithm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162
6.5 GMRES Algorithm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
6.6 Bi-Conjugate Gradient Algorithm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172
6.7 Preconditioned Bi-Conjugate Gradient Algorithm . . . . . . . 174
7.1 Generating a One-Dimensional Nodes Structure . . . . . . . . 181
7.2 Matrix Coefficients for One-Dimensional Finite Difference . . 183

xxiii
xxiv List of Algorithms

7.3 Sparse Matrix for One-Dimensional Finite Difference . . . . . 184

7.4 Generating a Two-Dimensional Nodes Structure . . . . . . . . 190
7.5 Sparse Finite Difference Two-Dimensional Poisson Matrix . . 192
7.6 Algorithm for Generating Local Data of Elements . . . . . . . 210
 Another Random Document on
Scribd Without Any Related Topics
away at their weakening lines that Lee’s plans to unite his forces
with Gen. Johnston’s were foiled. Phil Sheridan, aided by Gens.
Custer, Crook and Merritt, was just the right man for the job, and his
unceasing ardor and energy kept things humming and was what
contributed largely to the success of the campaign. The only blot on
his escutcheon was his ungenerous treatment of Gen. Warren, after
Five Forks, which caused Warren’s removal from his command, and
the life of one of the bravest and most accomplished officers of the
Army of the Potomac was embittered and he died a few years after
the war of a broken heart.
His old comrades, although admiring Sheridan’s splendid qualities,
could never quite forgive his treatment of so gallant an officer and
gentleman.
The pursuit of Lee was resumed on the 3d. Gen. Sheridan with his
cavalry and the 5th corps moved westerly, keeping near the
Appomattox river, where they could keep in touch with Lee’s army.
Gen. Meade with the 2d and 6th corps followed Sheridan with the
same object in view. Gen. Ord, with the 24th corps, Gen. Birney’s
colored troops and the 9th corps were to move parallel with the
South Side railroad.
No fighting of importance occurred for two or three days after Five
Forks, but we did some right smart marching.
The evening of April 5, we were preparing to go into camp for the
night when the sound of artillery put us in motion again, and we
raced it until midnight. The morning of the 6th, Gen. Meade
concluded that Lee’s troops had been slipping around to his left
during the night; so he sent the 6th corps out on the Painesville road
and we of the 2d by the Deatonville pike.
Couriers had brought word that the enemy was moving in two
columns, one under the command of Gen. James Longstreet, and
the other under Gen. John B. Gordon.
Recently, when the death of the two above-named generals occurred
so closely together, it seemed almost a suggestion of fatality that
these two great leaders who fought all through the war and were
Lee’s two arms in the last desperate effort for the “Lost Cause”
should have outlived all of the other great generals of the
confederacy and then crossed over the river shoulder to shoulder, as
it were, to rejoin Lee, Jackson and other beloved comrades.

THE SAILOR’S CREEK FIGHT.

After going four or five miles, the morning of the 6th, we came out
on a ridge, in a clearing, and in the distance could be seen a long
column of rebs, moving in almost an opposite direction.
Our division had the right of line, so we could see them very clearly.
The boys began to throw their caps in the air and let off a few yells,
when word was passed along the line to keep quiet and we obliqued
to one side and got out of sight behind the crest of the ridge.
Gen. Miles ordered up some batteries, and they taking position in
our front, unlimbered and opened fire on the “Johnnies,” who were
crossing a large open field, and there was a column of about a mile
long to be seen.
My blood runs quicker as the memory of that day comes back to me
with its thrilling incidents.
I see the artillery galloping into position and I recall the excitement
when the first shots were fired and we watched the shells as they
dropped among the confederates.
The artillerymen got the range the first time, and there was some
right smart “gittin’ away” to the woods, which were in every
direction, and the way those greybacks broke for a shelter was a
caution, and our men couldn’t help but give them a cheer.
It was understood that Lee had issued orders to all of the division
and corps commanders to do as little fighting as possible. The
program seemed to be to get away, but when they were cornered
they fought with the desperation of men who are being hunted
down.

A RUNNING FIGHT.
Our troops got orders to “go for ’em,” and it was a running fight until
night, the race extending over fifteen miles of country.
They were anxious to save some wagon trains that had supplies for
Lee’s army. All day they fought on the defensive, holding the Union
forces off long enough for the trains to get out of the way, and then
they would limber up their artillery and go flying to the rear and take
up a new position a mile or two away, the infantry holding us off
until the batteries were in position, when the troops would take
shelter under their guns. When we pressed them too close the
artillerymen would give our men grape and cannister, and then yield
to the infantry.
Our artillery failed to do much execution that day because the
Johnnies would not stand and take it.
The country was swampy and occasionally a wagon would get stuck
in the mud and they would have to abandon it.
At one time, when our division was close upon the enemy, we
descended a hill that led to a little stream, and on the other side was
an elevation where the Rebs had gotten a battery into position.
Our regiment was in the first line of battle, and when the battery
commenced firing we had got so far down the hill that the
artillerymen could not depress their guns enough to reach us; but
the reserve line that was on higher ground suffered severely.
The creek where we struck it was fringed with a vine that formed a
perfect network. The vines were tough and would not break, and
there was no way to crawl under or go over; so the men cut through
with jack knives.
It happened that the rest of the brigade did not encounter the
obstruction and were ready to advance when our regiment was
tangled up in the vines. Being in the center the delay was noticed.
Finally a staff officer, one of those slick fellows with red sash, riding
gauntlets and plenty of gold braid, rode down on the opposite bank
and called out, “What in h—ll is the matter with the 2d New York,
and where is the commanding officer?”
Col. Hulser (he was then a major) looked up from under an old
slouch hat, the rest of his uniform being no better than the privates,
and paid his respects to that dude of an officer in language that was
highly tinctured with brimstone. The regiment formed in line on the
south bank exposed to a fierce artillery fire, and the boys noticed
that the dandy officer from the general’s staff ducked his head low
on his horse’s neck quite frequently, while the old major, who was
always ill at ease on dress parades and reviews, sat his horse, amid
the screeching shells like a bronze figure.
When Hulser had gotten his regiment lined up to suit him he said to
the officer, “In ten minutes the 2d New York will capture that rebel
battery unless they limber up and get out of our way.” Drawing his
sword he gave the command, “Forward, guide center, double-quick,”
and away went the men with a rush, for everyone probably felt that
they would like to show the officious staff officer that they were no
cowards. But when the Johnnies saw that glistening line of bayonets
moving down on them they pulled up and ran away.
The enemy had another battery in position about a half a mile away,
and they did some rapid firing for the “Lost Cause;” but some of our
troops got after them on the flank and they pulled up and ran again.
A comrade has told me that he saw a man killed by a shell that day
and the shell did not touch him. It passed close to his head and the
concussion killed him instantly.
The troops in our front were Gen. Gordon’s and about 4 o’clock they
made a determined stand, as our troops were pressing them so
closely they were in danger of losing their train of supplies.
Our regiment was in some second growth pine woods and the rebels
behind a rail fence on the other edge of the woods, and through the
trees the moving wagons could be seen.
The order came to “charge,” and Gen. Miles’ old first division went
for the enemy with a rush and some cavalry on the flank went after
that train.
The fighting was general and things became badly mixed up. The
teamsters lashed their horses and tried to get away, but many cut
the traces and abandoned their loads.
The Confederates tried to hold the opposite side of the train and
used the wagons as a shelter, and the combatants banged at each
other through the wagons.

