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GENERAL WM. T. SHERMAN.

:mih

AN

LIFE AND REMINISCENCES

OF

GENERAL WM. T. SHERMAN.

BY

DISTINGUISHED MEN OF HIS TIME.

EX-PRESIDENT HAYES, GEN. O. O. HOWARD, HON. GEO. W. CHTLDS.

GEN. HENRY SLOCUM, GEN. HORATIO C. KING, SENATOR

MANDERSON, HON. CHAUNCEY M. DEPEW. ADMIRAL

PORTER, GENERAL HORACE PORTER. SENATOR

HAWLEY, HON. THOMAS C. FLETCHER,

REV. T. DE WITT TALMAGE, D.D.

IIvLUSTRATEE).

BALTIMORE: y "^

R. H. WOODWARD COMPANY. ^
189I.

^^^^^

COPYRIGHTED, l39T
BY R. H. WOODWARD & CO.

la^dicatiotu

TO THE

SURVIVING SOI.DIERS

OF THE ARMIES OF GENERAI, SHI^MAN.

TO YOU IS DEDICATED THIS MEMORIAL VOLUME

OF YOUR HONORED AND MUCH-LOVED LEADER,

WILLIAM TECUMSEH SHERMAN,

THE SOLDIER, BRAVE, HONEST AND TRUE,

UNDER WHOM YOU FOUGHT SO NOBLY

AND WON SO GLORIOUSLY IN

THAT MEMORABLE

CONFLICT OF

1861-65.

CONTENTS

LIFE.

PAGE

His Life Before the War i

During the War 19

After the War . • • • 66

His Life in New York 78

His Humorous Side 95

His Last Sickness and Death no

The Funerai. 126

His Character 199

REMINISCENCES AND TRIBUTES.

By Horatio G. King 253

By George W. Childs 272

By Generai. O. O. Howard 287

By Mr. Hiram Hitchcock 295

By Admirai, Porter 301

By Generai, Horace Porter 303

By the Editors 320

ix

X

CONTENTS,

PAGE

By Hon. Chauncey M. Depew 323

By President Harrison 334

By Rev. T. DeWitt Tai^mage, D.D 336

By Coi^oneI/ George A. Knight 338

By Generai. Henry W. Si^ocum 346

By Senator Morgan 350

By Senator Hawi^ey 354

By Hon. Cari, Schurz 355

By Ex-President Hayes 356

By Hon. Chari^es F. Manderson 359

APPENDIX.

Oi,D Times in Cai^ifornia 375

Grant, Thomas, Lee 398

Our Army and Mii^itia 432

Camp-Fires oe the G. a. R 455

Response oe Generai, Sherman 468

Sherman on Longstreet . . . ' 476

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

Generai, Wm. T. Sherman, Age 70 Frontispiece

BaTTIvE of Shii^OH Facing page 24

Panoramic View of Chattanooga " " 42

Sherman's Army Leaving Ati^anta " " 38

Sherman's Army Destroying Raii^road and

Telegraph Wires ** " 36

The Advance Guard Before Savannah ... " " 92

Surrender of General Johnston " " 52

Johnston and His Generals • • • • " " 5^

The Grand Review in Washington, May 24TH,

1865 " " 66

Funeral Scene in New York " "128

General O. O. Howard " "288

Admiral Porter " "301

View of Richmond, Va " "324

General Henry W. Slocum c . . " "346

Old Libby Prison, Richmond, Va " "368

Confederate Capitol, Richmond, Va " " 398

xi

INTRODUCTION

"IT WHATEVER history preserves of what a man said
' ^ and what he did forms the basis of the opinion
that posterity gathers of him. History will carry to
coming generations the evidences of the military genius
of General Sherman and the far-reaching and great
breadth of his mind. His marches and battles and tri-
umphs and speeches and letters will do all this, but that is
not all that should be preserved to carry into coming time
a knowledge of what manner of man this patriot, hero,
brainy American was. I write of him of my personal
knowledge. He was capable of preserving the calmest
demeanor under circumstances provocative of the greatest
excitement ; his friendship, freely given to all whom he
thought deserving, was always intense. If he had dis-
likes he did not manifest or speak of them, unless in de-
fence of his self-respect. In all the years in which I was
honored with his familiar association, I do not recall an
instance of hearing him speak unkindly of any one, but
he always had a word of commendation for all who de-
served it. He never grumbled. He was eminently a just

xiii

xiv INTR OD UCTION,

man — liberal in all things, but would resent and resist
vigorously the smallest infringement on his rights as a
man, or any unjust exaction of him on the part of any
one, he cared not who. He never shirked or dodged
any responsibility, as witness the facts of the battle of
Chickasaw Bayou, 29th December, 1862.

Genl. Morgan reported to him that he had bridged the
bayou, whereas, in fact, he had only bridged a small
lateral bayou ; he reported to him that there was nothing
between our troops and the hills, when the bayou, wide
and deep, and an abattis almost impassable lay before
us. I reconnoitered the situation and reported it to Genl.
Blair, and Blair, in my presence, reported it to Morgan,
and yet Morgan assured Genl. Sherman that he would
be on the hills in ten minutes after the firing of the sig-
nal-guns for the charge, and misled him in every ma-
terial fact as to the situation. The disastrous charge
raised a howl against Genl. Sherman all along the line of
that great army of stay-at-home army critics, and yet the
brave and generous soldier wrote : " I assume all respon-
sibility and attach fault to no one;" and there it stands
on the official records of the Republic.

McClernand was sent to relieve him of his command
and brought him the first intelligence he had that Genl.
Grant had lost his base of supplies at Holly Springs, and
had to fall back, thereby being prevented from co-oper-
ating with him at Chickasaw Bayou, and allowing Pem-

INTRODUCTION. xv

berton to re-enforce Vicksburg. McClernand assumed
command, Sherman's army was divided into two corps,
he was given command of one and Morgan of the other.

Of all his army Genl. Sherman was the only man who
was not heard vigorously protesting against his treat-
ment; he never murmured, but went right on. He could
wait on slow-paced reason to demonstrate the truth by
the aid of time, and yet in war he seemed to act from the
inspirations of genius that waits not on anything.

In readiness of apprehension, quickness bf perception
of facts and conclusion as to course in an emergency and
rapidity of execution, he excelled anyofficersof his time.

Annuall}^, ever since the war, we have met with the
society of the Army of the Tennessee, meeting at all the
cities and principal towns of the great valley. He de-
lighted in our meetings; hundreds and thousands of the
old soldiers greeted him on all occasions ; for every one
he had a kind word of earnest inquiry, as to his present
condition in life, his family, etc. He was our president for
about twenty years. He dispatched the business of the
society promptly, rapidly and with little regard to parlia-
mentary law or rules ; he properly regarded formality of
proceedings as unnecessary, and went right at it and put
it through. He enjoyed our songs. "The Sword of
Bunker Hill " and " Old Shady" were two of his favor-
ites. He was a model toast-master, and his speeches,
preserved in the volumes of our proceedings, are remark-

xvi INTRODUCTION.

able for brevity, point and appropriateness. He had the
keenest appreciation of humor, and always encouraged
the class of speeches that drew forth the heartiest laugh.
He lived with us in St. Louis. I had the honor to ad-
minister to him the obligation of a comrade of the Grand
Army of the Republic. I shall never forget the expres-
sion of uncertainty or doubt which his face wore until I
reached that portion of it which pledged his honor as a
soldier to honor the Constitution of our country, obey its
laws, defend the Union and uphold the flag of our coun-
try as the emblem of liberty, equal rights and national
unity ; then he straightened himself to his full height
and his face lighted with a halo of patriotic fire, he vigor-
ously nodded his assent and repeated it in an emphatic
tone. We buried him there. The whole mass of people
there knew and loved him. The old soldiers took up
the line of march to follow him in death as they had
done in life. The old Confederate soldiers, too, fell
in and marched with the great procession ; a half million
of people, of every party, sect and nationality — men,
women and children — stood uncovered, and thousands
wept as the cortege moved to the cemetery, all moved
by a feeling not only that he was the greatest military
chieftain at his death in all the world, but because he was
esteemed by them as a kind-hearted, social, benevolent
friend, whom they had learned to love in their social
contact with him. Thos. C. Fletcher.

LIFE OF GEN. WM. T.SHERMAN.

CHAPTER I.

HIS LIFE BEFORE THE WAR.

V\7ILLIAM TECUMSEH SHERMAN was
born Feb. 8th, 1820, at Lancaster, Fairfield
County, Ohio. It is an interesting coincidence
that the two great Union soldiers who first suc-
cessively rose to the full rank of General were
born in the same State of Ohio, and that there
also Sheridan, the third and only other Union
soldier who reached that exalted grade, passed
all his boyhood from infancy, his home being only
a few miles distant from the birth-place of Sher-
man.

William's paternal ancestor, Samuel Sherman,
emigrated to America in 1635, only thirteen years
behind the *' Mayflower." He was a strict Puritan

2 LIFE OF GENERAL WM. T. SHERMAN.

and a man of a strong character. He settled at
first in Stratford, Conn., and afterward became
one of the original proprietors of Woodbury,
Conn.

Daniel Sherman, one of his descendants, be-
came a member of the Committee of Safety in
Connecticut during the War of the Revolution,
and served for sixty-five consecutive sessions, or
thirty-two and a half years, as the representative
of his native town in the General Assembly of
Connecticut. His son, Taylor Sherman, a lawyer
and afterward Judge, was the General's grand-
father. Charles R. Sherman, William's father,
took to the same profession, but went to Ohio to
practice it in 1810, making the little town of Lan-
caster his home. He was made Judge of the
Supreme Court in 1823, and died while on the
Bench in 1829 in Lebanon, leaving six sons, to
the two elder of whom fell the task of supporting
the mother and younger children.

In 1829, when William was but nine years old,
his father suddenly died, and the Hon. Thomas
Ewing, a leading member of the bar, residing in
Lancaster, who two years afterward represented

HIS LIFE BEFORE THE WAR. 3

Ohio in the United States Senate, adopted young
** Cump," as the bright-looking youngster is said
to have been then famiHarly known, and took care
that he should be well educated in the schools of
Lancaster until his sixteenth year. Then it was
not difficult for him to provide a cadetship at
West Point for his young charge. Entering the
Military Academy in 1836, Cadet Sherman was
graduated in 1840, sixth in his class; and that
class contained another very famous soldier,
George H. Thomas, besides Ewell, Getty and
others.

He beat General Grant in the race for scholar-
ship, especially in engineering, which was a favor-
ite study with him; but he always sighed and
frowned over an ill-concealed chuckle as he con-
fessed that he was not a Sunday-school cadet, for
he stood No. 1 24 in the relative standard for good
behavior, while Grant was near the foot as No.
149. But Sherman graduated No. 6 in his class,
in 1840, when the final distribution of honors was
made, while Grant three years later could not
beat No. 21. All of which shows that West Point
and War do not always make the same records.

4 LIFE OF GENERAL WM. T. SHERMAN,

Assigned to the Third Artillery as a Second
Lieutenant, he saw service in Florida, and his
promotion to be First Lieutenant came in
1 841. The following year his company was
stationed at Fort Morgan and soon after was
transferred to Fort Moultrie, in Charleston Har-
bor, where there was plenty of hospitable society,
with out-door amusements in hunting and fishing.
There the opening of the Mexican war in 1846
found him, in the company commanded by Cap-
tain Robert Anderson. He was first assigned to
recruiting duty at the North and finally to Com-
pany F of his regiment, then under orders for Cali-
fornia by way of Cape Horn. He reached Mon-
terey Bay early in January, 1847, after a voyage
of 198 days from New York. The description
of his impressions of California and of his exper-
ience there forms one of the most picturesque
and interesting portions of the General's mem-
oirs. He says:

" At that ticne Monterey was our headquarters.
Colonel Mason, First Dragoons was an officer of
great experience, of stern character, deemed by
some harsh and severe, but in all my intercourse

HIS LIFE BEFORE THE IVAR. 6

with him he was kind and agreeable. He had a
large fund of good sense, and during our long
period of service together I enjoyed his unlimited
confidence. He had been in his day a splendid
shot and hunter, and often entertained me with
characteristic anecdotes of Taylor, Twiggs, Worth,
Horner, Martin Scott, etc., etc., who were then
in Mexico gaining a national fame. California
had settled down to a condition of absolute re-
pose, and we naturally repined at fate, at our be-
ing so far away from the war in Mexico, in which
our comrades were reaping large honors. Mason
lived in a house not far from the Custom House.
I had a small adobe house. Halleck and Dr.
Murray had a small log house not far off."

" I spent much time in hunting deer and bear
in the mountains back of Carmell Mission, and
ducks and geese in the plains of Salinas. As
soon as the Fall rains set in, the young oats would
spring up, and myriads of ducks, brants and
geese made their appearance. In a single day I
could load a pack-mule with ducks and geese.

6 LIFE OF GENERAL WM. T. SHERMAN.

" The seasons are well marked in California.
About October and November the rains begin,
and the whole country is covered with bright
green grass, with endless flowers. The interval
between the rains gave the finest weather possi-
ble. The rains are less frequent in March, and
cease altogether in April and May, when gradually
the grass dies, and the whole aspect of things
changes, first yellow, then brown, and by mid-sum-
mer all is as dried up and burnt as an ash-heap.

"During the Fall of 1848, Warner, Ord and I
camped on the bank of the American River at the
breast of the fort, known as the * Old Tan Yard,'
I cleaned up the dishes, Warner looked after the
horses, Ord was scullion; but Ord was deposed as
scullion, because he would only wipe the tin plates
with the turf of grass, according to the custom of
the country, whereas Warner insisted on having
them washed after each meal with hot water.
Warner was in consequence promoted to scullion,
and Ord became hostler. We drew our rations
from Commissary at San Francisco, who sent them
up the river by boat, and we were enabled
to dispense generous hospitality to many a poor

HIS LIFE BEFORE THE WAR. 7

devil who otherwise would have had nothing
to eat.

" On the next day we crossed over the Santa
Cruz Mountains, from which we had a sublime
view of the scenery first looking east towards the
Lower Bay of San Francisco with the bright plain
of Santa Clara and San Jose, and then west to
the ocean, the town of Monterey being visible
sixty miles off. We beheld from its mountains
the firing of a salute from the battery of Monterey,
and counted the number of guns from the white
puffs of smoke, but could not hear the sound.
That night we slept on piles of wheat in a mill at
Saquel. We made an early start the next morn-
ing, as our rations had about given out. By nine
o'clock we reached a ranch. It was a high point
of the plateau, on which were foraging many horses
and cattle. The house was an adobe with a long
range of adobe huts occupied by semi-civil-
ized Indians, who at that time did all of the labor
of a ranch. Everything about the house looked
deserted, and seeing an Indian boy leaning against

8 LIFE OF GENERAL WM. T. SHERMAN,

a post I approached him, and asked in Spanish,

* Where is the Master?' 'Gone to Presidio'
(Monterey). ' Is anybody in the house ? ' * No.'

* Have you any meat?' * No.' *Any flour or
grain ? ' ' No.' * Any chickens ?' * No.' ' What
do you Hve on ? ' ' Nada ' (nothing). The utter
indifference of this boy, and the tone of his an-
swers attracted the attention of Colonel Mason,
who had been listening to our conversation, and
who knew enough of Spanish to catch the mean-
ing, and he exclaimed with some feeling, * So we
get nada for our breakfast.' I felt mortified, for I
had held out a prospect of a splendid breakfast
of meal, tortillas with rice, chicken, eggs, etc., at
the ranch of my friend, Jose Antonio, as a justifi-
cation for taking the Governor, a man of sixty
years of age, more than twenty miles, at a full
canter for his breakfast. But there was no help
for it, and we accordingly went a short distance to
a pond, where we unpacked our mules, and made a
slim breakfast on a hard piece of bread, and a bone
of pork that remained in our alforjas. This was
no uncommon thing in those days, when many
a ranchman, with his eleven leagues of land, his

HIS LIFE BEFORE THE WAR, 9

hundreds of horses and cattle, would receive us
with the grandiloquence of a Spanish lord, and
confess that he had nothing to eat except the car-
cass of the beef hung up, from which the stranger
might cut and cook without money or without
price.

" All the missions and houses at that period were
alive with fleas, which the natives looked on as
pleasant, titillators, but they so tortured me that
I always gave them a wide berth, and slept on a
saddle-blanket, with the saddle for a pillow and
the blanket for a cover.

