Page:American Boy's Life of William McKinley.djvu/137

Rh sergeant, second and first lieutenants, captain, staff officer, and finally as major. He had but one furlough, and was never absent from duty on account of sickness. In his recommendation of McKinley, General Crook wrote: "I have the honor to earnestly recommend Captain William McKinley, Twenty-third Ohio Infantry, for appointment to a higher grade than his present rank for bravery, gallantry, soldierly conduct, and distinguished services during the campaigns of West Virginia and Shenandoah valley." And when General Sheridan forwarded the recommendation, he indorsed it as follows: "Respectfully forwarded to the adjutant-general of the army approved. The appointment recommended is well deserved." The recommendation then went to General Grant, who likewise approved it, and then it went to the President, with the result that McKinley left the army a major at the age of twenty-two.

From Cumberland the Twenty-third Ohio took the cars to Camp Taylor, near Cleveland. Here a most important affair took place, being nothing less than the final pay-