PAT CAPTURES A GUN.

A comrade of my regiment who was in the immediate ranks that day,
says:
“Where we struck the train a rebel brass cannon was stuck in the
mud. Two rebs were on one side of it tugging away at a wheel trying
to turn it on our lines. Two of our regiment grabbed the other wheel
and tried to turn it the other way, but it was so firmly imbedded in
the mud that neither side could budge it. The blue and the gray
glared at each other and finally Pat Devereaux of the 2d heavy,
spoke out, “Say Johnnie, lave your hands off that gun, I tell ye!” and
the reb retorted as follows: ‘Go soak your head, Pat. I wouldn’t dirty
my hands with you, I’ll get my nigger to attend to your case.’ Just
then Pat grabbed the rammer to the gun and went for the Johnnie in
true Irish style, saying as he brought the rammer down upon his
enemy: ‘I can whip the bist man in your measly gang. You’re nothing
but a dirty lazy lot of slave drivers. Out of this, I say!’ and the
Johnnie went, leaving Pat the victor. And that is how Private
Devereaux of the 2d helped take one of the four cannon captured by
the 2d corps that day.”
In these days if such an act of heroism were performed, it would be
heralded all over the continent, but such occurrences were too
common in those exciting times, besides each regimental
commander did not have two or three war correspondents at his
elbows for the purpose of writing up his achievements.
The operations of our corps that day are summarized by Gen.
Humphreys as follows: Captures of the corps, 13 battleflags, 4
cannon, 1,700 prisoners. Killed and wounded of the 1st and 2d
divisions (the 3d division not reported), 311.
Gen. Mott was among the wounded. The enemy’s killed and
wounded largely exceeded our own and the loss of the wagon train
must have caused much suffering among the Confederates.
In addition to the battleflags, cannon and prisoners, our brigade
captured over 200 supply wagons.

DIXIE TO THE LAST.

Among the prisoners captured that day was a rebel brass band, and
they were allowed to retain their instruments. As the column of
confederates were marched along the roadside, which was lined on
either side by the Union forces, they were headed by the band,
playing their national air of Dixie.
The scene was an impressive one. They were prisoners of war,
bleeding from wounds, faint and famished, ragged and nearly
barefoot and their last hope gone, but as the familiar strains of the
music floated back over the line their faces brightened, their steps
quickened and they marched as they had marched many a time
behind their beloved leader, Gen. Lee.
Our men had too much respect for these brave men to jeer at them.
The brave invariably respect the brave, and as the soldiers of the
“Lost Cause” passed the veterans of the second corps all were silent
and respectful, except for an occasional burst of applause which
manifested itself by the clapping of hands.
It was very evident to the most pessimistic that the confederacy was
on its last legs and that night when our boys were carrying rails to
build breastworks, Billy Cook, the first sergeant of our company, who
had gone all through the war without a scratch, made the remark
that the “jig was about up with the Johnnies,” and the next day Bill
fell pierced by a rebel bullet in the last fighting of the war.

HEAPS OF PLUNDER.
That night the boys had a great time going through the captured
wagons. There was a “heap” of plunder in them. A paymaster’s trunk
with upwards of $400,000 Confederate money was found and it was
divided up among the men. One man secured Gen. Mahone’s grip
with his commission as major general and other papers and dressed
himself up in the coat, sash, etc., that had been worn by the
distinguished Confederate. One of our boys secured a five-gallon jug
of rebel commissary, and he and a comrade stuck a musket barrel
through the handle and slinging it over their shoulders marched
around among the exhausted soldiers and told them to “fall in for
rations.” If anybody ever needed a little whiskey it was that very
time and it was amusing to see them take their turns at the jug. No
one was allowed to take any away, and in order to draw a ration the
jug must be pushed up from the bottom and the nozzle tipped
downward while a “swig” was taken.
The men reveled in broiled ham, beef, bacon, onions, pickles,
toasted hardtack, and other luxuries that were found in the wagons.