"As the spring and summer, 1848, advanced,
the reports came faster and faster from the gold-
mines at Sutter's Mills. Stories were told us of
fabulous discoveries. Everybody was talking of
*gold! gold!!* until it assumed the character of
a fever. Some of our soldiers began to desert,
citizens were fitting out trains of wagons and pack-
mules to go to the mines. We heard of men
earning fifty, five hundred and one thousand dol-
lars a day, and for a time it seemed as if some

10 LIFE OF GENERAL WM. T. SHERMAN,

one would reach solid gold. I of course could
not escape the infection, and at last convinced
Colonel Mason that it was our duty to go up, and
see with our own eyes, that we might report to
our Government. As yet we had no regular mail
to any part of the United States, but mails had
come to us at long intervals around Cape Horn,
and one or two overland. I well remember the
first overland mail. It was brought by Kit Carson
in saddle-bags from Toas in New Mexico. We
heard of his arrival at Los Angeles and waited
patiently for his arrival at headquarters. His fame
was at its height, from publications of Fremont's
books, and I was very anxious to see a man who
had achieved such feats of daring among wild
animals of the Rocky Mountains, and still wilder
Indians of the plains. At last his arrival was re-
ported at the tavern at Monterey, and I hurried
to hunt him up. I cannot express my surprise at
beholding a small, stoop-shouldered man, with
reddish hair, freckled face, soft blue eyes, and
nothing to indicate extraordinary daring or cour-
age. He spoke but lltde and ansv/ered In mono-
syllables. I asked for his mail, and he picked up the

HIS LIFE BEFORE THE WAR. 11

saddle-bags containing the great overland mail,
and he walked to headquarters and delivered the
parcel into Colonel Mason's own hands. He told
us something of his personal history. He was
then by commission a lieutenant in the regiment
of Mountain Rifles serving in Mexico, and as he
could not reach his regiment from California,
Colonel Mason ordered that he be assigned for a
time to duty with A. J. Smith's company, First
Dragoons, Los Angeles. He remained several
months at Los Angeles, and was then sent back
to the United States with dispatches, traveling two
thousand miles alone in preference to being en-
cumbered by a large party."

In speaking of San Francisco, he says: "The
rains were heavy and the mud fearful. I have
seen mules stumble in the street and drown in
liquid mud. Montgomery Street had been filled
up with bushes and clay, and I always dreaded to
ride horseback, because the mud was so deep
that the horse's legs would become entangled
in the bushes below and the rider would likely
be thrown and be drowned in the mud. The
only sidewalks were made of stepping-stones of

12 LIFE OF GENERAL WM. T. SHERMAN.

empty boxes and here and there with a few
barrel staves nailed on. Gambling was the
chief occupation of the people. While they
were waiting for cessation of the rainy season,
all sorts of houses were put up, but of the most
flimsy kind. Any room twenty by sixty feet
would rent for one thousand dollars a month. I
had as my pay seventy dollars a month, and no
one would try to hire a servant under three
hundred dollars a month. Had it not been
for the fifteen hundred dollars that I had saved,
I could not have possibly lived through the
winter.*'

Sherman acted as Adjutant-General successively
to General S. W. Kearney, Colonel Mason and
General Persifer F. Smith. But while this tour of
duty gave the young lieutenant a novel and most
interesting experience and the brevet of captain,
it kept him out of the fighting in Mexico and
doubtless may have led to that withdrawal from
military to civil life which he soon afterward re-
solved upon.

In 1850 he returned from California with dis-
patches for the War Department, and after visiting

HIS LIFE BEFORE THE WAR. IS

his mother at Mansfield, in Ohio^ was married at
Washington, on the ist of May, to Miss Ellen
Boyle Ewing, daughter of the Hon. Thomas
Ewing, who was then Secretary of the Inte-
rior. He had been formally engaged for some
years, and, indeed, his correspondence with her,
which contains some of the most interestinor
details now known of his earlier life, had been
continued all through his career at West Point.
The marriage ceremony was attended by a very
distinguished assembly, including the President
and all his Cabinet. During the following Sep-
tember he was made a captain in the Commissary
Department and was ordered to take post at St.
Louis.

In the fall of 1853 Captain Sherman, seeing lit-
tle prospect of advancement In the army, and
having made business acquaintances In St. Louis,
resigned his commission so as to become manager
of a branch bank to be established by Lucas,
Turner & Co., of St. Louis, in San Francisco. In
the latter city, accordingly, his life for the three or
four years following was passed, and during that
period he had plenty of opportunity to witness the

14 LIFE OF GENERAL JVM. T. SHERMAN.

Operation of the Vigilance Committee. The unset-
tled state of business, however, eventually made it
expedient to close the branch bank, and this was
done on May i, 1857. Captain Sherman then pro-
ceeded with his family by way of the isthmus to New
York, where he again became a financial agent of
the St. Louis firm, which had changed its name to
James H. Lucas & Co. But this new arrange-
ment was still more speedily broken up by the
suspension of the St. Louis house. The settle-
ment of its affairs carried Sherman again to San
Francisco, and thence he returned to Lancaster,
the family home.

The question then arose, as General Sherman
put it with his accustomed frankness, " What was
I to do to support my family, consisting of a wife
and four children, all accustomed to more than
the average comforts of life ? " It happened that
two of Mr. Ewlng's sons had established them-
selves at Leavenworth, where they and their father
had bought a good deal of land, and where they
were practicing law. They offered to take him in
as a partner, and the law firm of Sherman &
Ewing was duly announced. It Is curious to note

HIS LIFE BEFORE THE WAR. 15

among the letters which he had written from Fort
Moultrie, fifteen years before, one which explains
that he had been devoting much time to reading
law, and that he had gone through all four volumes
of Blackstone, Starkie on Evidence, aiid other
books. "I have no idea," he had written, " of mak-
ing the law a profession, but as an officer of the
army it is my duty and interest to be prepared
for any situation that fortune or luck may offer.
It is for this alone that I prepare, and not for pro-
fessional practice." No doubt even this slender
acquaintance with the law was cherished by the
soldier under these later circumstances ; still, he
purposed to give his attention mainly to collections
and to such general business as his banking ex-
perience would justify. However, after taking in
still another partner, the firm became rather over-
grown for the amount of profitable business which
it could secure, and in 1859 Sherman wrote to
Major Don Carlos Buell, in the War Department,
to see if there was any way for him to re-enter
the military service as a paymaster or otherwise.
Major Buell sent him the programme of a State
military academy about to be organized at Alex-

16 LIFE OF GENERAL WM. T. SHERMAN.

andria, in Louisiana, and advised him to apply for
the place of superintendent. His appHcation was
at once made and was successful, although at that
time the Hon. John Sherman was a candidate for
Speaker in the House of Representatives at
Washington, and was regarded in some parts of
the South as an "abolition" candidate. The
academy was opened early in i860, but, practi-
cally, very little was done that year, while the
omens of the approaching civil war soon made it
doubtful whether the superintendent would ever
have much to do at all. In fact, with his accus-
tomed vigor and promptness he wrote this letter,
ow January 18, 186 1, to the Governor of the State :

"Sir: As I occupy a quasi-military position
under this State, I deem it proper to acquaint you
that I accepted such a position when Louisiana
was a State in the Union, and when the motto
of the seminary, inserted in marble over the
main door, was: *By the liberality of the General
Government of the United States: the Union —
Esto Perpetua!

'' Recent events foreshadow a great change, and

HIS LIFE BEFORE THE WAR, 17

it becomes all men to choose. If Louisiana
withdraws from the Federal Union, I prefer to
maintain my allegiance to the old Constitution as
long as a fragment of it survives, and my longer
stay here would be wrong in every sense of the
word. And, furthermore, as President of the
Board of Supervisors, I beg you to take im-
mediate steps to relieve me as Superintendent
the moment the State determines to secede, for
on no earthly account will I do any act or think
any thought hostile to or in defiance of the old
Government of the United States."

In accepting his resignation the Supervisors
thanked the Superintendent for his efficiency,
giving him also "assurances of our high per-
sonal regard," and the Academic Board also
passed a resolution declaring that "they can-
not fail to appreciate the manliness of character
which has always marked the actions of Colonel
Sherman," and that " he is personally endeared
to many of them as a friend."

On returning North, his old friends Major

Turner and Mr. Lucas secured for him the office
2

18 LIFE OF GENERAL WM, T. SHERMAN.

of President of the Fifth Street Railroad in
St. Louis at a salary of ^2500, and this he
accepted, beginning the discharge of his duties
April I, 1861. Five days later Montgomery Blair
offered him the chief clerkship of the War
Department, with a promise of making him
Assistant Secretary of War on the meeting of
Congress. But he declined, giving as a reason
that he had "accepted a place in this company,
have rented a house, and incurred other obli-
gations.'* He . added that he " wished the
administration all success in its almost impossible
task of governing this distracted and anarchical
people.'*

CHAPTER II.

DURING THE WAR.

O HERMAN, however, could not be happy from
the tap of the drum. About May i, 1861,
he signified to Secretary Cameron that he would
be glad to serve in the war, which had now been
made certain by bombardment of Fort Sumter,
and on the 14th of May, 1861, he was appointed
colonel of the Thirteenth Infantry.

The Secretary of War first received him coldly,
saying that he thought the ebullition of feeling
would soon subside. Even President Lincoln did
not then believe that the nation would be plunged
into Civil War.

"Humph!" said Sherman, in his blunt way,
"you might as well try to put out a fire with a
squirt gun as expect to put down this Rebellion
with three months' troops."

He refused to go to Ohio for the purpose of
raising three months' troops, declaring that the

19

20 LIFE OF GENERAL WM. T. SHERMAN.

whole military power of the country should be
called out at once to crush the Rebellion in its
incipiency. Well would it have been if his advice
had been taken. It was worthy of consideration,
for his residence in Louisiana had given him an
inkling- of the tremendous feeline in the South — a
feeling which the authorities at Washington did
not fully appreciate.

As stated, he was put in charge of the Third
Brigade of Tyler's division in McDowell's army,
which was at that time goaded into premature
action with the cry of " On to Richmond ! " His
brigade comprised the Thirteenth New York,
Colonel Ouimby; the Sixty-ninth, Colonel Cor-
coran, and the Seventy-ninth, Colonel Cameron,
and also the Second Wisconsin ; and to these
Ayres' Battery was joined. With this brigade
he took an active part in the battle of Bull Run,
and it is interesting to note in General Sherman's
report how some of the traits of this eminent
soldier were visible on his earliest field. *' Early
In the day," he says, " when reconnoitering the
ground, I had seen a horseman descend from the
bluff in our front, cross the stream, and show

DURING THE WAR, 21

himself in the open field on this side, and, infer-
ring that we could cross over at the same point,
I sent forward a company as skirmishers and
followed with the whole brigade, the New York
Sixty-ninth leading." Sherman's brigade in that
action reported iii killed, 205 wounded, and 293
missing.

For his soldierly qualities in this battle he was
promoted to the rank of brigadier-general ot
volunteers, and was ordered to join Anderson,
the hero of Sumter, who was in command of the
Department of the Ohio, with headquarters at
Louisville. General Anderson's ill health forced
him to resign, and Sherman succeeded to the
command.

During a visit of Secretary Cameron to the
West General Sherman astonished him by de-
claring that it would take 60,000 men to drive
the enemy out of Kentucky and 200,000 to finish
the war in that section. This declaration and
other evidences of prescience, coupled with his
nervous, energetic manner, actually caused the
report to spread that Sherman was crazy ; and
such a charge was made in some of the news-

22 LIFE OF GENERAL WM. T. SHERMAN.

papers. Viewed in the light of history, his esti-
mates are seen to have been anything but those
of an excited imagination. Many times 200,000
men were required for the Western campaigns.
But a very unfavorable impression had undoubt-
edly been created by this declaration of the needs
of the West. Soon afterward General Buell re-
lieved him from the command of the department,
and Sherman was put in charge of the camp of
instruction at St. Louis.

Grant, who still had his spurs to win, stood by
Sherman in this opinion, and the latter never for-
got it. One day, shortly after the occupation of
Savannah by Sherman, a prominent civilian ap-
proached him and sought to win favor by
disparaging Grant.

" It won't do, sir," said Sherman. " It won't do
at all. Grant is a great general. He stood by
me when I was crazy, and I stood by him when
he was drunk, and now, by thunder, sir, we stand
by each other ! "

Early in 1862 the movement in Tennessee be-
gan, which resulted in the surrender of Fort
Henry and Fort Donelson to General Grant, fol-

DURING THE WAR. 23

lowed by the advance of the Army of the Ten-
nessee toward Corinth. Sherman was assigned
to the command of a division in that army, and
the early days of April found him established at
Pittsburgh Landing, or rather a few miles dis-
tant, at Shiloh Church. While there the three
advance divisions of Grant's army, those of
Sherman, Prentiss and McClernand, were un-
expectedly attacked by the Confederate forces
under the command of Albert Sidney Johnston.
A great batde at once resulted — the greatest, up
to that date, ever known on this continent.
The leading divisions of Grant were pressed back
toward the others at Pittsburgh Landing. At that
point, however, the Union forces had artillery
in position, while reinforcements from Buell's
Army of the Ohio were coming upon the field.
The Confederate commander was mortally
wounded, and his successor had been unable to
drive the Union troops into the river when night
came. The next day the fortunes of the field
were reversed, and the two armies of Grant and
Buell, united under the former, drove the Con-
federates back toward Corinth. In this tre-

24 LIFE OF GENERAL WM. T. SHERMAN.

mendous battle, lasting two days, the Union
losses were 13,573, about 9600 being killed or
wounded, and the total Confederate loss was
10,699. General Sherman's division lost 2034, of
whom 318 were killed and 1275 wounded. In
his official report on that action General Grant
says : " I feel it a duty to a gallant and able of-
ficer, Brigadier-General W. T. Sherman, to make
mention that he was not only with his command
during the entire two days of action, but dis-
played great judgment and skill in the manage-
ment of his men. Although severely wounded
in the hand on the first day, his place was never
vacant." Still more emphatically, and with his
accustomed generosity to favorite subordinates.
Grant said : " To his individual efforts I am in-
debted for the success of that battle." General
Halleck reported that " Sherman saved the for-
tunes of the day on the 6th and contributed large-
ly to the glorious victory on the 7th."

Halleck, having now assumed command of the
combined armies, spaded his way laboriously
toward Corinth, and when he arrived there the
enemy evacuated it. During this advance Sher-

DURING THE WAR, 26

man's division had important duties to perform,
and its commander was no longer called crazy.
In fact, he was made a Major-General of Volun-
teers from May i, 1862, and was also put in
charge of Grand Junction, and then of the im-
portant city of Memphis, which the naval forces
had captured. At Memphis he took vigorous
measures for preventing the trade in cotton from
being used for the good of the Confederate cause.

The summer of 1862 was passed in completely
overrunning and subjecting that portion of Ten-
nessee lying west of the Tennessee River. Sher-
man moved at the head of a columrw across the
country toward Memphis. The city capitulated
to the gunboats on June 6th, and Sherman occu-
pied it and assumed command July 22d.

He found the city under a reign of terror, but
his strong arm soon brought order out of chaos.
The turbulent element was quelled and Union
people in the city once more breathed free.

PLAN OF THE PERPENDICULAR LINE.

An interesting glimpse into Sherman's scheme
of campaign was given by him in a speech deliv-

26 LIFE OF GENERAL WM. T. SHERMAN.

ered in St. Louis in the summer of 1865. "Here
in St. Louis, probably," he said, "began the great
centre movement which terminated the war; a
battle-field such as never before was seen, extend-
ing from ocean to ocean almost with the right wing
and the left wing; and from the centre here. I
remember one evening, up in the old Planters'
House, sitting with General Halleck and General
Cullum, and we were talking about this, that and
the other. A map was on the table, and I was
explaining the position of the troops of the enemy
in Kentucky when I came to this State.

"General Halleck knew well the position here,
and I remember well the question he asked me —
the question of the school-teacher to his child —
'Sherman, here is the line; how will you break
that line?' 'Physically, by a perpendicular force.*
'Where is the perpendicular?' 'The line of the
Tennessee River.' General Halleck is the author
of that first beginning, and I give him credit for it
with pleasure. Laying down his pencil upon the
map, he said, 'There is the line and we must take
it.' The capture of the fort on the Tennessee
River by the troops led by Grant followed.

DURING THE WAR, 27

"These were the grand strategic features of that
first movement, and it succeeded perfectly. Gen-
eral Halleck's plan went further — not to stop at
his first line, which ran through Columbus, Bowl-
ing Green, crossing the river at Henry and Don-
elson, but to push on to the second line, which ran
through Memphis and Charleston; but troubles
intervened at Nashville and delays followed; op-
position to the last movement was made, and I
myself was brought an actor on the scene. I re-
member our ascent on the Tennessee River; I
have seen to-night captains of steamboats who
first went with us there; storms came and we did
not reach the point we desired. At that time
General C. F. Smith was in command. He was
a man indeed. All the old officers remember him
as a gallant and elegant officer, and had he lived
probably some of us* younger fellows would- not
have attained our present positions.

"We followed the line — the second line — and
then came the landing of forces at Pittsburgh
Landing. Whether it was mistake in landing them
on the west instead of the east bank it is not nec-
essary now to discuss. I think it was not a mis-

28 LIFE OF GENERAL WM. T, SHERMAN.

f

take. There was gathered the first great army of
the West, commencing with only 1 2,000, then 20,-
000, then 30,000, and we had about 38,000 in that
battle, and all I claim for that is that it was a con-
test for manhood. There was no strategy. Grant
was there and others of us, all young at that time,
and unknown men, but our enemy was old, and
Sidney Johnson, whom all the officers remem-
bered as a power among the old officers, high
above Grant, myself or anybody else, led the en-
emy on that battle-field and I almost wonder how
we conquered. But, as I remarked, it was a con-
test for manhood — man to man — soldier to soldier.
We fought and we held our ground, and there-
fore accounted ourselves victorious. From that
time forward we had with us the prestige; that
battle was worth millions and millions to us by
reason of the fact of the courage displayed by the
brave soldiers on that occasion, and from that time
to this I never heard of the first want of courage
on the part of our Northern soldiers."

