WILLIAM BAB COCK HAZEN. 113 



volunteer army. During the war he distinguished himself on many 

 occasions, and his commission as major-general was granted him De- 

 cember 13, 1864, for " specific distinguished services " i. e., " for long 

 and continued services of the highest character, and for special gal- 

 lantry and service at Fort McAllister." This placed him fifth in a 

 list of twenty-four officers who had received commissions for distin- 

 guished service. 



He continued serving on the frontier territories, north and west, 

 and was especially active in Indian affairs until 1870, in which year 

 he was allowed leave of absence to visit the seat of war in Europe. 

 The results of his observations and studies during his six months' ab- 

 sence are embraced in a volume entitled " The School and the Army 

 in Germany and France, with a Diary of Siege-Life at Versailles," 

 New York, 1872. This volume contains a very interesting sketch of 

 Bismarck and Bismarck's own account of the state of affairs in Eu- 

 rope. It contains especially a fair criticism of the relative excellencies 

 of the German and French systems, both civil and military ; in a spe- 

 cial chapter on that subject, he incidentally brought out more promi- 

 nently some weak points in our own military organization. It would 

 seem that the courage displayed so brilliantly on the battle-field fre- 

 quently nerved him to utter not only these but other fearless criti- 

 cisms of things that were palpably wrong, and some of which have 

 since been corrected. 



He was married February 15, 1871, to Millie, daughter of the Hon. 

 Washington McLean, of Cincinnati, who with one son survives him. 



On his return from Europe in 1871, he returned to duty in the 

 Indian Territory, and was with his regiment in Kansas and Dakota, 

 except for a short absence, until December 15, 1880, when he was by 

 President Hayes appointed brigadier-general and chief signal-officer, 

 and since then has been stationed at Washington. The absence just 

 referred to was occasioned by his again visiting Europe as military 

 attachb to the United States legation at Vienna, for the purpose of 

 studying the operations of European armies during the Turco-Russian 

 war. He was absent on this service from December, 1876, to June, 

 1877, and the results of his observations were published subsequently 

 in a highly interesting popular volume. 



The general account of his activity during the war of the rebel- 

 lion was published by him in his " Narrative of Military Service," Bos- 

 ton, 1885. 



His letters and pamphlets on the " Bad Lands " show that for many 

 years General Hazen had been studying the relations of meteorology 

 and agriculture ; upon his appointment as chief signal-officer he be- 

 came indefatigable in his efforts to improve the military and depart- 

 mental relations of the Signal Service, its scientific character, its prac- 

 tical usefulness to farmers and herders, and its popular influence. His 

 labors in Washington stirred up most virulent opponents first, when 



VOL. XXXI. 8 