LITTLE GRAY.
There was pity mingled with our rejoicing that night for in many of
the captured wagons were wounded Confederates. Poor fellows!
Many of them lay with wounds several days old, the bandages dried
up and dirty, some too weak to raise their heads, hungry and thirsty
and needing so much nourishment and attention that we could not
give them. It is at such a time that one is brought face to face with
war without any of its gold plating.
My sympathies were stirred as they had never been before as a little
boy, scarcely 16 years old, was lifted out of a wagon. A handsome
boy, notwithstanding his face was bronzed and dirty, and his cheeks
sunken. He had beautiful dark, expressive eyes and looked up so
appealingly into our faces as my comrade and I bent over him and
asked what we could do for him. He, too, was a drummer boy and
had been wounded two or three days before. We got our surgeon
and had his wound dressed and gave him stimulants and a little
food, but he was very weak, “all marched out,” he said, and was
afraid that he would not see his old Carolina home again. We bathed
his face and hands with cool water and his lips quivered and tears
coursed down his cheeks as he faintly whispered of his widowed
mother.
We, too, were “marched out” and had to lie down and have rest but
before leaving “Little Gray,” as we called him, two boys knelt by his
side and repeated the Lord’s prayer that had been learned at a
mother’s knees. In the morning the little confederate from the
Palmetto state was dead, and we buried him on the field with his
comrades.
’Twas war—real genuine war.
 THE LAST BATTLE.
It is understood that Lee’s chief officers held a meeting the night of
the 6th and counseled him to surrender, but he had not abandoned
all hope and the next morning the rebel army began again the
desperate race for life. They crossed the Appomattox river at High
Bridge and set fire to the same to prevent pursuit. But the 2d corps
were so close after them that our men reached one end of the
bridge as the rebels were leaving the other.
Gen. Mahone’s troops contested the passage for a time, but Gen.
Miles ordered a battery into position and after a vigorous shelling the
rebels let go of their end and our troops crossed over and pushed on
after the enemy.
Lee’s army was now on what may be termed a neck of land formed
by the James and Appomattox rivers.
The Army of the James had come up and were pressing them on
one side, the Army of the Potomac on the other, while Sheridan and
his cavalry had gone around south to try and close the outlet.
As soon as our corps got across the river the pursuit of Lee
continued out along the old Appomattox stage road.
About one o’clock in the afternoon, the First and Third Division came
up with the enemy near the Appomattox stage road, where they had
gone into position to oppose our advance. Poague’s Battery opened
upon us, and made things lively for just as we passed an open field
the shells began to fly through the woods in our front, and as we
approached the edge of the woods the skirmishers opened upon the
head of the old First Brigade.
Just at this moment orders came directing us into line on the left of
the road, and before we had completed the movement a battery
galloped into position in the rear of the Second New York, and Bang
—bang—bang—whiz—hum—buzz—boom—boom—boom—crack—
whir—crash, whang—while the old Second responded with a cheer
and its facetious cry “lay down!”
The 61st New York and 26th Michigan were immediately deployed as
skirmishers and advanced into the woods driving the Johnnies before
them over a little ridge of ground. Our line of battle, the 2d New
York in the center, the 5th New Hampshire and 81st Pennsylvania on
our left and the 183d and 140th Pennsylvania on our right advanced
close up to the ridge while the skirmishers were pushed well up
against the enemy to develop the position.
It was soon learned that all that was left of Lee’s army was in our
front well intrenched and provided with plenty of artillery.
Gen. Meade had sent word for the 6th and 24th corps who were
near Farmville, to cross the river and attack Lee from that side with
a view of crushing his army. Lee had, however, destroyed the
bridges, the Appomattox was too deep to ford, the pontoon trains
had not got up, consequently the two corps mentioned were unable
to render the Second any assistance, else it is more than likely that
Appomattox would not have become famous in history.
While waiting for assistance the Second corps did considerable
maneuvering. About 5 o’clock firing was heard in the direction of
Farmville which Gen. Humphreys assumed was the 6th corps. He
immediately contracted his left line and pushed out on the right
intending to flank the enemy if possible.
The execution of the movement left our division face to face with
Gen. Mahone’s and Gen. Anderson’s troops who were formed in
close column supported by Poague’s ten gun battery, who were in a
position that enabled them to give us (as the boys used to express
it), h—ll with grape and cannister trimmings thrown in.
Our regiment came to a halt in a dense growth of small pines and
waited for orders. Some of the officers went out in the edge of the
woods to look around and as they came back Capt. Mike Foy danced
a little jig as he said: “Boys there’s another wagon train for us over
behind the rebel lines.” Poor, brave Foy, who had fought his way up
from the ranks, little realized that he and scores of others would go
down in less than fifteen minutes.
Our brigade had the right of line and were the first to advance
across an open rolling field in full view of the enemy. The troops
came to a halt in a little ravine and the bugles sounded “Fix
bayonets!” Then an advance was made and when about 50 rods
from the enemy the bugles sang out “Forward—double quick,
charge!”
The cheers of our men were answered by the rebel yell, the real old
genuine “Ki, yi, yi, yi!” that all veterans remember so well. Then a
tongue of flame leaped from all along their intrenchments, and all
other sounds were drowned with the roar of cannon, the crash of
musketry and the whizzing and screeching of grape and cannister.
Some of the troops reached the enemy’s works in the face of
tremendous odds and fought to the death. But they were
unsupported by other troops as well as artillery, consequently they
had to retreat. The 5th New Hampshire had all of their color guards
killed after reaching the rebel intrenchments and lost their colors,
but they were recovered by the 81st Pennsylvania.
History makes but little mention of the battle of Farmville, as events
of greater importance followed so closely, but the participants know
that troops never fought more valiantly than did Lee’s soldiers in
their last effort when they repulsed the assault of the veterans of the
2d corps.
 CHAPTER XVI.