Sherman counted the war virtually ended when
Vicksburg was taken and "the Mississippi ran
unvexed to the sea," but the Confederates would

DURING THF WAR. 29

not have it so, and there had to be more fighting.
Jefferson Davis had the Southerners well trained
and he refused to ratify the work of the Union
armies.

MOVEMENTS AGAINST VICKSBURG.

In November Sherman was assigned to the
command of the right wing of the Army of the
Tennessee, and conducted an expedition threat-
ening the enemy's rear south of the Tallahatchie
River, and enabled General Grant to occupy the
position without a fight. In December he — hav-
ing returned to Memphis — was assigned to the
command of the Fifteenth Army Corps, still con-
tinuing, however, in the general command of the
right wing of the army. In the middle of the
same month he organized an expedition com-
posed of the Thirteenth and Fifteenth Corps and
moved down the Mississippi on transports, with
a view to an attack upon Vicksburg from the
Yazoo River, near Chickasaw Bayou and Haines'
Bluff. The surrender of Holly Springs, Miss.,
enabling the enemy to concentrate at the point
of attack, frustrated the efforts of the Union
troops.

30 LIFE OF GENERAL WM. T. SHERMAN.

The terrible fighting of December 27th, 28th
and 29th settled the fact that the place could not
be taken by storm, and the troops were with-
drawn to consummate the glorious victory of
Arkansas Post, in January, 1863. In this last
action General Sherman was subordinate to Gen-
eral McClellan, having been assigned by that
officer to the command of the right wing of the
temporary Army of the Mississippi. Upon the
concentration of troops preparatory to further
movements against Vicksburg General Sherman
was stationed with his corps in the vicinity of
Young's Point. In March, 1863, he conducted the
expedition up Steele's bayou and released Admi-
ral Porter's fleet of gunboats, which, having been
cut off and invested by the enemy, was in immi-
nent danger of being captured. This expedition
was, perhaps, one of the most severe ever experi-
enced by his troops. They penetrated through a
country cut up by numerous and deep bayous and
swamps and overgrown by immense forests of
Cottonwood and cypress. Sherman, with his
usual determination, was not to be thwarted, and
pushed ahead and accomplished his object.

DURING THE WAR. 31

ARMY OF THE TENNESSEE.

Upon the inauguration of General Grant^s
movement across the Peninsula to Grand Gulf
and Bruinsburg, during April, 1863, General
Sherman made a feint upon Haines' Bluff, on the
Yazoo River. His demonstration (April 28th
and 29th) was intended to hold the enemy about
Vicksburg while the main army was securing a
foothold on the eastern shore of the Mississippi
below. Having successfully performed this duty,
by means of rapid and forced marches he moved
down the Louisiana side of the river, crossed at
Grand Gulf and immediately pushed forward and
rejoined General Grant's main army.

Sherman, w4th his corps, accompanied McPher-
son on his movement against Jackson, the capital
of Mississippi. In the battle of Jackson Sher-
man took no prominent part, in consequence of
the rout of the enemy being effected by Mc-
Pherson's corps alone. The day after the battle
McPherson hurried towards Baker's Creek, while
Sherman remained in Jackson some hours longer
to complete the destruction of the enemy's stores

32 LIFE OF GENERAL WM. T. SHERMAN.

and the railroad. He then moved on a line
parallel with the route of march of McPherson's
column, crossed the Big Black River and took
possession of Walnut Hills, near Vicksburg, on
May i8th. The occupation of this important
position enabled General Grant to open com-
munication with his depots of supplies on the
Mississippi River, by way of Yazoo River from
Chickasaw bayou. During the siege of Vicks-
burg, Sherman's corps held the left of General
Grant's lines and co-operated in all the combined
attacks of the centre and right. During the
conference between the rebel commander Pem-
berton and General Grant in regard to the terms
of capitulation for the garrison and city of Vicks-
burg Sherman was vigorously engaged in
organizing an expedition at the Big Black River.
No sooner had Vicksburg surrendered than he
received orders to throw his force across the
river and move out into the country. Vicksburg
was occupied on the morning of the 4th of July.
The same afternoon troops w^ere converging
from all parts of the old lines, and Sherman's
advance had already crossed the Big Black.

DURING THE WAR, 83

Two days' march found Sherman investing
Joe Johnson in Jackson. Before the beginning
of August he engaged the enemy, and, defeating
him severely, was about to close in upon his
rear when the rebel commander very prudently
withdrew.

For his great service in the military operations
of 1863 Major-General Sherman was promoted
to the rank of a brigadier-general in the regular
army, to date from July 4, 1863, and was con-
firmed by the United States Senate February 29,
1864.

HE SUCCEEDS GRANT.

Upon the assignment of General Grant to the
command of the military division of the Miss-
issippi General Sherman succeeded, by authority
of the President, to the command of the Depart-
ment and Army of the Tennessee, to date from
October 27, 1863. After making some necessary
changes in the disposition of the troops on the
Mississippi River Sherman concentrated portions
of the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Corps at Corinth,
and in the month of November moved, by way

of Tuscumbia and Decatur, Ala., to join and
3

34 LIFE OF GENERAL WM. T. SHERMAN.

participate with General Grant in his winter
campaign against Chattanooga. General Sher-
man's forces moved up the north side of the
Tennessee River, and during the nights of
November 23 and 24 established pontoon bridges
and effected a lodgment on the south side,
between Citico Greek and the Chickamauga
River.

After the development of the plans along other
portions of the lines on the 24th Sherman carried
the eastern end of Missionary Ridge up to the
tunnel. On the next day the whole of Mission-
ary Ridge, from Rossville to the Chickamauga,
was carried after a series of desperate struggles.
By the turning of the enemy's right and forcing
it back upon Ringgold and Dalton, Sherman's
forces were thrown between Bragg and Long-
street, completely severing the enemy's lines.
No sooner was this end reached than Thomas
and Hooker forced Bragg into Georgia, while
Sherman, with his own and Granger's forces,
moved off to the succor of Knoxville. Burnside,
by a gallant defence of the position, held out
against Longstreet, who, upon the appearance of

DURING THE WAR. 35

Sherman, was obliged to raise the siege and
effected his escape by withdrawing into Virginia.
The enemy being defeated at every point, his
army broken and his plans completely dis-
arranged, and Grant's army in winter-quarters,
General Sherman personally left for Cairo, thence
for Memphis, arriving in the beginning of
January. After organizing a portion of the
Sixteenth Corps for the field he despatched it
upon transports to Vicksburg.

PUSHES ON TO VICKSBURG.

In the latter part of the month he joined it
and finished the organization of a fine body of
troops, composed of portions of the Sixteenth
Army Corps, Major-General S. A. Hurlbut com-
manding, and the Seventeenth Army Corps,
Major-General James B. McPherson command-
ing.

On the 3d of February the expeditionary
army, commanded in person by Sherman, crossed
the Big Black, and after continuous skirmishing
along the route, entered Meridian, Miss.,
February 14, 1864, driving Polk, with a portion

36 LIFE OF GENERAL WM, T. SHERMAN.

of his army, toward Mobile, another portion
toward Selma, and completely cutting off Lovell
from the main army, pursuing him with cavalry
northward toward Marion. Remaining in
possession of Meridian four days, the railroads
converging there were destroyed within a radius
of twenty miles. The army then returned by a
different route, reaching Canton, Miss., February
26th. Turning over the command of his army
to McPherson, with instructions to devastate
the country and then to continue the return
march to Vicksburg, General Sherman, at eight
o'clock the next morning, escorted by the Second
Iowa Cavalry, pushed through in advance of the
army, riding over sixty miles in twenty-four
hours, and reached Vicksburg on the morning
of February 28th. Remaining in the city but
a few hours, he embarked on one of the boats
of the Mississippi Marine brigade and left for
New Orleans.

At the expiration of ten days he returned to
Vicksburg, having, during his absence, consulted
with General Banks upon the Red River expe-
dition, toward which he was to contribute a co-

DURING THE WAR. 37

operating column. This force was immediately
organized and equipped, and embarked in March
for the mouth of Red River, and was commanded
by Generals A. J. Smith and Thomas Kilby
Smith, both veteran officers of large experience
and ability. Sherman now left for Memphis.

ON TO ATLANTA.

Early in 1864 General Grant was made Lieu-
tenant-General and assumed command of all the
armies of the United States. Immediately on re-
ceiving this promotion, with characteristic gener-
osity, he wrote as follows to Sherman:

"While I have been eminently successful in this
war, in at least gaining the confidence of the pub-
lic, no one feels more than I how much of this
success is due to the energy, skill, and the harmo-
nious putting forth of that energy and skill, of
those whom it has been my good fortune to have
occupying subordinate positions under me.

"There are many officers to whom these re-
marks are applicable to a greater or less degree,
proportionate to their ability as soldiers; but what
I want is to express my thanks to you and Mc-
Pherson, as the men to whom above all others I

38 LIFE OF GENERAL WM. T. SHERMAN.

feel indebted for whatever I have had of success.
How far your advice and suggestions have been
of assistance you know. How far your execution
of whatever has been given you to do entitles you
to the reward I am receiving you cannot know as
well as I do. I feel all the gratitude this letter
would express, giving it the most flattering con-
struction."

The reply of General Sherman to what he well
called a "characteristic and more than kind" letter
is worth quoting in part, to show the relations
which existed between these two eminent soldiers:

"I repeat, you do General McPherson and my-
self too much honor. At Belmont you manifested
your traits, neither of us being near; at Donelson
also you illustrated your whole character. I was
not near, and General McPherson was in too su-
bordinate a capacity to influence you.

''Until you had won Donelson, I confess I was
almost cowed by the terrible array of anarchical
elements that presented themselves at every point;
but that victory admitted the ray of light which I
have followed ever since.

"I believe you are as brave, patriotic, and just

^Wl»«p

DURING THE WAR, 39

as the great prototype Washington; as unselfish,
kind-hearted and honest as a man should be; but
the chief characteristic in your nature is the simple
faith in success you have always manifested, which
I can liken to nothing else than the faith a Chris-
tian has in his Saviour."

He immediately left for Nashville and held a
conference with General Grant upon the subject
of the spring operations. Between the two offi-
cers there was a full and complete understanding
of the policy and plans for the ensuing campaign,
which was designed to embrace a vast area of
country. On the 25th General Sherman com-
menced a tour of inspection of the various armies
of his command, visiting Athens, Decatur, Hunts-
ville and Larkin's Ferry, Ala.; Chattanooga, Lou-
don and Knoxville, Tenn.

Under the plan of campaign then arranged
General Grant was to conduct personally the oper-
ations of the Army of the Potomac against Lee in
Virginia, while Sherman, to whom was given the
command of the military Division of the Missis-
sippi, comprising the entire Western region, was
to proceed against Bragg's army at Dalton, which

40 LIFE OF GENERAL WM. T. SHERMAN.

had now been placed under General Johnston.
Sherman, who had meanwhile received the thanks
of Congress for his services at Chattanooga, at
once addressed himself to this task. He had
urged Grant to stay at the West, where he had
been so uniformly successful, even though he him-
self should then become only second In command
there. But of the actual plan as adopted he wrote
to Grant as follows:

"Like yourself, you take the biggest load, and
from me you shall have thorough and hearty co-
operation. I will not let side issues draw me off
from your main plans, in which I am to knock Jos.
Johnston and to do as much damage to the re-
sources of the enemy as possible. I have hereto-
fore written to General Rawlins and to Colonel
Comstock (of your staff) somewhat of the method
in which I proposed to act. I have seen all my
army, corps and division commanders, and have
signified only to the former, viz., Schofield, Thomas
and McPherson, our general plans, which I in-
ferred from the purport of our conversation here
and at Cincinnati."

In the course of his visit he held interviews

DURING THE WAR. 41

with Major-General McPherson at Huntsville,
Major-General Thomas at Chattanooga and Ma-
jor-General Schofield at Knoxville. With these
officers he arranged in general terms the lines of
communication to be guarded, the strength of
the several columns and garrisons, and appointed
the 1st of May as the time for everything to be
in readiness. While these commanders were
carrying out their instructions General Sherman
returned to Nashville, giving his personal atten-
tion to the subject of supplies, organizing a mag-
nificent system of railroad communication by two
routes from Nashville.

In May, 1864, the campaigns began simul-
taneously at the West and at the East. Sher-
man's confidence was indicated by writing to
Grant that "from the West, when our task is
done, we will make short work of Charleston
and Richmond and the impoverished coast of
the Atlantic." In round numbers he had an
effective army of close upon 100,000 men and 254
guns. The Army of the Cumberland, under
Thomas, comprised about three-fifths of this
strength, with 60,000 men and 130 guns, while

42 LIFE OF GENERAL WM. T. SHERMAN.

the Army of the Tennessee, under McPherson,
had 25,000 men and 96 guns, and the Army of
the Ohio, under Schofield, 14,000 men and 28
guns.

The store-houses and depots of Chattanooga
soon groaned beneath the weight of abundance.
The whole of East Tennessee and Northern Ala-
bama contributed to the general store, while the
whole Northwest and West poured volumes of
sustenance through the avenues of communica-
tion from Louisville. On the 27th of April the
three great armies of his division were converg-
ing at Chattanooga. The ist of May witnessed
over sixty thousand troops and 130 guns, form-
ing the Army of the Cumberland, Major-General
George H. Thomas commanding, encamped in
the vicinity of Ringgold, Ga. McPherson, with a
portion of Grant's old veteran and victorious bat-
talions of the Army of the Tennessee, numbering
twenty-five thousand troops of all arms and nine-
ty-six guns, lay at Gordon's Mill, on the historic
Chickamauga. General Schofield, with over thir-
teen thousand troops and twenty-eight guns,
constituting the Army of the Ohio, lay on the Geor-

DURING THE WAR, 43

gia line north of Dalton. In the aggregate these
three armies formed a grand army of over ninety-
eight thousand men and two hundred and fifty-
four guns, under the supreme command of Gen-
eral Sherman.

The enemy, superior in cavalry, and with three
corps of infantry and artillery, commanded by
Hardee, Hood and Polk, and all under the com-
mand of General Joseph E. Johnston, lay in and
about Dalton. His position was covered by an
inaccessible ridge known as the Rocky Face,
through which ran Buzzard Roost Gap. The
railroad and wagon road following this pass the
enemy had strongly defended by abattis and well
constructed fortifications. Batteries commanded
it in its whole length, and especially from a ridge
at its further end, like a traverse directly across
its debouch. To drive the enemy from this posi-
tion by the front was impossible. After well re-
connoitering the vicinity, but one practicable route
by which to attack Johnston was found, and that
was by Snake Creek Gap, by which Resaca, a
point on the enemy's railroad communication,
eighteen miles below Dalton, could be reached.

44 LIFE OF GENERAL WM. T. SHERMAN.

Accordingly McPherson was Instructed to move
rapidly from his position at Gordon's Mill by way
of Ship's Gap, Vlllanow and Snake Creek Gap,
directly upon Resaca. During this movement
Thomas was to make a strong feint attack In
front, and Schofield was to press down from the
north. Thomas occupied Tunnell Hill May /th,
facing Buzzard Roost Gap, experiencing little
opposition except from cavalry. McPherson
reached Snake Creek Gap May 8th, surprising a
brigade of the enemy while e7t route to occupy It.
May 9th Schofield moved down from the north
close on Dalton. The same day Newton's divi-
sion of the Fourth Corps carried the ridge,
Geary, of the Twentieth Corps, crowding on for
the summit.

M'PHERSON'S ONSLAUGHl*.

While this was going on at the front the head
of McPherson's column made its appearance
near Resaca and took position confronting the
enemy's works. May loth the Twentieth Corps
(Hooker) moved to join McPherson; the Four-
teenth Corps (Palmer) followed; the Fourth
Corps (Howard) commenced pounding Dalton

DURING THE WAR. 45

from the front. Meanwhile Schofield also
hastened to join McPherson. May nth the
whole army, with the exception of Howard's
corps and some cavalry, was in motion for Snake
Creek Gap. May 12th McPherson debouched
from the gap on the main road, Kilpatrick, with
his cavalry, in front. Thomas moved on Mc-
Pherson's left, Schofield on Thomas' left. Kil-
patrick drove the enemy within two miles
of Resaca. Kilpatrick having been wounded,
Colonel Murry took command, and, wheeling out
of the road, McPherson's columns crowded im-
petuously by, and driving the enemy's advance
within the defences of Resaca occupied a ridge
of bold hills, his right resting on the Oostenaula,
two miles below the railroad bridge, and his left
abreast of the town. Thomas, on his left, facing
Camp Creek, and Schofield, forcing his way
through a dense forest, came In on the extreme
left.

