I answered that I was the colonel of the Second Michigan cavalry, and had on my appropriate shoulder-straps.

He replied that I was a brigadier-general for the Booneville fight, July 1, and that I should wear the shoulder-straps of that grade.

I returned to my command and put it in camp; and as I had no reluctance to wearing the shoulder-straps of a brigadier-general, I was not long in procuring a pair, particularly as I was fortified next day by receiving from Washington official information of my appointment as a brigadier-general, to date from July 1, 1862, the day of the battle of Booneville..