AN ACT OF HEROISM.
Sergt. Robert Cline of our company, who carried the New York State
colors after saving the flag, found that a comrade had been left
wounded near the enemy’s intrenchments and he heroically faced
about and amidst the whistling bullets went up near the rebel works,
found his friend and brought him into the lines across his shoulder.
This little incident is only one of thousands illustrating what one
comrade would do for another.
The casualties of our regiment in this affair were: Six killed, 67
wounded and 74 missing, and some of the other troops’ losses were
greater.
It has always seemed very sad to me to think of the many brave
men who gave up their lives with the surrender of Lee in sight.
Among the officers killed on our side was the brave Irishman, Gen.
Thomas A. Smyth, who had long been one of Gen. Hancock’s gallant
officers.
Those who were taken prisoners were recaptured two days later at
Appomattox, and a sorry looking lot they were. Every thing of value
and much of their clothing had been taken from them and they had
been hustled about pretty severely. Their rations had been
appropriated by their hungry captors, and they fasted till they got
back into their lines.
Comrade Albert V. Rogers, a member of my company, who was a
prisoner the last two days of the struggle, says, that all the Rebs.
gave him to eat was some corn he stole from a mule. Rogers was at
this time suffering from a gunshot wound in his leg.
 GRANT’S FIRST LETTER TO LEE.
This letter was sent through the lines of the 2d corps that evening
while we were in contact with the enemy, the troops being but a few
hundred yards apart. There was a truce of one hour and inside of
that time Lee’s reply came back.
During the night the enemy abandoned the works in front of our
corps and at 5 the next morning the bugles of the 2d corps again
sounded “Forward,” and Gen. Humphreys, our commander, was
instructed that any negotiations pending were not to interfere with
the operations of his corps.
Early in the forenoon, Gen. Grant’s second letter was brought to
Gen. Humphreys by Gen. Seth Williams, Grant’s adjutant general,
and it was sent through the lines of Gen. Fitzhugh Lee’s cavalry, who
were on the rear of the confederate columns.
We continued the pursuit all day, covering a distance of over 20
miles, and about dusk, as we had halted for a rest, a rebel officer
brought Lee’s reply to Gen. Humphreys, who sent it by a courier to
Gen. Meade, then several miles in the rear.
The next morning Grant’s third letter to Lee was sent through the
skirmish line of the 2d corps, and all this time Gen. Humphreys,
mindful of his instructions, kept advancing and pushing back the thin
line of wearied confederates, which called out a protest from Gen.
Lee, who sent an officer twice during the forenoon requesting a halt.
Gen. Humphreys sent back word that his orders were such that he
could not comply.
Gen. Longstreet’s corps was scarcely 100 yards from our skirmish
line and Gen. Humphreys issued orders for an advance upon them.
Artillery was being placed in position. The commanders of the
contending forces were watching the movements on either side,
couriers and staff officers were riding to and fro, and just about the
time the ball was about to open Gen. Meade appeared at the front
and after issuing orders to suspend operations sent a messenger to
Lee granting a truce of an hour, pending the negotiations for the
surrender.

LEE UNDER AN APPLE TREE.

The officers who delivered Grant’s last note found the confederate
chieftain stretched out on a blanket under an apple tree near
Appomattox court house. The famous tree was removed, bit by bit,
and for a long time the writer carried a piece of it as well as a
splinter from the floor where young Ellsworth fell in the Marshall
house at Alexandria, Va. It is understood that a tablet marks the
spot where the tree once stood that shaded the vanquished leader.
The officers mounted their horses and rode to the court house,
where, meeting a Mr. McLean, Gen. Lee told him that they desired
the use of a room in some house, and Mr. McLean invited the party
to his home. Later the party was joined by Gen. Grant and other
distinguished generals from both sides.
The two great leaders exchanged reminiscences of their service
under Gen. Scott in Mexico, after which the formalities of the
surrender were gone through with. When Gen. Lee had signed his
name to the terms of surrender it is said that with tears in his eyes
he whispered in Gen. Grant’s ear “General, my poor men are
starving,” and Grant, like the great modest man and soldier that he
was, motioned to his side the general of subsistence of the army of
the Potomac and quietly told him to “issue, immediately rations to
the army of Northern Virginia.”
Gen. Lee rode back to his troops to tell them what he had done and
the next day issued his farewell orders.
The parting of Lee with his soldiers at Appomattox was most
pathetic. Tears were streaming from his eyes as they crowded
around him begging for a last word and to touch his hand. When he
could control himself enough to speak, he said, between sobs, “Men,
we have fought through the war together. I have done the best that
I could for you.” It is said there was not a dry eye among those who
witnessed the sad leave-taking.

GRANT’S GENEROSITY TO HIS FOES.

Gen. Grant’s greatness never shone to better advantage than in the
generous terms accorded his conquered foes, and his modesty and
consideration for the feelings of the confederate soldiers was such
that he never paraded himself among them during the preparations
for the formal surrender.
When the surrender was announced the Union soldiers, shouted,
hurrahed, danced and manifested their joy in all sorts of boyish
pranks, but it soon passed off, and as they beheld the ragged,
starved, wearied and sad-eyed veterans who had followed Lee into
the last ditch their joy was turned to pity and sorrow and the blue
divided with the gray their rations and they drank coffee from the
same tin cups and water from the same canteens!
When the papers were all signed and paroles given the confederates
and the Union forces formed in line and faced each other. The
veterans of Lee advanced until there was but a few yards of space
between the lines.
“Halt! right dress! front!” was the command from their officers.
The Union forces presented arms, the vanquished returned the
salute like men and soldiers, stacked their guns, unbuckled their
battle-scarred equipments, furled their tattered flags and laid them
tenderly across their stacks of muskets, wiped the tears that many
of them shed on their coat sleeves and went their way to take up life
anew, but never to bear arms against our glorious Union.
 STACK ARMS.
“Stack Arms!” In faltering accents slow
And sad, it creeps from tongue to tongue,
A broken, murmuring wail of woe,
From manly hearts by anguish wrung,
Like victims of a midnight dream!
We move, we know not how or why!
For life and hope like phantoms seem,
And it would be relief—to die!
 CHAPTER XVII.