The enemy had evacuated Dalton and was
now concentrated at Resaca. Howard occupied
Dalton and hung upon the enemy's rear. May
14th the battle of Resaca commenced; May

46 LIFE OF GENERAL WM. T. SHERMAN.

15th it continued. The same night the enemy
was flying- toward the Etowah. The whole army
followed in pursuit. May 19th Sherman held
all the country north of the Etowah and several
crossings of that stream. May 23d the whole
army was moving upon the flank of the enemy's
position in the Allatoona Mountains. May 25th
Hooker whipped the enemy near New Hope
Church. On May 28th McPherson killed and
wounded about five thousand of the enemy near
Dallas. June 6th the enemy was in hasty retreat
to his next position at Kenesaw Mountains.
June 8th Blair arrived at Ackworth with the
fresh troops of the Seventeenth Corps. June
nth the sounds of Sherman's artillery rever-
berated among the rugged contortions of
Kenesaw. July 3d the enemy was pressing for
the Chattahoochee. The mountains and Marietta
were occupied by our forces the same day.

m'pherson's death.

The enemy had a tete du pont and formidable
works on the Chattahoochee, at the railroad
crossing. Sherman advanced boldly, with a

DURING THE WAR. 47

small force, on the front. July 7th Schofield had
possession of one of the enemy's pontoons and
occupied the south side of the Chattahoochee.
By July 9th Sherman held three crossings. John-
ston abandoned his tete du pont and there was no
enemy north or west of the Chattahoochee July
loth. July i7th^the whole army was in motion
across the Chattahoochee. July i8th Atlanta
was cut off from the east. Rousseau, with an
expeditionary cavalry force, was operating within
the enemy's lines. July 20th all the armies closed
in upon Adanta. The same afternoon the enemy
attacked Hooker and was driven into his in-
trenchments. On July 2 2d Johnston was re-
lieved, and Hood, in command of the enemy,
suddenly attacked McPherson*s extreme left with
overpowering numbers. Giles A. Smith held the
position first attacked with a division of McPher-
son's troops. First he fought from one side of
the parapet, when, being attacked in the rear, he
fought from the other. McPherson's whole army
soon became engaged. The battle was the most
desperate of the campaign. McPherson was killed
when the contest was the thickest. His last

48 LIFE OF GENERAL IVM. T, SHERMAN,

order saved the army. Logan succeeded to
command. " McPherson and revenge" rang
along the lines. The effect was electric, and
victory closed in with the night. The battle
footed up 9000 of the enemy against 4000 of
our own troops killed and wounded — a bal-
ance in our favor of 5000 dead and mangled
bodies.

This success gained on the ist of September,
1864, was received throughout the country with
great enthusiasm. President Lincoln sent this
message of thanks and congratulation :

"The national thanks are rendered by the
President to Major-General W. T. Sherman and
the gallant officers and soldiers of his command
before Atlanta for the distinguished ability and
perseverance displayed in the campaign in
Georgia, which, under Divine favor, has resulted
in the capture of Atlanta. The marches, battles,
sieges and other military operations that
have signalized the campaign must render it
famous in the annals of war, and have entitled

DURING THE WAR, 49

those who have participated therein to the
applause and thanks of the Nation.

** Abraham Lincoln,
*^ President of the United States ^

General Grant was prompt also in his tribute
to the great exploit, and telegraphed as follows
from City Point:

" Major- General Sherman:

"I have just received your dispatch announcing
the capture of Atlanta. In honor of your great
victory I have ordered a salute to be fired with
shotted guns from every battery bearing upon
the enemy. The salute will be fired within an
hour amid great rejoicing.

."U. S. Grant,

" Lieutenant' General!^

** FROM ATLANTA TO THE SEA."

Hood now sought to repair his mishaps by

essaying an attack in his turn upon Sherman's

long line of supplies ; and, not content with some

successes gained in that direction, he undertook
4

50 LIFE OF GENERAL WM, T. SHERMAN.

a movement In force into Tennessee, perhaps
presuming that this would cause Sherman to re-
treat thither. But that officer, perceiving that
any such step would greatly diminish the success
of his Atlanta campaign, made a different re-
sponse. Sending Thomas north with a portion
of his own command, to be joined by other forces,
and leaving him to contest Hood's advance, he
filled his wagons with supplies, and, cutting loose
irom his base, made his famous " holiday march "
from Atlanta to the sea, where he could open
communication with the fleet. The story of that
march of 300 miles in twenty-four days is one of
the most picturesque in modern warfare, and will
be the theme of anecdote and reminiscence till its
last survivor is gone. As an example of skill in
the use of the " movable column " on a grand
scale, it has also formed the study and admiration
of European critics, and has given General Sher-
man a very high place among modern soldiers.
The march itself was easily accomplished in the
absence of Hood's army, and toward the end of
December Sherman was able to send a dispatch
to President Lincoln, saying: "I beg to present

DURING THE WAR. 51

you as a Christmas gift the city of Savannah with
150 heavy guns, plenty of ammunition, and 25,000
bales of cotton." The appreciation of Congress
was expressed in this resolution :

"That the thanks of the people and of the
Congress of the United States are due and are
hereby tendered to Major-Gen. William T. Sher-
man, and through him to the officers and men
under his command, for their gallantry and good
conduct in their late campaign from Chattanooga
to Adanta and the triumphal march thence
through Georgia to Savannah, terminating in the
capture and occupation of that city; and that the
President cause a copy of this joint resolution to
be engrossed and forwarded to Major-Gen. Sher-
man."

Thomas, that splendid soldier, had meanwhile
magnificendy fulfilled the part of the task as-
signed to him, which, Indeed, involved the harder
fighting, and, after Schofield's handsome check of
Hood's advance at Franklin, had completely re-
pulsed and overwhelmed the Confederate army
at Nashville.

Pausing only to refit his command and fill his

62 LIFE OF GENERAL WM. T. SHERMAN,

wagons, Sherman, in February, 1865, left Savan-
nah for a march through the Carolinas. Mean-
while Schofield had been detached from Thomas
to co-operate in a march inland from the coast of
North CaroHna. Moving in the rear of Charles-
ton, Sherman compelled the evacuation of that
place, which thereupon fell into Union hands.
Continuing his march, he reached and occupied
Columbia, and then, moving northward to Winns-
borough and eastward to Cheraw and then to
Fayetteville, he prepared to form a junction with
Schofield and Terry at Goldsborough. But be-
fore this could be accomplished, he was twice
heavily encountered by Johnston, who had re-
sumed command at, Averysborough and Benton-
ville. However, the result was the retreat of
Johnston and the junction of all the Union forces
at Goldsborough. Meanwhile the campaign in
Virginia had been renewed, and, after the great
series of battles around Petersburg, had ended in
the surrender of Lee at Appomattox on the 9th
of April. As soon as the news reached John-
ston, that officer sent to Sherman to know upon
what terms his own surrender would be received.

I V*f

DURING THE WAR, 68

On the 1 8th, at Durham's Station, the two com-
manders agreed on a basis of peace, which, how-
ever, was disapproved at Washington as cover-
ing ground not within General Sherman's powers,
and more particularly from Its stipulations In re-
gard to the political status. Subsequently, there-
fore, a new agreement was made on the general
basis of the one between Grant and Lee.

It only remained for General Sherman's army
to pass In review at Washington, which it did on
the 24th of May, following the review of the
Army of the Potomac the day previous. In this
remarkable display the mules, goats, cows, poul-
try, and various oddities which the veterans of
the march through Georgia and theCarolinas had
picked up caused much amusement. Following
that came the farewell orders of their command^,
which declared the belief that in peace good
soldiers would make good citizens, and that
should war come again " Sherman's army" would
be first in the field.

FAREWELL TO HIS ARMY.

General Sherman took leave of his army in an

54 LIFE OF GENERAL WM. T, SHERMAN.

order dated May 30, 1865. The following was
the closing passage:

" Your General now bids you farewell, with the
full belief that, as In war you have been good
soldiers, so in peace you will make good citizens,
and If unfortunately new war should arise in our
country, * Sherman's army' will be the first to
buckle on its old armor and come forth to defend
and maintain the government of our inheritance."

Sherman's last campaign excited much Interest
in England. The Horse Guards began to study
his remarkable march. The Duke of Cambridge
went to preside at a meeting to hear an explana-
tion of It in detail. Sherman became the hero of
the war from an English point of view. In spite of
their sympathy with the South.

•"On the 15th of November the splendid army
of brawny western men, stripped like an athlete
for the race and the struggle, set Its face towards
the Atlantic Ocean, and with banners streaming
and bands playing, bade farewell to the smoulder-
ing ruins of Atlanta.'*

When this daring movement was first made
public, it is hard to say which was the more as-

DURING THE WAR, 55

tonished, the North or the South. Nothing had
ever been heard Hke it in modern warfare. The
rebel editors on the Atlantic seaboard professed
to rejoice at it, for it would be the destruction of
Sherman's army. The aroused people, they de-
clared, would hang along his flanks as lightning
plays along the edge of a thunder-cloud, and re-
moved beyond all reach of provisions, so that his
army would be vanquished by starvation alone.
In Europe it created almost equal astonishment.
Said the London Times, "Since the great Duke of
Marlborough turned his back upon the Dutch, and
plunged hurriedly into Germany to fight the
famous battle of Blenheim, military history has
recorded no stranger marvel than this mysterious
expedition of General Sherman on an unknown
route against an undiscovered enemy."

The British Army and Navy Gazette said;
" He had done one of the most brilliant or foolish
things ever performed by a military leader." The
Richmond papers scornfully boasted that his
march '* would lead him to the Paradise of fools."
The able critics of Europe declared " if he sue-

66 LIFE OF GENERAL WxM. T. SHERMAN.

ceeded he would add a fresh chapter to the his-
tory of modern warfare."

For boldness and originality of the design
and the ability with which the campaign was exe-
cuted, it stands alone in the history of modern
warfare. The South was struck dumb at his suc-
cess. The North was jubilant and rang with his
praises. He had not only gotten through safely,
but he entered into Savannah, not with a half-
starved and exhausted army, but if possible in
better condition than when it started. The ani-
mals fresh and vigorous, and not a wagon lost. A
thousand men would cover his entire loss on this
famous and renowned march.**

General Sherman's letters were in many re-
spects models. The one which he wrote to his
regiment after the death of his child in Memphis
is most touching. We also give one which he
wrote to his brother from Memphis, expressing
his views of the war at the time that the letter
was written :

"Memphis, Tenn., August 13, 1862. — My dear
brother : I have not written to you for so long that

I JOSEPH E. JOHNSTON.
3 BRAXTON IIKAGG.

5 J. B. HOOD.

2 KIRBV SMITH.
4 I. LONGSTKEET.

DURING THE WAR. 67

I suppose you think I have dropped the corre-
spondence. For six weeks I was marching along
the road from Corinth to Memphis, mending
roads, building bridges, and all sorts of work. At
last, I got here, and found the city contributing
gold, arms, powder, salt, and everything the
enemy wanted. It was a smart trick on their part,
thus to give up Memphis, that the desire of gain,
to our northern merchants should supply them
with the things needed in war. I stopped this at
once, and declared gold, silver, treasury notes and
salt as much contraband of war as powder. I
have one man under sentence of death for smug-
gling arms across the lines, and hope Mr. Lincoln
will approve it. But the mercenary spirit of our
people is too much and my orders are reversed,
anc^I am ordered to encourage the trade in cot-
ton, and all orders prohibiting gold, silver and
notes to be paid for it are annulled by orders from
Washington. Grant promptly ratified my order,
and all military men here saw at once that gold
spent for cotton went to the purchase of arms
and munitions of war. But what are the lives of
our soldiers to the profits of the merchants ?

68 UFE OF GENERAL WM, T. SHERMAN.

"After a whole year of bungling, the country
has at last discovered that we want more men.
All knew it last fall as well as now, but it was not
popular. Now thirteen million (the General evi-
dently intended only 1,300,000) men are required
when 700,000 was deemed absurd before. It will
take time to work up these raw recruits, and they
will reach us in October, when we should be in
Jackson, Meridian and Vicksburg. Still I must
not growl; I have purposely put back and have no
right to criticise, save that I am glad the papers
have at last found out we are at war and have a
formidable enemy to combat.

" Of course I approve the Confiscation Act,
and would be willing to revolutionize the govern-
ment so as to amend that article of the Constitu-
tion which forbids the forfeiture of land to ^the
heirs. My full belief is, we must colonize the
country de novo, beginning with Kentucky and
Tennessee, and should remove four million of our
people at once south of the Ohio River, taking
the farms and plantations of the rebels. I deplore
the war as much as ever ; but if the thing has to
be done, let the means be adequate. Don't ex-

DURING THE WAR, 59

pect to overrun such a country or subdue such a
people in one, two or five years. It is the task of
half a century. Although our army is thus far
south, it cannot stir from our garrisons. Our men
are killed or captured within sight of our lines.
I have two divisions here — mine and Hurlbut's —
about 13,000 men ; am building a strong fort, and
think this is to be one of the depots and basis of
operations for future movements.

** The loss of Halleck is almost fatal. We have
no one to replace him. Instead of having one
head we have five or six, all independent of each
other. I expect our enemies will mass their troops
and fall upon our detachment before new rein-
forcements come. I cannot learn that there are
any large bodies of men near us here. There
are detachments at Holly Springs and Senatobia,
the present termini of the railroads from the
South, and all the people of the country are armed
as guerrillas. Curtis is at Helena, eighty miles
south, and Grant at Corinth. Bragg's army from
Tripoli has moved to Chattanooga, and proposes
to march on Nashville, Lexington and Cincinnati.
They will have about 75,000 men. Buell is near

60 LIFE OF GENERAL WM. T. SHERMAN,

Huntsville with about 30,000, and I suppose de-
tachments of the new levies can be put in Ken-
tucky from Ohio and Indiana in time. The
weather is very hot, and Bragg can't move his
forces very fast ; but I fear he will give trouble.
My own opinion is we ought not to venture too
much into the interior until the river is safely in
our possession, when we could land at any point
and strike inland. To attempt to hold all the
South would demand an army too large even to
think of. We must colonize and settle as we go
South, for in Missouri there is as much strife as
ever. Enemies must be killed or transported to
some other country.

"Your affectionate brother,

'' W. T. Sherman."

*' While lying along the pestiferous bank of the
Big Black River, his wife and family visited him,
and one child sickened and died. On his first ar-
rival in camp he became a great pet in the Thir-
teenth Regiment Infantry — Sherman's old regi-
ment that he commanded at Bull Run — which
made him a sergeant and heaped on him all of

DURING THE WAR, 61

those little testimonials of affection which soldiers
know so well how to bestow. This kindness had
touched Sherman's heart, and now at midnight, as
he sat in his room at Memphis and thought of his
little boy pale and lifeless far away, floating sadly
up the Mississippi, this kindness all came back
on him, and bowed with grief, he sat down and
wrote the following letter to his regiment :'*

"Memphis, Tenn., Oct. 4, Midnight.
" Captain C. C. Smith, Commanding Battalion,
Thirteenth Infantry — My Dear Friend : I cannot
sleep to-night till I record an expression of the deep
feelings of my heart to you and the officers and
soldiers of the battalion for their kind behavior to
my poor child. I realize that you all feel for my fam-
ily the attachment of kindred, and I assure you of
full reciprocity. Consistent with a sense of duty
to my profession and office I could not leave my
post, and send for my family to come to me in that
fatal climate, and behold the result. The child
that bore my name, and in whose future I reposed
with more confidence than I did with my own
plans of life, now floats a mere corpse, seeking a

62 LIFE OF GENERAL WM. T. SHERMAN.

grave in a distant land, with a weeping mother,
brothers and sisters clustering around him. But
for myself I can ask no sympathy. On I must go
to meet a soldier's fate, or see my country rise
superior to all factions till its flag is adorned and
respected by ourselves and all powers of the earth.

" But my poor Will was, or thought he was, a
sergeant of fhe Thirteenth. I have seen his eyes
brighten and his heart beat, as he beheld the
battalion under arms and asked me if they were
not real soldiers. Child as he was, he had the en-
thusiasm, pure love of truth, honorand love of coun-
try, which should animate all soldiers. He is dead,
but will not be forgotten till those who knew him in
life have followed him to the same mysterious end.

" Please convey to the battalion my heartfelt
thanks, and assure each and all that if in after-
years they mention to me or mine that they were of
the Thirteenth Regulars when poor Willy was
sergeant, they will have a key to the affection of
my family that will open all that it has, that will
share with them our last blanket, our last crust.
"Your friend.

