He told me, in that event, he should appoint Lyon, and he did so.
Finding that even my best friends were uneasy as to my political status, on the 8th of May I addressed the following official letter to the Secretary of War: Office of the St.Louis Railroad Company, May 8,1881.
Hon.

S.Cameron, Secretary of War, Washington, D.C.
Dear Sir: I hold myself now, as always, prepared to serve my country in the capacity for which I was trained.

I did not and will not volunteer for three months, because I cannot throw my family on the cold charity of the world.

But for the three-years call, made by the President, an officer can prepare his command and do good service.
I will not volunteer as a soldier, because rightfully or wrongfully I feel unwilling to take a mere private's place, and, having for many years lived in California and Louisiana, the men are not well enough acquainted with me to elect me to my appropriate place.
Should my services be needed, the records of the War Department will enable you to designate the station in which I can render most service.
Yours truly, W.T.SHERMAN.
To this I do not think I received a direct answer; but, on the 10th of the same month, I was appointed colonel of the Thirteenth Regular Infantry.
I remember going to the arsenal on the 9th of May, taking my children with me in the street-cars.

Within the arsenal wall were drawn up in parallel lines four regiments of the "Home Guards," and I saw men distributing cartridges to the boxes.