RETRACING THE STEPS.

The armies of Grant and Sherman turned their backs on the South
and took up their line of march for Washington, where they had
been ordered to report for a general review and muster out. We
passed through Richmond and retraced our steps over much of the
same ground that had been fought over the previous year, and all
along the route were reminders of the terrible struggles between the
two great armies.
Earthworks that had swarmed with soldiers were now deserted.
Everywhere there were bleaching bones of horses and men; grinning
skulls, disabled artillery caissons, rusty sabres, bayonets, gun-
barrels, canteens, haversacks, weather-stained clothing and mounds
of earth that marked the resting places of many whose army record
was closed with the single word “missing.”
We were a jolly lot, however, realizing that our battles, hardships
and marches were about over.

A COURTEOUS ENEMY.
One day on our return march, when the troops had halted for rest,
my comrade suggested that we make a reconnaissance and see if
we could not find a little something in the eating line to vary the
monotony of coffee, hardtack and “salt hoss.” Back from the
roadside we espied a comfortable looking house and we made a
“bee line” for it.
In the doorway stood a woman who returned our salutation of “good
afternoon, madame,” with “Go right away from here, Yanks, you’ve
killed my boy, Tom, and I don’t want to ever look on a blue coat
again.”
We expressed sympathy and assured her our mission was a peaceful
and honorable one, we wanted something to eat and had good
money to pay for it. At this point in the conversation a fine looking
man came to the door. He was dressed in a faded butternut colored
uniform and on the collar of his coat we noticed the insignia of a
Confederate colonel. He gave us a military salute and said: “Come
right up here on the veranda, men,” and turning to the woman said:
“These soldiers are not responsible for our Tom’s death; ’twas the
fo’tunes of wah, and my deah wife, you must remember that all
ovah the nawth mothers are weeping for their boys that are sleepin’
under Virginia sod. These are some of the 2d corps boys, that
divided their rations with the 2d corps C. S. A. at Appomattox. These
are some of Gen. Hancock’s men that treated me so chivalrously at
Gettysburg.”
“You see, boys,” he continued, “our Tom was a sergeant in my
company when we went into that fight, and was mortally wounded
that day in the wheatfield.
“When our line fell back I couldn’t go away and leave my poor boy
with his life fast ebbing out, so I jes’ stayed and holding his head on
my knee listened to his last message for his mother and then laid
him away under the sod, and of cose was yo’ah prisoner. But no
southern bo’n man ever performed a more knightly act than did one
of yo’ah generals that night when he sent me back to our lines
under a flag of truce.
“We are comin’ out of this war poor, and if you’ll excuse the
expression, d—d poor, but as long as I’ve got a scrap I’ll share it
with a man with a red clover leaf on his cap.”
As the colonel told his story tears coursed their way down his
bronzed cheeks, and the two boys, whose emotional natures were
not easily stirred had great, big lumps in their throats. For the first
time in many months we sat down at a table to eat a meal. If there
was scanty fare there was abundance of genuine hospitality of a
warmth that is so characteristic of the southern people.
When we took our leave the colonel called black Joe and told him to
“tote” our luggage “down the pike,” and on the way we suggested to
the darkey that now he was free we presumed he would be leaving
the old place and perhaps enlist in some colored regiment and wear
fine clothes with brass buttons and other fixings. “No, suh, boss,
spec I allus stay right yere. I lak Massa Lincum soldier mens, and
I’se much ’bleeged to ’em, but I lak my ole massa an’ missus a heap
bettah. An’ den when Marse Tom went to de wah—Tom an’ I useter
run roun’ bare-foot when we’s little—I promis him I allus stay with
his mammy an’ as Tom can nevah come back any mo’ I reckon I’se
boun’ to stay yere.”
At another house we met a sharp-tongue woman who said:
“Yo’uns could nevah have whipped Bob Lee if he’d had half as many
men as yo’uns. We’uns could outfight and outmarch you bluebellied
Yanks every time.”
She informed us that she had lost two sons by the war and that her
husband was then in a southern hospital laid up with his third
wound, and her eyes snapped as she said she wished she could
have given a dozen boys to the “cause.” We admired the grit of this
Spartan like mother and regretted in our hearts that the war had
borne down with such crushing weight on the gentle sex of the
South.

THE BLOODY ANGLE AT SPOTTSYLVANIA.

One night our brigade went into camp near Spottsylvania court
house, and in the vicinity of the “bloody angle” where the hardest
fighting of the war occurred. Here 11 months before the 2d corps
made a charge more desperate than that of the “light brigade,” the
percentage of killed being more than double that in the battle made
famous by Tennyson. Here the rebel infantry were massed in double
lines with the artillery supporting them in redans. Hancock’s veterans
charged them in open field and were victorious, capturing about
4,000 prisoners, 20 pieces of artillery, thousands of small arms, 30
stands of colors with Gens. Johnson and George H. Stuart among
the prisoners.
It was here that the celebrated tree was found that was completely
severed by bullets. Gen. Miles, who had been a brigade commander
at the “angle” and who was then our division general, caused the
stump to be dug up and conveyed to Washington where it was
exhibited at the grand review and was afterwards placed in the war
department. The tree measured about 20 inches through.
The armies reached Washington about the middle of May, and in
most cases the organizations were allowed to pitch tents on their old
camping grounds. It was almost like getting back home again. The
only sad feature was to think of the many who had been with us
there before who had since answered the last roll call.
 CHAPTER XVIII.

THE GRAND REVIEW.