"W. T. Sherman, Maj. GenlJ*

DURING THE WAR. 63

Nothing can be more touching than this let-
ter. How it lays open his heart to his soldiers.
Ordinary expression of courtesy or acknowledg-
ment of gratitude would not answer. Their sym-
pathy for a time had m^de them his equals, and
he writes them as friends — the dearest of friends
because friends of his boy. Their love for him
had bound them to him by a tenderer chord
than lonor and faithful service in the field. And
what a heart this man, this rough man, as many
termed him, had. No man could write that letter
in whose heart did not dwell the noblest im-
pulses of nature. The regiment ordered a mon-
ument for the little sergeant, and had inscribed
on it, " Our little Sergeant Willie, from the First
Battalion, Thirteenth United States Infantry."

GENERAL Sherman's relations with his men.

A distinguished officer of the Union army, who
commanded a brigade under Generals Grant,
Sherman and Thomas, and knew them all person-
ally, mentions a striking point of difference in their
relations to the armies they commanded. " I have
seen Grant ride from rear to front of a moving

64 LIFE OF GENERAL WM. T. SHERMAN.

column, or from right to left of the army, receiving
salutes all the time, but making none in return.
He was never cheered and never a word passed
between him and the lines. He always seemed
absorbed in thought, and with a cigar held firmly
between his teeth he looked straight ahead, as if
at some objective point that nobody else could
see. He was too absorbed to return the salutes,
and the men never attempted to break in on his
reserve. General Thomas was a good deal the
same way, only sterner looking than Grant. When
he rode past a column it was always with some
definite object in view, and he seemed too full of
that to notice anything else. The men had the
greatest confidence in him and respect for him,
but there was never any familiarity or demonstra-
tion of affection. With Sherman it was entirely
different. I have seen him ride from front to rear
of a column, and it would be a continuous cheer
the whole way. Not only this, but a con-
tinuous exchange of salutations and remarks. Be-
tween their cheers the men would shout good-
natured remarks at * Uncle Billy ' and he would
talk to them in return, passing remarks about his

DURING THE WAR, 65

plans, what we were going to do next, etc. It
seemed to me sometimes as if he would speak to
almost every man in the column while he was
passing. No matter what he had on his mind he
never seemed abstracted, and was always ready
to chaff the boys. On horseback he was the least
soldierly-looking of the three, and he had aslouchy
way of riding that used to tickle the boys. But
what pleased them most was his free-and-easy
manner and his way of talking to everybody as
he rode along the lines. He got more cheering
than military salutes."

CHAPTER III.

AFTER THE WAR.

A FTER the war Sherman was in command of
the Military Division of the Mississippi, and
in 1866, when Grant was promoted to be General
of the Army, Sherman was made Lieutenant-
General, thus clearly indicating public sentiment
as to the value of his military services to the
country. When, in 1869, Grant became Presi-
dent, Sherman was made his successor as General,
with the proviso that this grade on the active list
should go to no other person, the same provision
being made in regard to the office of Lieutenant-
General, to which Sheridan was raised. While
General of the Army, Sherman visited Europe,
where he was received with distinguished honors.
After his return he wrote and published his mem-
oirs. The passage of the law of retirement for
age took him from the active list in 1884, but, as
a special mark of national favor, he was allow-
66

AFTER THE WAR. 67

ed to receive full pay and emoluments. Since
then he has resided in St. Louis, and later In New
York. Generally in vigorous health and enjoying
life, he has been abundantly honored by various
Institutions of learning and social organizations,
as well as by the veteran soldiers, whom he often
addressed at their meetings, and by his country-
men at large, who have so long admired him as a
noble specimen of the patriot and the soldier.

General Sherman has been one of the most
picturesque figures In our modern life, as he will
be in American history. His erect figure, with
grim face that often relaxed into kindness, his
soldierly ways and habits of thought, had come to
seem a sort of national possession. He was a
most interesting writer and public speaker, whose
occasional extravagances and eccentricities of
expression had become well understood. Now
and then hasty or careless in utterance, and
sometimes making himself trouble thereby, he
was never commonplace. As a soldier he knew
well how to march and feed a great army as
well as to engage it in battle. Of him It has just-
ly been said that he possessed the " geographical

68 LIFE OF GENERAL WM. T. SHERMAN.

eye," which made every natural feature in a land-
scape present itself to him in its military possi-
bilities.

ALWAYS AT THE FRONT.

Sherman believed in fighting at the front of his
men, and he always lived up to that belief.

" No man," says he in the closing chapters of
his memoirs, " can properly command an army
from the rear. He must be at the front, and
when a detachment is made, the commander there-
of should be informed of the object' to be accom-
plished and left as free as possible to execute it
in his own way, and when an army is divided up
into several parts the superior should always at-
tend that one which he regards as most important.
Some men think that modern armies may be so
regulated that a general can sit in an office and
play on his several columns as on the keys of a
piano. This is a fearful mistake. The directing
mind must be at the very head of the army —
must be seen there — and the effect of his mind
and personal energy must be felt by every officer
and man present with it, to secure the best re-
sults. Every attempt to make war easy and safe
will result in humiliation and disaster.

AFTER THE WAR. 69

HAD NO TASTE FOR POLITICS.

General Sherman loved life and its good things.
He loved a good dinner, a good story, a good
horse and a good companion. He idolized his
country, and his life was always at its service
save in the way of politics, which he abhorred, and
in a manly simple way, he paid a meed of reverence
to his Creator. He was one man in very few who
never listened to the buzzing of the Presiden-
tial " bee in his bonnet," and when his name was
mentioned as a possible candidate for the Presi-
dency he did not coyly hold back and wait for
further developments, but came out in an honest,
ringing letter and said that he did not want the
honor and was not fitted for the place.

SHERMAN'S FAMILY LIFE.

Few happier or more devoted families than
that of General Sherman ever lived. He was
a loving and devoted husband and father, and very
proud of his wife and children. But one differ-
ence marred the perfection of their married life.
Mrs. Sherman and her children were devoted ad-

70 LIFE OF GENERAL WM, T. SHERMAN.

herents of the Roman Catholic faith, while the
General held allegiance to no religious creed.

His wife was always eminent in her church and
charitable work, and received in recognition for
services from Pope Leo XIII. the emblem of the
golden rose, a rare and priceless token, which
few American ladies have ever received. Her
children were devoted adherents to the same
faith, and the prayers of the entire household
were centred in the husband and father.

In the summer of 1878 a great disappointment
fell upon the General. His eldest son, Thomas
Ewing Sherman, named after the kind foster-
father and the idol of his father, whom the
General had hoped to make a soldier, but finding
this impossible, had fitted for the study of the
law, decided, after long hesitation, to devote his
life to the priesthood.

In a letter dated June i, 1878, from young
Sherman to hjs friend Samuel Elbers, of St.
Louis, which was published with his consent, he
stated what he proposed to do, and besought
his father's friends not to question the latter
about it.

AFTER THE WAR, 71

"Father," the young man wrote, "gave me a
complete education for the Bar at Georgetown
College and the Scientific School at Yale. On
me rests the entire responsibility for taking this
step. I go without his sanction, approval or
consent."

At the same time he expressed his sorrow
for causing such grief and disappointment to the
father whom he loved.

MRS, SHERMAN'S DEATH,

He had not yet entered the priesthood when,
on November 27, 1888, his fond mother died
suddenly of heart-failure. In his first grief the
General refused to admit the priests to his
house, but he quickly succumbed to the prayers
and tears of his children.

The body was taken in a private car to St.
Louis and interred in Calvary Cemetery in a
plot which the General and she had picked out
together in 1866, and where the remains of two
of her sons and three grandchildren were sleeping.

Father Sherman was ordained the following
year in Archbishop Ryan's private chapel in

72 LIFE OF GENERAL IVM, T. SHERMAN,

Philadelphia. All the sisters and brothers were
present, besides many notable people, but the old
General still sturdily set his face against the step
and refused to be present An unusual favor
was paid to the young priest. He was made sub-
deacon on July 6th, deacon on July 7th and priest
on July 8th, preaching his first sermon the
following Sunday.

HIS. BELIEF IN A FUTURE LIFE.

Although not a religious man. General Sherman
showed his belief in a future life in a letter which
he wrote to the New York Herald on his return
from burying his wife.

"I expected to go first," he wrote, "as lam
much older and have been more severely tried,
but it was not to be. But I expect to resume my
place at her side some day."

Miss Rachel Sherman, a beautiful girl, was her
father's especial pet and pride. For years she
has acted as his amanuensis and has written from
his dictation most of his official, business and
social letters. She rendered him much assistance
in getting up his autobiography, A few years

AFTER THE WAR. 73

ago she intendewed him on behalf of the Herald^
and the result, which was spicy and interesting,
was widely read.

The greatest cross of General Sherman's life
was that no son of his followed him into the
army. That has always been his first and greatest
love.

HIS RETIREMENT.

On the 8th of April, 1884, President Arthur
issued the following order announcing the retire-
ment of General Sherman: "General William T.
Sherman, general of the army, having this day
reached the age of sixty-four, is, in accordance
with law, placed upon the retired list of the army,
without reduction in his current pay and allow-
ances. The anouncement of the severance from
the command of the army of one who has been
for so many years its distinguished chief can but
awaken in the minds not only of the army, but
of the people of the United States, mingled
emotions of regret and gratitude — regret at the
withdrawal from active military service of an
officer whose lofty sense of duty has been a model
for all soldiers since he first entered the army in

74 LIFE OF GENERAL WM. T. SHERMAN.

July, 1840, and gratitude freshly awakened for
the services of incalculable value rendered by
him in the war for the Union, which his great
military genius and daring did so much to end.
The President deems this a fitting occasion to give
expression of the gratitude felt toward General
Sherman by his fellow-citizens, and to hope that
Providence may grant him many years of health
and happiness in the relief from the active duties
of his profession."

' General Sherman at once retired to private
life and moved to St. Louis, where he resided
for a short time. He then took up his resi-
dence in New York City, where he has since
lived.

GENERAL SHERMAN'S LETTER ABOUT HIS BURIAL TO
RANSOM G. A. R. POST, OF ST. LOUIS.

In February, 1890, on the occasion of General
Sherman's seventieth birthday, the members of
Ransom Post, Grand Army of the Republic, of
which General Sherman was the first commander,
sent the General many congratulatory letters and
telegrams.

AFTER THE WAR. 75

The old warrior, in replying to these, among
other things said:

"I have again and again been urged to allow
my name to be transferred to the roster of some
one of the many reputable posts of the Grand
Army of the Republic here, but my Invariable
answer has been 'No,' that Ransom Post has stood
by me since its beginning and I will stand by it
to my end, and then that, in its organized capacity,
it will deposit my poor body in Calvary Cemetery
alongside my faithful wife and idolized 'soldier
boy;

"My health continues good, so my comrades of
Ransom Post must guard theirs, that they may be
able to fulfil this sacred duty imposed by their first
commander.

"God bless you all. W. T. Sherman."

PERHAPS HIS LAST LETTER.

The following, supposed to be the last letter
written by General Sherman, was addressed to
Benjamin H. Field, of No. 21 Madison Square,
and was dated February 3d:

76 LIFE OF GENERAL WM. T. SHERMAN.

"Dear Mr. Field: — I thank you sincerely for
the handsome volume, 'Recollections of George
W. Childs,' which contains such pleasant reminis-
cences, some of which are personal to myself. I
am sure that I have read all these 'Recollections'
in 'Lippincott's' or detached pamphlets, but they
have increased value and interest by being as-
sembled in one lamo volume, with good binding
and good print. With failing eyes I notice these
things, and, while our newspapers are simply a
disgrace in their type, I am glad to observe that
our leading book-publishers have made large im-
provements in their type, approximating the more
costly books of England.

"Mr. Childs takes such a kindly view of men and
things that it is refreshing to read its pages. I
have partaken of his hospitality in his princely
homes at Long Branch, Philadelphia and Wooton,
and know of no gentleman at home or abroad who
better dispenses the wealth which he has earned
by his own hand and brains. Whilst essentially
American, he does not limit his expenditure, as
most rich men do, to their own locality, but he
takes in the whole world, as illustrated by his me-

AFTER THE WAR. 77

morial fountain to Shakespeare at Stratford-on-
Avon, and his memorial windows and tablets at
Westminster and Winchester. England.

"lam not sure you know him personally; if not,
and you want to meet him, I can bring you to-
gether at my table some time this spring. With
great respect, your friend,

"W. T. Sherman."

CHAPTER IV.

HIS LIFE IN NEW-YORK.

r^ ENERAL SHERMAN has been for five years
one of the most famihar figures in New
York. He was a devoted theatre-goer, and it did
not take long for the amusement-seeking public
to learn who he was and to honor him whenever
he appeared in the auditorium, whether in a box
or in the ordinary orchestra chair. It was the
custom of the spectators on such occasions to give
evidence* of their knowledge of the presence of the
General, and it was not an infrequent thing for
them to applaud him liberally on his entrance to
the theatre.

On one occasion, the representation of " Shen-
andoah," at the Twenty-third Street Theatre, the
audience became so enthusiastic over the presence
78

HIS LIFE IN NEW- YORK. 79

of General Sherman in a box that it compelled
him by its applause to come forward and make a
speech from the box-rail. In all these demonstra-
tions there was ever evinced the greatest respect
and love. His very appearance riveted the atten-
tion of the spectators and his civilian dress could
not disguise the bearing of the soldier, while his
stern and furrowed face always indicated the
warrior.

Another cause of the familiarity of the public
with General Sherman's personality was his fre-
quent presence at public dinners. There is no
association of any prominence in New York City
at some annual banquet of which General Sher-
man has not been an honored guest, and on a
vast majority of these festive occasions he made
speeches. At all celebrations, civil and military
that the town has known since 1886, General
Sherman was conspicuous, and on all such occa-
sions the same spirit of reverence, respect and
love was manifested toward him.

Immediately prior to 1886 General Sherman
lived in St. Louis. In the latter part of that year he
removed to New York and took up his residence

80 LIFE OF GENERAL WM. T. SHERMAN.

at the Fifth Avenue Hotel. For nearly two years
he resided there, and then, in 1888, he removed
to his late residence, 75 West Seventy-first Street,
where he established a thoroughly comfortable
home with his daughters. This house was com-
paratively new and the General took a lively per-
sonal interest in its fittings and furnishings. He
had in the basement what he was wont to call his
ofifice, and the decorations of this apartment were
almost wholly reminiscent of his military career.
The walls were adorned with photographs of his
comrades and subordinates in the civil war, each
of whom he recalled vividly and about whom he
was always ready to relate some interesting anec-
dote. In the centre of the apartment he had his
working desk, a plain piece of ordinary ofifice fur-
niture, which was generally littered with letters
and telegrams. Close by this, at the side of the
room, was another desk at which his private sec-
retary was accustomed to sit and receive daily
instructions.

Among the photographs on the walls was a
central group of three pictures. The middle one
of these was a full-length likeness of Ulysses S.

HIS LIFE IN NEW- YORK. 81

Grant standing in an easy pose, with the left hand
thrust into the breast of a fatigue coat and the
right deep down in the trousers pocket. To the
left of this was a picture of Phil Sheridan in full
uniform, and to the right was a picture of General
Sherman himself, also in full uniform. He was
especially fond of these pictures of Grant and
Sheridan. He was wont to say that he knew of
no other likeness of Grant that showed so clearly
the repose of the man. It had been taken at the
close of the war, when Grant was down to fighting
weight, as the General expressed it, and before
he had become fleshy and taken on the heavy look
that appears in some of his later pictures. The
picture of Sheridan had been selected by General
Sheridan out of many hundreds, and on this ac-
count General Sherman preferred it to all others.
He used to say that he loved these pictures be-
cause they recalled to him the men as he had known
them best.

His parlors were simply but tastefully deco-
rated, the two most conspicuous objects that
adorned them being a life-size oil portrait of his
dead wife and another of himself. His household

82 LIFE OF GENERAL WM, T. SHERMAN.

was thoroughly democratic, and his guests were
always received without oppressive ceremony and
were made to feel at home at once. He loved
this home that he had made because of its peace
and rest. It was a refuge from excitement, and
it was a pleasure for him to retire to it after the
diversion of the theatre or the banquet hall. It
was in an excellent neighborhood near Central
Park, and there the General loved to wander on
pleasant days with his grandchildren, of whom he
had eight. None of these lived with him, but they
visited him frequently, and considered it the high-
est privilege as well as the greatest pleasure to
walk with him.

General Sherman was always a most delightful
host. His welcome was cordial and hospitable,
and the guests felt at once at ease while realizing
the honor and the privilege of the association.
As a raconteur he was admirable. He had lived
so long, had seen so much, and had done so much
that the least suggestion brought forth from
him stories that were both Instructive and enter-
taining. On his seventieth birthday, which he
celebrated by a little dinner in his home on the

HIS LIFE IN NEW' YORK. • 83

evening of Feb. 8, 1890, he said: "Yes, I am
seventy years old to-day, the time allotted for man
to live, but I can truly say that I have not felt
better at any time within ten years. Seventy
years is a long time, and it seems a great while
since I was a boy. Still, I can recall incidents
that happened when I was not more than four
years of age." His memory was astonishing in
detail and his rriind was wonderful in vigor. He
could recall the minutia of incidents almost from
infancy and throughout his eventful career.