The assembling of the armies at Washington was for the purpose of
marching them in review through the nation’s capital before
mustering them out of service.
As Grant’s and Sherman’s troops numbered too many for a one day
review, the former were given precedence and May 23 was fixed as
the day.
We left our camps in Virginia at an early hour and crossed over the
long bridge into that part of the city east of the capitol where the
troops were massed ready to move when the hour should arrive.
The signal gun was fired at 9 a. m., and the victorious hosts took up
their line of march down the avenue, past the reviewing stand at the
White House, thence to Georgetown and back to Virginia by the
Aqueduct bridge.
The city was thronged with patriotic people from all over the
country, many coming a thousand miles or more to see a father,
brother, son or lover in the ranks of that mighty army that was so
soon to vanish away.
The 2d corps did not pass the reviewing stand until afternoon and as
we swung into Pennsylvania avenue a most grand and inspiring sight
met our eyes. Every house top, balcony, window, tree and telegraph
pole were black with people, and the street was a seething mass of
humanity. Through the center, like a silvery stream coursing its way
through a landscape, was a mile of glistening bayonets, waving flags
and prancing steeds who had smelled the smoke of many battles.
Everybody was thrilled with the sight, and as we marched down the
avenue the music of the bands was drowned by the huzzahs of the
throngs. Whenever a tattered battleflag appeared ladies rushed
forward and strewed flowers before the standard bearers and loaded
them and the color guards with wreaths and bouquets. Even the
drummer boys came in for a share, and I felt then, as I do now, that
it was a grand thing to have earned the right in whatever modest
rank, to march with 100,000 veterans with the scars, smoke and
dust of scores of battles upon them.
It took nearly all day for the Army of the Potomac to pass the
reviewing stand which was filled with many of the prominent people
of the country.
An incident of the review was the running away of Gen. Custer’s
horse, which became unmanageable in the parade and ran past the
reviewing stand with the dashing general in the saddle and his red
neck tie streaming out over his shoulders. After the steed was
subdued the general rode back to the reviewing stand and saluted
the dignitaries and was heartily cheered. Every soldier who marched
in that parade was impressed with the wording of a motto that was
stretched across the front of the United States treasury. It read, as
near as I remember:
“The only debt we can never pay is the one we owe our brave
soldiers and sailors.”

SHERMAN’S ARMY.
Sherman and his veterans were reviewed the following day and the
enthusiasm of the preceding day was repeated. The writer was a
spectator and noted a marked difference in the appearance of the
two armies. The Army of the Potomac had been “slicked up” a little
for the occasion, and their marching was much better. Gen. Sherman
expressed contempt for a paper collar on a soldier and the
multitudes saw Sherman’s army go through Washington just as they
had marched to the sea.
“Sherman’s Bummers” were an amusing feature with their trophies
gathered along the march through Georgia and the Carolinas,
consisting of mules, donkeys, oxen, cows hitched to plantation carts,
and negro contrabands of all sizes and ages arrayed in costumes,
quaint and ridiculous.
Immediately after the review the work of disbandment of the armies
began and every day troops were sent north and the sword was laid
aside for the plowshare.

SECOND REVIEW OF THE GRAND ARMY.

I read last night of a Grand Review
In Washington’s chiefest avenue—
Two hundred thousand men in blue,
I think they said was the number—
Till I seemed to hear their tramping feet
The bugle blast and the drum’s quick beat,
The clatter of hoofs in the stoney street,
The cheers of the people who came to greet,
And the thousand details that to repeat
Would only my verse encumber,—
Till I fell in a revery, sad and sweet,
And then to a fitful slumber.

When, lo! in a vision I seemed to stand

In the lonely capitol. On each hand
Far stretched the portico; dim and grand,
Its columns ranged, like a martial band
Of sheeted spectres whom some command
Had called to a last reviewing.
And the streets of the city were white and bare,
No footfall echoed across the square;
But out of the misty midnight air
I heard in the distance a trumpet blare,
And the wandering night winds seemed to bear
The sound of a far tattooing.

Then I held my breath with fear and dread;

For into the square with a brazen tread,
There rode a figure whose stately head
O’erlooked the review that morning,
That never bowed from its firm-set seat
When the living column passed its feet,
Yet now rode steadily up the street
To the phantom bugle’s warning.

Till it reached the capitol square and wheeled

And there in the moonlight stood revealed
A well known form that in state and field
Had led our patriot sires;
Whose face was turned to the sleeping camp,
Afar through the river’s fog and damp,
That showed no flicker, nor waning lamp,
Nor wasted bivouac fires.

And I saw a phantom army come,

With never a sound of fife or drum,
But keeping time to a throbbing hum
Of wailing and lamentation;
The martyred heroes of Malvern Hill,
Of Gettysburg and Chancellorsville,
The men whose wasted figures fill
The patriot graves of the nation.

And there came the nameless dead—the men

Who perished in fever-swamp and fen,
The slowly-starved of the prison-pen;
 And marching beside the others,
Came the dusky martyrs of Pillow’s fight,
With limbs enfranchised and bearing bright;
I thought, perhaps ’twas the pale moonlight—
They looked as white as their brothers!

And so all night marched the Nation’s dead,

With never a banner above them spread,
Nor a badge, nor a motto brandished;
No mark—save the bare uncovered head
Of the silent bronze Reviewer;
With never an arch save the vaulted sky;
With never a flower save those that lie
On the distant graves—for love could buy
No gift that was purer or truer.

So all night long swept the strange array;

So all night long, till the morning gray,
I watched for one who had passed away,
With a reverent awe and wonder,
Till a blue cap waved in the lengthening line,
And I knew that one who was kin of mine
Had come; And I spake—and lo! that sign
Awakened me from my slumber.
—Bret Harte.
 CHAPTER XIX.

WHEN JOHNNIE COMES MARCHING

HOME.
After the grand review, our regiment was ordered back into the forts
again around Arlington.
It was not until October, 1865, that we marched down Pennsylvania
avenue for the last time to take the cars for home. Our regiment had
gone to the front 18 months before, 1500 strong and
notwithstanding the fact that the 9th New York had been
consolidated with us we were going home with but 500 men.
At the Baltimore & Ohio railroad depot, in Washington, a pathetic
incident occurred. A dozen or more of the regiment who were yet in
the hospitals came down to see us off. Among them were three or
four one-legged men and as many minus an arm. What must have
been the feelings of these men who had to be left behind, maimed
and crippled for life?
Our regiment being principally from New York City we were sent
there for disbandment and were quartered in some barracks at the
battery for a couple of days.
One afternoon we marched up Broadway as far as the City Hall,
where we were reviewed by the governor of the state and the mayor
of New York.
The city had sent us a new stand of colors the year before and we
were returning them, battle-scarred and tattered. My blood runs
quicker as I recall the enthusiastic reception we received that
afternoon from the crowds that lined Broadway.
Here and there was a group of veterans who had preceded us home.
The old 63d, 69th and 88th New York regiments—Thomas Francis
Meagher’s Irish brigade, with whom we had served in Hancock’s
corps—and when any of these boys recognized us they went wild.
There are two characteristics about an Irishman that I like. He is
never lacking in enthusiasm or bravery.
After the review the regiment was ordered to proceed to Hart’s
Island, where it was to be paid off and disbanded. We went by boat,
and an amusing episode occurred as the regiment was marching
aboard.
Big Ed. ——— of the band, who played one of those old-fashioned
big brass horns reaching back over his shoulder about three feet,
and which could be heard to the foot of the line of a brigade, had
been out with the boys seeing the sights, and it is possible may have
been a little unsteady of foot. At any rate, he took two or three steps
backward when he marched on the boat, and in doing so missed the
gang plank and dropped into the cool waters of the bay. He came up
clinging to his horn and called lustily for help. The colonel and a
couple of deck hands succeeded in landing him, horn and all.
The last man was finally aboard. The gang plank had been hauled
in. The boatmen were casting off the big heavy ropes that held us to
the dock, when a voice from shore shouted “Hold there!” The voice
was that of a big, burly policeman. Behind him was a woman holding
by one hand a boy of about 5 years of age, his curly golden locks
floating out from under a little blue soldier cap. On the other side
was a sweet-faced little girl.
“What’s wanted?” yelled the captain from the upper deck.
“Is Sergt. Thomas Burke on board?” replied the big policeman.
“Blast my eyes if I know,” retorted the captain “And I’ve no time to
find out, either. You can settle your little business with him some
other day,” probably thinking the sergeant had been out on a lark.
Burke’s comrades had found him in the meantime and he came to
the side of the boat, and as he caught sight of the party, he said
with a voice choked with emotion.
“Kate!”
“Oh, Tom!” responded Kate.
“Let me off the boat!” shouted Tom.
“Too late,” replied the captain.
The big wheels of the steamer were churning the water when our
colonel, who had been attracted by the loud talking, appeared and
asked what was the matter.
Burke, tall, straight and every inch a soldier, but pale and thin from
the effects of a wound received in the last fighting, saluted his
superior and said:
“’Tis my wife and children, colonel, that I have not seen in almost
three years.”
“Tie up your boat again, captain,” said the colonel.
The captain ripped and tore and mentioned between oaths that he
wasn’t taking orders from any army officers “not even Gen. Grant
himself.”
Col. Hulser was furious and pulling his revolver he commanded the
captain to reverse the engines and run out a gang plank.
The captain muttered between his teeth, touched the engineer’s bell
and the gang plank again bridged the space between boat and dock.
Sergt. Burke walked off, clasped his wife to his breast in a
passionate embrace, then took a child on each arm, turned and
faced his comrades, who had, sympathetically, been looking on, and
they sent shoreward a mighty cheer.
“Bring your wife and little ones aboard!” shouted the colonel.
They came and went with us to Hart’s Island.
Mrs. Burke explained to the colonel that they had come from
Tarrytown, or some other town up the Hudson, because “Little Mac”
(named after Gen. George B. McClellan) had begged so hard to
come and see his papa with the soldiers he had fought and marched
with.
Mrs. Burke, Little Mac, and the sweet little blue-eyed sister saw the
last dress parade of the 2d Heavy, and Sergt. Thomas Burke stood in
line with his comrades.
It was certainly a grand privilege to go all through a great war and
be permitted to come home with one’s own comrades. To be present
at the last roll call. To hear the clatter of the bayonets as the battle-
scarred muskets are stacked for the last time. To see the furling of
the tattered colors that one has followed for four years. To hear the
last command of the officers, the last tattoo and the final “taps.”
There never was such another bugler in the whole army of the
Potomac as our little Gracey. Small of stature, gentle by nature, but
a marvel with his trumpet. I have told in a former chapter how at
Cold Harbor, after sounding the charge for Gen. Hancock’s troops, he
sat down by a tree and wept like a child when he saw the lines of
mangled, bleeding men returning.
Gracey was at our last dress parade at Hart’s Island, New York, and
after the parade the guns were stacked for the last time, and then
Gracey sounded “taps” or “lights out” as it was always called in the
army. The call is one of the sweetest, yet saddest of all the army
calls and on this occasion our old bugler seemed to breathe his very
soul into his trumpet, for the tears were trickling down his cheeks
while strong, bronzed men who had walked up to the cannon’s
mouth on many a famous battlefield were not without emotion as
they broke the ranks for the last time and bade farewell to their old
comrades.
My father and I got out of the old stage coach at Carthage two days
later, and as we alighted he remarked that it was just four years to a
day since he had left for the war, and I found that my services
figured up over three years and a half.
 CHAPTER XX.

SCATTERING REMINISCENCES.

A COMRADE’S LOVE.
James Tabor and Dennis Garrity were about the last two soldiers
that would have been taken for chums. Garrity was a great thick-
chested Irishman with brawny arms and a roistering sort of manner
who had served through the Crimean war and knew more of tactics
in the first year of the Civil war than half of our officers.
Tabor was scarce more than a boy, a slender, palefaced youth, mild
of manner and gentle of speech as a girl.
Tabor’s mother had given him a little pocket Bible when she kissed
him good-bye, and, unmindful of the jeers of his comrades, he read
it every evening and knelt and offered up a silent prayer before
wrapping himself in his blanket.
When the first death occurred in our camp we had no chaplain.
Tabor was called upon to read the burial service and make a prayer.
After that some of the boys tried to tease him by calling him
“parson.”