His love for the theatre was prodigious. He
was deeply interested in all that pertained to
the stage, and he valued certain actors and act-
resses as his dearest friends. He used to tell
how he had come to New York when he was six-
teen years old and had then visited the old Park
Theatre, on Park Row, between Beekman and
Ann Streets. In those days, he said there were
great star -actors, but the general average of
theatrical people was not high, and the possibil-
ity of an actress being received in social circles
was not considered. He gloried in the change
that had taken place in the interim, and it was

84 LIFE OF GENERAL WM. T. SHERMAN.

a delight to him to recognize the fact that many
of our actresses to-day might grace any parlor
with their presence. He maintained that it was
the duty of all public men to foster and encour-
age an institution so worthy as the stage.

In attending public dinners, of which he
averaged far more than any other man of his
age, General* Sherman was very particular as to
what he ate. He confined himself on such oc-
casions to the plainest dishes, and was wont to
drink only a little sauterne or sherry. He never
touched champagne, and had no use for the
heavier wines. Of all things he abhorred what
he called those mixed-up French dishes which
might be anything or nothing. " Half the
time," he used to say, " these concoctions are
only turkey or chicken hash fixed up with some
kind of sauce and called a croquette or some-
thing of the kind. I have no use for them."
He had his own theories about dining both in
private and in public.

He disliked exceedingly the prevalent custom
of late dinners. He declared that all private din-
ners should be given at such an hour as to enable

ms LIFE IN NEW- YORK. 86

the diners to attend the theatre afterwards. His
great love for the theatre probably had more
to do with this position than his dislike for late
dinners. He also advocated plain food for pub-
lic dinners and deplored the costliness of modern
banquets, declaring that it was absurd to pay
$2^ 3. plate for a dinner. Most people could
not eat such dinners, and those that could paid
the penalty of sickness for their rashness. Fond
as General Sherman was of public banquets, he
loved his home better. He was happiest when
he could gather about him a choice circle of
intimate friends and entertain them in his own
house.

When he attained his seventieth birthday the
Union League Club proposed to honor the event
by a banquet to him in its club-house. He
thanked them for the kindness intended, but re-
fused on the ground that he had arranged and
preferred a little dinner in his own dining-room
which could seat but sixteen people. And so he
told the members of the Union League that they
would have to postpone their proposed banquet
or else abandon it altogether. He was going to

86 LIFE OF GENERAL WM. T. SHERMAN.

dine at home that night, and with him he would
have his brother John, the United States Senator
from Ohio, and General Schofield, General How-
ard and General Slocum, who had been his
three division commanders at the close of the war.
It afforded General Sherman the greatest happi-
ness that these three distinguished soldiers should
be with him that nic^ht and all in excellent
health.

His other guests were Chauncey M. Depew,
General Thomas Ewing, General Wager Swayne,
Joseph H. Choate, Colonel J. M. Wilson, Super-
intendent of the West Point Military Academy,
Major Grant, Mayor Chapin, of Brooklyn, Augus-
tin Daly, J. M. Pinchot, Logan C. Murray and
John J. Knox. Mr. Depew was very anxious to
have General Sherman come around to the Union
League Club that night, after the dinner in his
own house, but ^the General replied to the
suggestion: " How can I do that, Chauncey? I
can't hurry up my guests in order to go to some-
body else's entertainment. You will have to
give up this Union League scheme of yours."
And so Mr. Depew submitted gracefully to the

HIS LIFE IN NEW' YORK. 87

inevitable, but a month later a grand banquet
was given by the Union League Club in honor
of General Sherman's birthday, and at this ban-
quet were present many of the most noted men
in the United States, all eager to honor the old
chieftain.

In all of his pleasant and peaceful old age
General Sherman realized fully the necessary in-
firmities of increasing years and the probability
that death might remove him at any time. The
contemplation of death had no terrors for him.
His position in this matter is best expressed in
the reply which he made on his seventieth birth-
*day to a conventional wish that he might have
many happy returns of the day.

He said then, with a full appreciation of the
insecurity of life as well as of the fact that his
race was nearly run : " I am too old to hope for
many returns of the day. And then life is so
uncertain. .Death seems to come nowadays
without almost any warning, but many a man
has sprung up in readiness when I have had
the trumpets sounded, and I am still a soldier.
When Gabriel sounds his trumpet I shall be ready."

88 LIFE OF GENERAL WM. T. SHERMAN.

Gen. Sherman's taste In dramatic matters was
catholic and Hberal. He appreciated every-
thing good. He had been a theatre-goer In his
early youth, and had lively memories of the best
actors of the last generation — Burton, RIchlngs,
Wheatley, Warren, Forrest and the elder Booth.
During his long term of active service he had
few chances to gratify his liking for the drama,
and after his retirement he made the most of
his opportunities. He told at the big supper party
given in honor of Edwin Booth by A. M. Palmer
and Augustin Daly, March 31, 1889, how, as a
young officer In San Francisco, he sat In the bal-
cony of his hotel in 1856 and listened longlngl/
to the cheers of the enthusiastic settlers who
were then giving Booth his first encouragement.

General Sherman was one of the incorporators
of The Players, and an intimate friend of many
of the most prominent actors of this era. He
was always a guest at important theatrical ban-
quets, and at the famous supper gived by Mr.
Daly to celebrate the one hundredth consecu-
tive performance of " The Taming of the Shrew,"
on the stage of Daly's Theatre, April 14, 1887,

HIS LIFE IN NEW YORK. S9

and at the supper party given by the same
manager in Delmonico's, March 27, 1888, to
Mr. Irving and Miss Terry, he presided with
graceful dignity, and skillfully brought out the
best wit of the company. He was equally con-
spicuous at Mr. Palmer's breakfast to Wyndham.
He spoke at the last anniversary celebration of
the Actors' Fund, of which he was an honorary
member. When he spoke on these occasions his
remarks were always apposite and worth listen-
ing to. He was often seen, an attentive listener,
at the discussions of dramatic topics before the
Ninteenth Century Club and other fashionable
debating societies and classes.

Notwithstanding his intimate association in
the later years of his life with actors off the
stage, the acted play always seemed to have its
proper illusion for him. He was always deeply
interested in the story and impressed by its
reality. He seemed to preserve, in common with
Dickens, Thackeray and Charles Lamb, until
the end of his life a youthful freshness of heart
and mind. The actors who met him keenly ap-
preciated this quality. They felt that he was,

90 LIFE OF GENERAL WM. T. SHERMAN,

indeed, a keenly appreciative spectator, free
from all bias of opinion. If he has left diaries,
we may be sure that they do not contain coldly
sententious observations on plays and actors,
such as we find, for instance, in the diaries of
John Quincy Adams. Every habitual theatre-
goer will miss General Sherman, and even those
who never had the privilege of knowing him will
feel his death as a personal loss.

General Sherman died possessed of a con-
siderable fortune, estimated at between j^i 50,000
and <^20o,ooo. Three years ago he purchased
the house in which he and his family resided, at
75 West Seventy-first street. Like many army
officers, he long ago bought real estate in grow-
ing cities in the West and held tlVe property as a
speculation. In this way General Sherman
cleared a good deal of money. He owned, it is
said, several houses in St. Louis, and several
hundred acres of land on the outskirts of Topeka,
Kan. Although a good liver. General Sherman
did not spend all of the $13,500 salary received
by him from the Government for many years, and
his savings he invested.

HIS LIFE IN NEW YORK. 91

General Sherman's last literary work was done
two months ago, and was an Introduction to " A
Woman's Trip to Alaska," written by the wife of
General C. H. T. Collls.

This picture of the old hero at seventy was some
time ago published In a New York paper.

"General Sherman is quite gray now. Both his
hair and beard are white. But he is still a very
hard-working man. He lives very quietly with his
family at his house on Seventy-first street, west of
Central Park. He is as accessible as any man
in New York, but he has a most direct and posi-
tive way of dealing with bores. It has been stated
that the General is irascible, and so he is to per-
sons who annoy him. To persons who have some
real reason for calling upon him he is always cour-
teous. A rinor at the door bell of the General's
handsome brownstone residence brings a pleasant-
faced servant girl to answe#the call.

**The old fighter is peculiar in one respect. The
girl that opens his door for visitors never has to go
and ask him if he is in. At the first she tells one
that " the General is in," or he is not. That set-
tles it. If he is in he will see you. If you are a

92 LIFE OF GENERAL WM. T. SHERMAN.

bore, as a good many of his callers are, look out
for squalls, and under any circumstances it is not
well to be prolix. General Sherman likes one to
get to the point at once. If the visitor is not able
to do this he is likely to be interrupted.

"There is one sort of a caller who is always re-
ceived with warmth, and that is one of General
Sherman's old soldiers, or his ' boys,' as he calls
them. Just how much assistance General Sherman
gives to old and unfortunate soldiers it would be
hard to say. No one but himself knows, and he
won't tell. But these are among the more numer-
ous of the visitors at his house. Besides them there
are all sorts and conditions of callers at his house.

" General Sherman is methodical in his habits
and in his work. He is an early riser. He eats an
early and a light breakfast, and afterward is to be
seen in his library at the end of the hall on the
parlor floor of his hou«e. He has a comparatively
large library, not entirely made up of military
books either. He has always had a keen literary
taste, and there are few men who are better posted
on the literary and historical records of this and
other lands."

HIS LIFE IN NEW YORK. 93

THE general's LAST BIRTHDAY DINNER AT THE
NATIONAL CAPITAL.

The last birthday spent by General Sherman at
Washington was that on which he became 63 years
of age — February 8, 1883. In one year more he
would have been retired by statute, but he antici-
pated the date by several months in closing his
active connection with the army. Knowing of his
purpose to do this, Colonel George B. Corkhill,
then District Attorney, made the General's sixty-
third birthday the occasion of tendering him an
elaborate dinner, which was given at the host's
apartment in the Portland. Twenty-one gentle-
men surrounded the table, of whom nine, includ-
ing the genial host, have now joined the immor-
tals.

The full list is as follows: General Sherman,
Lieutenant-General Sheridan, Attorney-General
Brewster, Chief Justice Waite, Associate Justice
Miller, Associate Justice Stanley Matthews, Sen-
ator Logan, Senator Allison, Senator Hawley,
Senator Sherman, Mr. James G. Blaine, Speaker
Keifer, Mr. Stilson Hutchins, Mr. Frank Hatton,

94 LIFE OF GENERAL WM. T. SHERMAN.

Mr. Henry Watterson, Colonel Clayton Mc-
Michael, General Van Vliet, Chief Justice Cartter,
and Associate Justice McArthur, of the Supreme
Court of the District of Columbia. The menu
card of that admirable dinner forms a historic
souvenir. It is six large leaves of cardboard tied
in book form with bows of red, white and blue,
and embellished on the outer leaves with a fine
portrait of General Sherman and scenes from his
march to the sea.

Inside the first leaf are these lines, printed in blue
with a red line border to the page, as is the entire
menu: —

Fill up the glass ! We drink to-night

To the dark days of the nation.
We drink to days we can't forget,

Of camp and gun and ration.

Fill up ! We drink to Sherman's years,
And we drink to the march he led us;

To the hard work done, and the victories won.
When fortune illy served us.

We drink to twenty years ago,

When Sherman led our banner;
His mistresses were fortresses,

His Christmas gift — Savannah !

CHAPTER V.

HIS HUMOROUS SIDE.

THE OLD SOLDIER ALWAYS LOVED A JOKE OR A
GOOD STORY.

^ I ^HE men who served with or under General
Sherman in any of his numerous and bril-
liant campaigns are now telling anecdotes illus-
trative of that wonderful personality that has
made so deep an impress upon American history
during the third of a century past. It was in the
presence of his old army friends, when the civil-
ian world was shut out, that he was at his best,
and the flow of his spirits ran unchecked and
joke and story ran into each other, sometimes at
the expense of his neighbor and as often at the
expense of himself. No conceit gave him more
amusement than that his friend General Howard
was a convivial spirit, given to the bowl and kin-
dred pursuits, whereas the hero of the one arm

9ft

96 LIFE OF GENERAL WM. T. SHERMAN,

is the most temperate of men. It was this fact
that gave point to the joke, and Sherman was
never more happy than when he could corner
Howard at one of their little Loyal Legion dinners
and lecture him upon the errors of his ways.

Perhaps Sherman never forgot a great practi-
cal joke which Howard unconsciously played
upon him back in the days when the Union army
was resting upon its arms at Goldsborough. Sher-
man paid a visit to Howard's tent, where neither
wine nor anything more invigorating than cold
water was kept. As luck would have it, Dr. John
Moore, the Medical Director, dropped into How-
ard's tent. Here was a man Sherman could de-
pend upon in an emergency like this.

Sherman gave Moore a wank when Howard's
back was turned and said, " Doctor, have you a
seidlitz powder in your quarters ? I don't feel
just right, and I know one would do me good."
Moore had not supplemented a liberal college
education by several years in the army in vain.
He was equal to any drug clerk of New York in
his knowledge of the meanino^ of a wink.

" A seidlitz powder, General ? Certainly. Come

HIS HUMOROUS SIDE. 97

right over to my quarters and I can fix you out
immediately."

General Howard sprang to his feet. " That
won't be necessary, Doctor," said he. " I have
plenty of powders here, and good ones, too. I
will get the General one."

Sherman had little desire and less need for a
seidlitz just then, and he followed Howard to his
feet. " Never mind," said he, " I can get along
very well without it."

" No trouble at all," Howard answered, as he
began to get the powder and the glasses ready.
Sherman turned to Moore for relief, but that gen-
tleman was busy in examining the landscape as
an aid to keep his face straight. When that was
accomplished, he turned about and gravely said :
" By the way. General, I don't believe I have one
about the premises, and you had better take the
one Howard has prepared." Moore was some-
thing of a joker himself and knew a joke when
he saw one.

Sherman was a soldici to the backbone and
would not retreat in the face of an enemy.
When Howard came up with the glasses, he

98 LIFE OF GENERAL IVM. T. SHERMAN.

bravely took them and swallowed the foaming
stuff. But he never again complained of need-
ing medicine when in Howard's tent.

A joke as good, but of a different character,
was that almost unconsciously perpetrated on
Sherman by an Indian chief. Out at Fort Bay-
ard there lay for a long time an old cannon, of
no use to any one, but which had gready taken
the fancy of an old Apache chief. He daily
asked the commander for it, but was put off
with the excuse that it belonged to the Govern-
ment and could not be given away. One day
General Sherman arrived at the fort, and the re-
quest of the chief was referred to him. He ex-
amined the cannon, saw that it was worthless,
and told the Indian he might have it. Then,
putting on a grave air, he said to the chief: " I
am afraid you want that gun so that you can
turn it on my soldiers and kill them."

"Umph! no," was the unexpected reply.
" Cannon kill cowboys. Kill soldiers with club."

General Hickenlooper, of Ohio, tells a story
Illustrating Sherman's dry wit, rather at the ex-
pense of General Corse. In the fight at Altoona

HIS HUMOROUS SIDE. 99

a rifle-ball took Corse alongside the head, making
a slight wound that, at the time, was thought to
be a great deal more dangerous than it really
was. When the word reached Sherman it had
been greatly magnified, and he was informed
that Corse's ear and cheek were gone, but tliat he
would still hold his position and fight it out.

Meanwhile Corse had tied up his head and
gone on with the business he had been sent
there to do. As soon as possible Sherman hur-
ried over, fiill of anxiety, as to the amount of
damage done his officer. Nothing would do but
that the bandage must come off, so that he
might judge of the damage for himself. The
surgeon carefully took off the cloths and re-
vealed a slight gash across the face and a hole
through the ear. Sherman looked for a moment
and then dryly said : " Why, Corse, they came
d— d near missing you, didn't they?'

Many are the stories told of that march to the
sea, and occasionally the General would tell
one himself. Here is one of his own narration :
On one occasion he had halted for rest on the
piazza of a house by the roadside, when it came

100 LIFE OF GENERAL WM. T, SHERMAN.

into the mind of an old Confederate who was
present that he might pick up a bit of valuable
information by a lltde careful quizzing. He
knew by Sherman's dress that he was an officer,
but had no suspicion as to his rank. When he
heard a staff officer use the tide of *' General,"
he turned to Sherman in surprise and said: "Are
you a General? "

"Yes, sir," was the response.

"What is your name? "

"Sherman."

*' Sherman ? You don't mean General Sherman ?"

"That's who I mean."

" How many men have you got ? "

" Oh, over a million."

"Well, General, there's just one question I'd
like to ask you, if you have no objections."

"Go ahead."

"Where are youns a going to when you go
away from here? "

" Well that's a pretty stiff quesdon to ask an
endre stranger under these circumstances, but if
you will give me your word to keep it a secret I
don't mind telling you."

HIS HUMOROUS SIDE. 101

•♦ I will keep it a secret; don't have no fear of
me."

" But there is a great risk, you know. What
if I should tell you my plans, and they should get
over to the enemy ? "

" I tell you there is no fear of me."

" You are quite sure I can trust you ? "

" As your own brother."

The General slowly climbed into his saddle
and leaned over to the expectant Confederate,
who was all eyes and ears for the precious in-
formation. " I will tell you where I am going.
I am going — just where I please." And he did,
and there was not enough powder in the South
to stop him.

Sherman never forgot that litde drummer boy
who came to him in the hot fight at the rear of
Vicksburg, and when it came in his power he
had the youngster appointed to the Naval
Academy at Annapolis. The troops were in the
heat of the engagement, when Sherman heard a
shrill, childish voiee calling out to him that one
of the regiments was out of ammunition, and
that the men would have to abandon their posi-

102 LIFE OF GENERAL WM. T. SHERMAN.

tion unless he sent to their relief. He looked
down, and there by the side of his horse was a
mite of a boy, with the blood running from a
wound in his leg.

"All right, my boy," said the General, "I'll
send them all they need; but as you seem to be
badly hurt, you had better go and find a surgeon
and let him fix you up."

The boy saluted and started to the rear, while
Sherman prepared to give the required order
for the needed ammunition. But he once more
heard the piping voice shouting back at him:
"General, calibre fifty-eight. Calibre fifty-eight."
Glancing back, he saw the little fellow, all un-
conscious of his wound, running again toward
him to tell of the character of the ammunition
needed, as another size would have been of no
use, and left the men as badly off as before.
Sherman never could speak too highly of the
little fellow's pluck; he asked him his name,
complimented him, and promised to keep an
eye upon him, which he did. He often related
the story, and always with praises for the little
soldier's bravery.

HIS HUMOROUS SIDE. 103

The following is related by a prominent army
officer:

*' I don't know that I ever saw Sherman
angry but once," said this gentleman. " It was
at a camp-fire before Richmond. He had just
come in from his march from Raleigh and had re-
ceived the Northern papers containing the bitter
letters of Halleck and Stanton criticisincr him for
allowing Jeff Davis to get out of Richmond.
When Sherman read these letters his indignation
was furious. Afterward, when he had calmed
down, he unbosomed himself in his free, frank
style to his staff as follows : ' I went down to City
Point with Grant and met the President. After
we had concluded our council of war I said to
the President : " Mr. President, what about Jeff
Davis ? Do y©u want him captured ?" * Now,
General," replied Lincoln. " That reminds me of
a story. Some years ago there was a temperance
lecturer in Central Illinois. He had agreed to
deliver a lecture in a village near Springfield.
The night of the lecture he had to drive about
five miles through a drenching rain-storm, and
when he reached the inn which the village boasted

104 LIFE OF GENERAL WM. T, SHERMAN.

he was wet to the skin. The hour set for his lec-
ture was near. Some friends advised him, in
view of his condition, to postpone it. He would
not listen to the advice, but said the lecture would
have to go on. * Then you must take some stimu-
lant or you will make yourself ill.' ' Do you
think I need a stimulant ?' asked the temperance
lecturer. * You certainly do, and a strong one,'
remarked a friend. 'Then make me a hot
lemonade,' said the shivering lecturer. *A hot
lemonade will do you no good; you want whiskey,'
said the adviser. ' But you forget that I am a tem-
perance lecturer.' * No, you forget your health
is in danger,' was the reply. * Well,' said the lec-
turer, as he cautiously surveyed his surroundings,
* I suppose if some whiskey were to get into that
hot lemonade without me seeing it I would not be
responsible for it." * Now,' said Sherman, with
considerable force, * what inference was I to take
from that story ? I believe that President Lin-
coln did not care whether Jeff Davis was
captured, and that I was carrying out his im-
plied wish in making no effort to prevent his
escape.* "

HIS HUMOROUS SIDE. 105

The same officer told this story of the General
and vouches for its authenticity :

A SOCIAIv LION.

" General Sherman," said he, *^ was, as every-
body knows, a great diner-out. He loved com-
pany, and was a delightful companion at a ban-
quet. During his life in Washington he was in
great demand and was constandy receiving invi-
tations to luncheons, dinners and receptions.
One afternoon the General was dressed and
ready to go out for dinner, when he suddenly
stopped and bowed his head in thought. Then,
turning to Mrs. Sherman, he said : * Emily, I have
an invitation to dinner somewhere this afternoon,
but for the life of me I cannot remember where
it is.* * Oh, we can soon remedy that,' said Mrs.
Sherman;* you stand at the front window until
you see General Van Vleet coming down the
street. Go out and join him, and you will get the
right place.'"

During the Georgia campaign members of the
Christian Commission applied for permission for

106 LIFE OF GENERAL WM. T. SHERMAN,

its delegates to pass within his lines. He replied
to their letter :

"Certainly not; crackers and oats are more
necessary for the army than any moral or re-
ligious agency, and every regiment has its chap-
lain."

When afterward he traversed the long, single
line of rickety railroad, beset by guerrillas and
upon which he was obliged to depend for supplies
for his army, and now that we realize how much
of the success of his campaign depended upon
secret combinations and sudden movements, we
can appreciate the necessity for this stringent
military control over his rear communication and
approve the policy of the General who makes the
material support of the army his first and con-
stant care.

A good story is told of one who was on Kene-
saw Mountain during Sherman's advance. A
group of Confederates lay in the shade of a tree
overlooking the Union camps about Big Shanty.
One soldier remarked to his fellows : — " Well, the
Yanks will have to git up and git now, for I heard
General Johnston himself say that General

HIS HUMOROUS SIDE. 107

Wheeler had blown up the tunnel near Dalton
and that the Yanks would have to retreat because
they could get no more rations."

" Oh !" said a listener. " Don't you know

that old Sherman carries a duplicate tunnel
along ?"

One day, looking back, the men saw a line of
bridges in their rear in flames.

"Guess, Charley," said a trooper, "Uncle Billy
has set the river on fire."

Charley's reply was, "Well, if he has I reckon
it's all right."

Among the many stories told with great gusto
by General Sherman while entertaining friends on
the veranda of the Fort William Henry Hotel on
Lake George last summer was the following :

" I arrived in Dublin," he said, *' late one night
and, as I hoped, unknown. I was tired out and
made for the first hotel in sight. The next morn-
ing I awoke rather late, but with the pleasant feel-
ing that, as nobody knew of my comiug, I could
pass the day as I pleased, writing letters, etc. I
rang for breakfast, and after the remnants of the
repast were cleared away I seated myself at a

108 LIFE OF GENERAL WM. T. SHERMAN.

table, with the writing-desk I always carry with
me, and began to answer a score or more of let-
ters. In the midst of my writing I heard a brass
band coming down the street. I listened. There
was something about the music that had a familiar
sound. Yes. It was that old air 'Marching
Through Georgia.' Here was an end to my
quietness. It was evident that some one had
found me out. I got up, put on an old uniform
coat and sat down and waited. The band came
nearer and it was all I could do to keep my feet
still. I waited for the band to stop. They
neared the hotel — and what? Well they went
prancing past the house and down the street, the
music fading away in the distance. There was
something wrong here, evidently. I took off my
uniform, put on another suit of clothes and went
down to interview the proprietor. I found him
sitting in solitary magnificence in an inside room.
He looked at me without rising.

"'Good-morning,' I said.

" * Good-morning,' he returned.

" A pause.

*' ' I heard a band on the street a few minutes

ms HUMOROUS SIDE. 109

ago. Anything of special importance going on
here to-day ? '

" A band ? Oh, yes ; they're bound for a pic-
nic/

"A picnic? What? In this rain?* I forgot
to say it was raining, and had been and did during
the most of my stay in Ireland.

"'Oh, that's nothing/ said the landlord, 'It
rains here the most of the time.'

"'Do you remember what they were playing?
The air sounded familiar.'

"'Yes.'

" ' It sounded to me like an American march.*

'** An American march? Humph! It was an
old Irish air. I first heard it when a boy. All
the bands in Dublin play it as a march nowa-
days.'

" I returned to my room and finished my letters."

CHAPTER VI.

HIS LAST SICKNESS AND DEATH.

r^ ENERAL SHERMAN died Saturday after-
noon, February 14th, at 1.50 o'clock.
So gendy and peacefully did the spirit of
the great soldier depart that the sorrowing
relatives at his bedside could scarcely re-
alize at the time that death had completed
its work. The dying man was surrounded by
all of the members of his family except his eldest
son, the Rev. T. E. Sherman, who was on the
Atlantic homeward bound.

All hope of General Sherman's recovery was
practically abandoned early the day before. The
wonderful vitality displayed by the distinguished
invalid had kept hope alive up to that time in the
hearts of the affectionate watchers. But soon
after 5 o'clock a.m., of the 13th, there were
alarming symptoms. It was evident to Dr. Alex-
110

HIS LAST SICKNESS AND DEA TH. Ill

ander that the General was sinking rapidly. His
strength seemed to have been spent.

In the belief that death was near, the members
of the household, who had retired about 2 o'clock
A.M., were summoned to the * sick chamber.
Lieutenant Fitch and Mr. Thackara had left the
house for the night, and they were sent for. It
was a sad groufT that gathered about the couch of
the dying soldier just before the dawn of day.
The General was very weak indeed. His lungs
were almost dormant, and but the faintest bit of
breath came from them. The doctors observed
symptoms of pneumonia.

No word had passed General Sherman's lips
since very early Friday, when he addressed some
brief remark to his nurse. Members of his
family listened eagerly for some utterance from
him but none came. Once or twice it seemed
to the watchers as though the dying man was
tr)ing to speak. His eyes bespoke affection-
ate recognition of those about him, but his swollen
tongue was incapable of articulation. His jaws,
too, became too stiff to work, and the great hero
of the famous march to the sea, although living,

112 LIFE OF GENERAL WM. T. SHERMAN.

was as silent and helpless as a sleeping babe.
The hours dragged wearily along and the mem-
bers of the family waited mournfully and patiently
the coming of the destroyer. The faithful doctors
could give them no hope.

Soon after daylight telegrams were sent to
General O. O. Howard at Governor's Island
and to General Henry W. Slocum in Brooklyn,
asking them to come to the house as soon as
possible. Both of these well-known soldiers
were old comrades-in-arms of General Sherman.
They responded to the summons as speedily as
they were able.

Senator John Sherman, who had spent the
night at his brother's house and had scarcely
slept, sent the following dispatch to his wife at
8.25 o'clock A.M.:

" General Sherman still lives, faintly conscious
and without pain. His asthmatic breathing is
shorter and his strength weaker."

A little before 9 o'clock the following bulletin,
dated at 8.30 o'clock a.m., was posted:

"The physicians, after consultation, declared that

HIS LAST SICKNESS AND DEA TH. 115

General Sherman's condition is now hopeless.
He is dying, and the end is near.

" C. T. Alexander.*'

This sorrowful information was conveyed to
the newspaper reporters and to the police officer
who was stationed in front of the dying man's
residence, 75 West Seventy-first street. Through
those mediums it was imparted to scores of
passers-by, who stopped to eagerly inquire
about General Sherman's condition. During the
forenoon several of the General's New York
friends called at the house, and upon being in-
formed of the hopeless situation left messages
of sympathy for the family. No person was
admitted to the house except relatives or very
intimate friends. General Thomas Ewing, brother-
in-law of General Sherman, reached the house
early in the day, accompanied by his son, Thomas
Ewing, Jr. General O. O. Howard arrived soon
afterwards. In deference to the wishes of the
family, no persons were permitted to loiter in
front of the house.

General Sherman relapsed into unconscious-
8

114 LIFE OF GENERAL WM, T. SHERMAN.

ness about noon, and for the two hours before
his death he remained in that condition. Death
was momentarily expected during that time, and
no member of the family left the room. Some
of the dying hero's daughters knelt by his bed-
side throughout that trying period. There were
present the General's son, Mr. P. T. Sherman, his
daughters, Miss Rachel and Miss Lizzie, who lived
with him, his married daughters, Mrs. T. W. Fitch,
of Pittsburg and Mrs. A. M. Thackara of Rose-
mont, Penna.; Senator John Sherman, General
Thomas Ewing, Mr. Fitch, and Mr. Thackara,
Dr. Alexander, and Miss Elizabeth Price, a trained
nurse from the New York Hospital.

General Sherman died in his usual sleeping
apartment in the rear of the second floor. In
other apartments at the same time were General
O. O. Howard, Mr. Barrett, General Sherman's
private secretary ; Mr. and Mrs. Alfred Hoyt and
Alfred W. Hoyt, Mrs. Colgate Hoyt, Miss May
Ewing and Mrs. Kilpatrick, widow of General
Judson Kilpatrick. Dr. Janeway left the house in
the morning, as soon as he saw that the patient's
case was hopeless.

HIS LAST SICKNESS AND DEA TH. 116

About half an hour before the General's death
the watchers discerned signs of approaching dis-
solution. First the old soldier's finofers becran to
grow cold, then the fatal coldness crept slowly up
his arms and over his body. As the end ap-
proached, the General's head, which had been
resting on a large pillow, was lowered gradually
in the hope that he might be enabled to breathe
easier. Although he died from suffocation, caused
by the mucus from his inflamed throat filling his
lunors, there were no indications of sufferino- on
his part. He sank into his eternal slumber with
scarcely a sign. Those who were nearest his head
say that they heard a gentle sigh escape his lips
and then all was over. It was just 1.50 o'clock
when the famous soldier expired. There was no
clergyman of any denomination in the house dur-
ing the day.

Within a minute or two after General Sher-
man's death one of his men-servants stepped out-
side of the front door and said : " It is all over."

The male members of the family at once busied
themselves in sending necessary telegrams an-
nouncing General Sherman's death. Such tele-

116 LIFE OF GENERAL WM. T. SHERMAN.

grams were sent to President Harrison, Vice-
President Morton, the Hon. Redfield Proctor,
Secretary of War ; Secretary Blaine, Gen. J. M.
Schofield, and Secretary Noble.

Soon the crape emblem of death was fastened
to the front door, giving silent information to
every passer-by that the brave and honored Gen.
Sherman was no more. Almost every person that
passed stopped to ask the policeman on guard for
particulars of the sad event. But all that the
officer could tell them was: "He is dead." By
and by messages of condolence began to arrive,
and carriage after carriage rolled up to the
house.

A large number of well-known New-Yorkers
sent expressions of their sympathy to the mem-
bers of Gen. Sherman's family, and several called
at the house during the afternoon. Among the
latter were Gen. Steward L. Woodford, Gen. C.
H. T. Collis, and Col. Whitney, all warm personal
friends of Gen. Sherman. General Collis said :
"General Sherman had a presentiment of his ap-
proaching end two weeks before he was taken ill
at all. We met on our way to an affair at ex-Judge

HIS LAST SICKNESS AND DBA TH. 117

Dillon's house. I mentioned the approaching
anniversary of General Grant's birth-day, which
occurs April 27. 'I'll be dead and gone by that
time,' said Sherman earnestly, with a foreboding
look in his eye. I laughed at the remark and
tried to cheer him up, as he seemed a bit blue ;
but he only answered my jokes with a more
serious manner, saying ; * I feel it coming. Some-
times when I get home from an entertainment or
banquet, especially these wintry nights, I feel
death reaching for me, as it were. I suppose
I'll take cold some night and go to bed, never to
rise again.' The words were prophetic. A
week ago last Wednesday night, sitting in a box
at the theatre, he caught the cold that eventuated
in his death."

Dr. C. T. Alexander gave the history of Gen-
eral Sherman's illness. The doctor had been al-
most incessantly at the General's bedside from the
time his illness began, and he had not had more
than two hours' sleep any day since the previous
Sunday.

" The General, as is known," he said, " caught
cold Wednesday a week ago. The next day he

U8 LIFE OF GENERAL WM. T. SHERMAN,

attended a wedding against the urgent advice of
the members of his family. On Friday I was
called in and found the General suffering from a
cold and a sore throat. On Saturday he felt so
much better that he wanted to keep an appoint-
ment he had made for that day. On my advice,
however, he desisted, and spent the day playing
cards, I believe, with his family. Erysipelas set
in on Sunday. He was flighty that day, and on
Monday he became delirious. The erysipelas
spread over his face, and the lymphatic glands in
his neck became swollen. I applied treat-
ment for the erysipelas. Wednesday came
and there was no change for the better, but Gen-
eral Sherman sllghdy rallied on Thursday morn-
ing. His rally was not such as to insure even
faint hope of the General's recovery, and I so in-
formed Surgeon-General Moore at Washington.
Friday was the turning-point for the patient.
The erysipelas had almost completf^ly dis-
appeared, but the attack had left the General
very much weakened. His old complaint, bron-
chial trouble and asthma, I think, killed General
Sherman. In his weakened condition he was

HIS LAST SICKNESS AND DEA TH. 119

unable to throw off the mucus which gathered
on his lungs. The mucus accumulated, and the
General was slowly strangled to death.

'* I think he . suffered greatly. There was
always the quick respiration, the gasp for breath,
but he bore everything without a murmur, and no
one could have been more heroic.

But now the great General was no more. He
had passed over the dark river and has made his
last march. Let the fife shriek and the drum
sound the deathless song that was written for him,
and will never die so long as martial music lives —

Bring the good old bugle, boys, we'll have another song —
Sing it with a spirit that will start the worid along —
Sing it as we used to sing it, fifty thousand strong,
While we were marching through Georgia.