AN OLD-FASHIONED GARDEN.
Away up in York state there was an old-fashioned flower garden with
roses, hollyhocks, sweet-williams, larkspurs, marigolds, lady-slippers,
pansies, violets and other emblems of purity and the simple life. The
boy had loved that old garden, so when it came summer he had a
little reminder of it with a box of pansies by the side of his tent.
One day a soldier who had been drinking just enough of the sutler’s
beer to make him think he was smart came along, and as he passed
Tabor’s tent he gave the box a kick, upsetting it. Garrity saw the act,
and he took the smart chap by his coat collar and shook him as a
terrier would a rat.
A crowd gathered and then Garrity proceeded to read the riot act to
those assembled.
“Look a’here, my hearties,” said he, “I’m going to give you young
devils some advice, an’ you’ll be doin’ well to mind what I be sayin’. I
want you young blackguards to be very careful how you thrate this
lad hereafter. No more pokin’ fun at his religion, ’twould be better if
all of you had some of the same.
“I’m none too good meself an’ ought to be counting me beads
oftener than I do, but I likes fair play, and be that same token I’ll
see that James Tabor has it or me name is not Dennis.
“So now, me laddy bucks, if you don’t like what I’m sayin’ you can
put it in your pipes an’ smoke it.”
This little episode was the beginning of a strange and tender
attachment between Tabor and Garrity that lasted to the close of the
war. They tented together, slept under the same blanket and drank
from the same canteen—except when Garrity’s had some of Uncle
Sam’s commissary in it, for Dennis, like many an old campaigner,
liked a little whisky.
The boys called Tabor “Jim” or “Jimmie,” but it was always James
when Garrity spoke of him. When Tabor wanted his comrade it was:
“Have you seen Mr. Garrity?”

BIG INJUNS FROM ONONDAGA.

Among the recruits that came to our regiment in the winter of 1862
was a squad of 25 or 30 Indians from the Onondaga reservation.
Among them was a fairly good brass band. The officers had no
business to enlist them, and they were all discharged in a few
months.
They were with us one pay day, however, and managed to get some
firewater. Then they went on the war path and there was “blood on
the moon” and they indulged in war dances that were the real thing.
One “big Injun” was discovered crawling under the back of the
colonel’s tent. He was armed with a sabre bayonet which had been
sharpened for the express purpose of lifting the hair of that officer.
They dared all the white men to fight them, and, finally, a young
buck rubbed up against Garrity, who gave him a slap on the side of
his head that sent him spinning. This led to a challenge to fight and
the affair was arranged to take place in the fort late in the
afternoon.

GARRITY WAS STRENUOUS.

A ring was formed, and the men stripped to the waist and turned
their pants pockets inside out to show that they carried no concealed
weapons. Garrity whipped the Indian in less than two minutes. Then
another red man pulled his shirt over his head and strode up in front
of Garrity, who gave him his medicine in short order. Then another
wanted to try his hand and was given a chance and was quickly
vanquished.
Perhaps you will think me yarning, but it is the truth that our Dennis
whipped four strapping Onondagas and was ready for more when
his little guardian angel slid into the ring, and, taking Garrity by the
arm, led him away as though he had been a child.
It was a wonderful influence this little boy had over his great, strong
comrade.
Garrity loved a strenuous life and wanted something doing all the
time if it was nothing more than tossing the colonel’s darkey up in a
blanket or tipping over the cart of a pie peddler.
He could play cards behind the breastworks with the shells
screeching over his head or joke a comrade on the firing line.
In this connection I am reminded of an incident at the opening of
the second Bull Run battle. The regiment was in line of battle nearly
two hours in the morning without firing a shot. The artillery on both
sides were pounding away at each other, and the strain on the men’s
nerves was something intense. A certain lieutenant who had
incurred the dislike of his men by his pompousness in camp duties
thought that before going into battle he would make peace with the
boys, so he walked along in front of the company and said: “Now,
my men, we are about to meet the enemy for the first time and it is
more than likely that some of us will never see the sun rise again. In
my position it has become my duty on various occasions to criticise
and reprove, but I hope you will understand that I meant it for your
good. I can assure you, that I have a warm place in my heart for
every one of you, and if any man in the ranks feels the least ill will
towards me I beg of him to put it away out of his heart as we stand
here facing our foes.
“I have a further request to make and that is, if I fall in this fight,
and it is possible for you to do so, that you will have my body
embalmed and sent home.”
There was not a response for a minute or two and then Garrity
spoke up: “The boys don’t mind forgivin’ you, leftenant, but if I may
be pardoned the observation, the facilities for embalming the dead
on a battlefield are devilish poor.”
That same lieutenant covered the distance between Bull Run bridge
and the outposts near Alexandria before taps were sounded that
night, and being a large man, he stripped for the race and those
who saw him at the finish claimed that a shirt, trousers and a pair of
Welcome to our website – the ideal destination for book lovers and
knowledge seekers. With a mission to inspire endlessly, we offer a
vast collection of books, ranging from classic literary works to
specialized publications, self-development books, and children's
literature. Each book is a new journey of discovery, expanding
knowledge and enriching the soul of the reade

Our website is not just a platform for buying books, but a bridge
connecting readers to the timeless values of culture and wisdom. With
an elegant, user-friendly interface and an intelligent search system,
we are committed to providing a quick and convenient shopping
experience. Additionally, our special promotions and home delivery
services ensure that you save time and fully enjoy the joy of reading.

Let us accompany you on the journey of exploring knowledge and

personal growth!

ebookname.com