(Chorus.)

" Hurrah ! Hurrah ! we bring the jubilee !
Hurrah ! Hurrah ! the flag that makes you free ! "
So we sang the chorus from Atlanta to the sea,
While we were marching through Georgia.

How the darkies shouted when they heard the joyful sound !
How the turkeys gobbled which our commissary found !

1^ LIFE OF GENERAL WM. T. SHERMAN,

How the sweet potatoes even started from the ground.
While we were marching through Georgia.

(Chorus.)

Yes, and there were Union men who wept with joyful tears.
When they saw the honored flag they had not seen for years ;
Hardly could they be restrained from breaking forth in cheers,
While we were marching through Georgia.

(Chorus.)

"Sherman's dashing Yankee boys will never reach the coast! "
So the saucy rebels said, and 'twas a handsome boast —
Had they not forgot, alas ! to reckon with the host,
While we were marching through Georgia.

(Chorus.)

So we made a thoroughfare for Freedom and her train,
Sixty miles in latitude — three hundred to the main ;
Treason fled before us, for resistance was in vain.
While we were marching through Georgia.

(Chorus.)
BEFORE THE FUNERAL.

Some two weeks before his death General
Sherman made known his wishes as to his burial.
He particularly requested that his body should
not lie in state anywhere.

He also requested that the funeral be a strictly

HIS LAST SICKNESS AND DFA TIL 121

military one. He said he did not care partic-
ularly for any military observances here In New
York, but that he did want a military burial In St.
Louis, which would be participated In by his
old comrades In arms. He also requested that the
funeral rites be not In conformity with any
particular form of religion. He wanted a soldier's
burial.

In the evening a number of veterans called at the
house, and expressed surprise when told they could
not enter, and were more surprised when told
that General Sherman's body would not lie in state.
" It's pretty hard not to be able to look on the
face of our old commander again," said one,
and this seemed the opinion also of his com-
panions. A military guard was placed in the
hall-way of the residence at 7.30 o'clock in the
evening and remained there until the body
removed. The guard consist of two men from
the First Regiment, United States Artillery.

The casket was of oak, with black broadcloth
covering. The lining of white satin and the bars
and mountings of silver. The silver plate bore a
very simple and brief inscription :

122 LIFE OF GENERAL WM. T. SHERMAN.

WILLIAM TECUMSEH SHERMAN.

Born Feb. 8, 1820.
Died Feb. 14, 1891.

It was General Sherman's own wish that his
body should not lie in state or his face be shown
after death to any but his family and nearest
friends. He left explicit directions on this
subject.

At the earnest solicitation, however, of thousands
of General Sherman's friends, his family finally
decided to allow the public to see the remains.

" In the darkened parlors of his home lay the
body of General Sherman, with the trappings of
his rank set off by flowers sent by loving friends,
heedless of them all and of the sad procession
which passed beside the coffin.

" How grand a face it was ! How steady, firm,
untroubled ! How high and broad the forehead,
and what tracings of the soldier were written
deep by the hand of time in the lines about the
austere yet kindly mouth, and the bold, aquiline
nose and adamantine chin !

" From ten to four the doors of the Sherman
mansion were left open to the public, and during

HIS LAST SICKNESS AND DEA TH. 123

the six hours a steady stream of callers passed
into the house and looked upon the dead. Armed
sentinels stood at each door to see that no un-
worthy person was given access, but no one of
decent appearance and serious mien was barred
out.

" The coffin was placed in the middle room,
between the front parlor and the dining-room,
resting on a catafalque, and the soft illumination
from seven tapers which stood in a tall, brass can-
delabra at the head fell like a benediction upon
the lace. A glass cover was above the face, and
all that could be seen through this sombre frame
was the face and bust clothed in the General's
uniform, with yellow sash, and the right hand lying
peacefully upon the breast.

REMEMBERED BY MRS. PORTER.

" There were no flowers on the casket, nothing
but the accoutrements used on any such occasion —
the gold and diamond hiked sword presented by
the State of New York and the cap — but just
beyond the head was a phalanx of magnificent
floral tributes, and the dark pedestal of the marble

124 LIFE OF GENERAL WM. T. SHERMAN,

bust of Sherman which stood beside the foot of
the coffin was decorated with a wreath of ivy.

" In the front parlor, not far away, hung the
life size portraits of the General and his wife, the
former festooned by two large flags, one of which
was his blue headquarter s flag, the other a large
silken banner made and presented by some ladies.

" Beside the big candlesticks was the token
which touched deeper than all else the hearts
of the mourning family. It was an exquisite
pillow wrought in violets, which came from Wash-
ington the day before * with loving regards,' from
the newly-made widow of Admiral Porter.

" There was one busy figure in the room, to
whose deft fingers was due the credit for the
tasteful adorning of the place. It was the
widow of the famous cavalry general, Judson
Kilpatrick, who has been at the house every day
since death entered it, performing little offices of
friendship such as only a woman can do."

EXPRESSING SYMPATHY.

Among the floral tributes were some lovely
palms sent from Ohio by the grandchildren of
Zachary Taylor ; a wreath of ivy and white lilacs^

HIS LAST SICKNESS AND DEA TH. 125

presented by Mme. Macchetta d'Allegri and
Blanche Roosevelt, of Paris ; a pillow of roses and
calla lilies from the Ohio Commandery of the
Loyal Legion, a bunch of callas from Mr. and
Mrs. Benjamin Field, a wreadi of ivy from Mrs.
Lawton and a bunch of lilies from Mr. and Mrs.
Pinchat.

As the afternoon passed the crowd increased,
and by night thousands of people of all classes,
ages and sexes had taken a last look at the face
of the nation's dead General. It was one of the
grandest testimonials of respect and . love that
could be paid by an appreciative public to one
who had been a leader in times of trouble and a
friend and one of the people in time of peace.
As the stream of persons entered the house.
passed by the casket and then out into the street
again, many touching scenes were witnessed,
Many old soldiers — some in the uniform of the
Grand Army — were unable to restrain their grief.

At half-past five the doors were closed and the
family and others of the household assembled in
the parlor and took their final look at the face of
their father, brother, friend.

CHAPTER VII.

THE FUNERAL. *

ATEW YORK gave General Sherman yester-
day a most impressive farewell. The sun at
noon shone upon a city draped with the emblems
of sorrow. It shed upon the parting at dusk,
when the escorting army, with trailing arms and
shrouded flags, had discharged its tender office, a
glowing benediction. The heart of the com-
munity was touched by this event as it had not
been since the chieftain of the great triumvirate
of Generals of the rebellion passed to his final
bivouac at Riverside.

Again the people laid aside their usual pursuits
and thronged the line of march, a countless,
hushed multitude. From end to end the route
was lined almost to the point of crushing with
those whose presence will make the day memor-
able alike for its occasion and for the number of

* From The New York Times.
126

THE FUNERAL, 127

its participants as witnesses, for the multitude
became more than mere lookers-on when by the
block they stood uncovered while the caisson with
its flag-wrapped burden and the carriages of the
mourners passed along.

A soldier's funeral it was above all else, but it
was more than that. For miles the streets were
in the sombre garb of almost continuous crape-
bound draperies. The wealth of tribute of this
kind made in itself a splendid offering to a hero's
memory. No section stood alone or conspicuous
in so honoring the event. From the neighbor-
hood in which the old General had his home to
the ferry at which his body was embarked, the
decorative remembrances of the affection in which
his fellow-citizens held him were lavish and beau-
tiful. The city became one great neighborhood
in its desire to express a common bereavement.

It was more than a soldier's funeral also be-
cause of the memories inspired, and the evidences
it displayed of the depleted veteran ranks. Bent
and grizzled was the remnant of comrades in the
march to the sea who turned out yesterday. The
canes the Grand Army men carried were plainly

128 LIFE OF GENERAL WM. T, SHERMAN,

no longer mere switches to all, and the efforts of
many to conceal any real use for them had a
touch of pathos about it that the multitude were
not slow to see and appreciate. Over parts of
the route there were uncovering of heads and
tears in the eyes of women when the old soldiers
passed, as though, perhaps, they might not be
seen toorether in such numbers much lono^er.

o o

The tolling church bells were sad indeed, as the
Grand Army moved along.

Outward tokens for the day were not confined
to the line of march. They hung from house-
fronts and shaded windows, and fluttered from
fiagstaffs throughout the ^metropolitan district.
From the highest perch the oudook all day in
every direction was dotted with flags at half-staff
on land, at half-mast on the water. All the ship-
ping on both rivers, in the Sound and in the bay
was dressed for the sad occasion, and as far as
the eye could reach on Long Island, into New
Jerse3% and on Staten Island, the flag floated
below the peak.

Of^ce and business buildings all over the city,
regardless of proximity to the line of march, wore

THE FUNERAL. 129

the proper Insignia, some of them being elabor-
ately shrouded. Scarcely a city block omitted to
give some token of the common sorrow by house-
front drapery. There was a practical suspension
of business diroughout the city after noon.

As the funeral pageant moved down the streets
through long rows that formed the front rank of
thousands upon thousands, there were many in
the crowds who recalled and lived over again
their emotions when the drum of the Recruiting
Sergeant sounded at every cross-roads and in
every village street. Mothers and wives were
there, who thirty years ago bade good-bye to their
beloved ones, half glad, half sorrowful, and as the
troops rumbled down the streets after the corpse
of one of the foremost figures of that day the
pictures all came back to them, the good-byes were
told again, the tears were shed afresh.

Out of the dull tread of the soldiers there

came to some of tlie sight-seers a vision of the

weary days of waiting, the news of batdc, the

anxious scanning of newspapers, the awful haste

to the front for remains or to the hospital for

tender ministrations. Then came remembrances
9

130 LIFE OF GENERAL WM. T. SHERMAN,

of crushed and bleeding hearts and of vacant
chairs at the fireside — such indeed are pictures of
the days when Sherman and his armies fought their
way to greatness and victory.

From the standpoint of these private citizens
who thronged the streets along the line of
march, it was a day never to be forgotten. For
two hours before the great column began to move
the streets along which it was to pass were like
mighty rivers toward which there constantly
flowed many tributaries. The strong arm of the
police did its best to stem the current, and every
inch of encroachment was contested stubbornly,
but with only partial success, until, amid clatter-
ing hoofs, shrill-blowing trumpets, and rattling
sidearms, the advance guard rode slowly down
the streets. Then the crowd compressed its
struggling members back to the curb, and for two
hours and a half it witnessed a memorable
pageant.

It was at Madison Square that the crowds as-
sumed the greatest proportions, and there, where
the street was broad and where many thousands
viewed its movements, the procession seemed to

THE FUNERAL. 131

• •

assume a more pronounced air of statellness than
had characterized its march elsewhere. A dirge-
breathing band, cadencing the mournful time of
the funeral march, wheeled first into view. The
sadness of its strains, the long files of crape-cov-
ered colors which followed, the badges of mourn-
ing on every breast and on every arm, the
inverted muskets, the tolling bells of neigh-
boring churches, the furrowed faces of the
mourners, each brought an air of new impres-
siveness upon the scene, and told of the Nation's
loss.

The rumble of artillery and the pounding hoofs
of the cavalry horses — music of iron on stone^ —
were fitting preludes to the oncoming bier of the
dead warrior. Stout horses straining under their
death-dealing cannon, grim and red-plumed ar-
tillerymen urging them on, flashes of angry crim-
son mingling with the blue — this is what the
crowds saw passing to the muffled throb of a
hundred drums. Glimpses of Drum Majors
here and there, stripes of red and white once
free, now close enfolded by bands of sombre
crape ; breasts on which stood forth medals and

132 LIFE OF GENERAL IVM. T. SHERMAN.

t

badges won on the fields of battle years ago, all
whirled by in a confusion of battle array.

Then came the pall-bearers. An added sense
of melancholy confronted the sIght-seer as these
veterans came Into view. The brave Schofield ;
Howard, who gave an arm to the cause while
commanding Sherman's right wing ; Braine, whose
shells crashed against Forts Fisher and Anderson ;
Greer, who fought beside Porter at VIcksburg ;
Sickles, Dodge and Corse ; Swayne, Woodford,
Wright and Moore, brave men and true — these
did the last honors beside the bier of their lament-
ed chieftain. There was another face among
them — that of Johnston, the same Joseph E.
Johnston who threw himself and his army before
Sherman In the march to the sea — the same
Johnston who, In April, 1865, surrendered to the
soldier whose corpse he was following in sorrow.

But now came a hush. The dead Conqueror !
High on the funeral catafalque, under a covering
black as night, where the sun kissed only the
canopy that hid him, he came, not leading, but led ;
no longer victorious, but himself surrendered.
Borne on the crisp air came the sobbing and sigh-

THE FUNERAL. 133

incr of flute and drum that sansf of the Nation's
sorrow; yet they told no story half so sad, they
touched no heart half so deep, as did the mass of
reverent blackness that bore him as a cloud.

There was a little interval after this, and then
came the two rows of closed carriages containing
the family, the relatives, and the nearest friends.
The blinds were tightly drawn to hide diem from
the curious eye. The hush of silent sympathy
was soon broken as the carriages of the President
and Vice-President, and those of ex-Presidents,
Cabinet, Ambassadors, and committees rumbled
into view and, with their coming, the spirits of the
throng seemed to rise and to brighten. Those
who had just parted were the heroes of a former
generation; these were the heroes of to-day.
Thousands turned their eyes toward the favorites
in this group of statesmen, and for each there was
a word of praise or an exclamation that betokened
recognition and admiration.

Next strode the comrades of his campaign and
battles — the men who, of all others, could best
recognize his greatness, and in so doing feel his
loss. They came from a hundred battle-fields.

134 LIFE OF GENERAL WM, T. SHERMAN.

The colors that they bore were only shreds, yet
every fibre of those tatters was wound about the
hearts of the men who marched beneath them.

An unbroken mile of these veterans followed,
each post bearing the flag It carried through the
war. Then came the cadets from West Point.
The sturdy gray of their coats and trousers, the
wonderful precision of their white belts and
straps, the spotlessness of their gloves, and the
splendid line they kept as they marched down the
street Is one of the noticeable features of a long-
to-be-remembered day. Their marching was far
better than that of those veterans who went
before, but then, their hearts are lighter, their
years less.

Last of all came the National Guard, all in blue
and gold, with pieces at right shoulder, bayonets
fixed, and lines splendidly kept. The New York
man who watched them from the crowd felt an
absorbing interest of a not wholly impersonal sort
as they marched by, for they belong to his city and
State. Then an aide galloped by, his scabbard
swinging and his golden aiguillette gleaming in
the last rays of day. The crowd welled in behind

THE FUNERAL. 135

him like a flood. Sherman's body had gone out
and into die west toward the sinking sun.

AT THE SHERMAN RESIDENCE — BRIEF FUNERAL

SERVICES — FORMATION AND START OF

THE PAGEANT.

Hardly had the day dawned before the people
in the neighborhood of West Seventy-first Street
were astir. Flags were thrown out from hun-
dreds of windows heavily draped in black. Police
Captain Berghold was early on hand with a force
of sixty men. Before 9 o'clock there was need
for their services, for the crowd was then big
enough to need watching.

In the Sherman house all was quiet. The fam-
ily were getting a little sleep, their rest having
been broken by the. late arrival from Europe of
Father "Tom'* Sherman. The son did not see
his father's body until 7 o'clock yesterday morn-
ing. Then, in company with his brother, P. T.
Sherman, and his two sisters, he went into the
room where the body lay. The lid of the casket
was open and the four children of the soldier
stood by his bier for several moments. After they

136 LTP-E OF GENERAL WM. T. SHERMAN.

had retired a message was sent to President Har-
rison at the Fifth Avenue Hotel saying that the
coffin would be kept open until noon in order
that he might take a farewell look at the remains.
The President answered, thanking them for their
courtesy, but saying that he did not care to see
the body, as he preferred to remember the Gen-
eral as in life. The casket was kept bpen, how-
ever, and many of the Presidential party and
other distinguished men viewed the rugged
face.

In the morning, just after the General's chil-
dren left the casket, two old veterans approached
a policeman at the door and asked him if they
could see the body. One wore a ragged old army
coat. The other wore over his uniform a leather
jacket, and on his head was an old coon-skin hat.
Both wore the badges of the famous Sixth Army
Corps and of a Springfield (Mass.) Grand Army
of the Republic Post. When they were told that
they had come too late, their faces fell, and one
of them said:

"We came all the way from Springfield to see
our old commander. We marched with him to

THE FUNERAL. 137

the sea. That was a long time ago, and we ain't
seen him since."

The old fellows were so sorely disappointed
and they gazed so wistfully at the house that the
heart of an orderly who stood by was touched,
and he told their story to Lieut. Thackara, the
General's son-in-law. The Lieutenant came down
and personally invited them in. They accepted
with alacrity. As they stood beside the casket
the old fellow with the coon-skin hat said :

" I saw him last near Atlanta, under heavy fire.
I remember now how we cheered him as he
rode by."

As the veterans came down the stone steps the
twcf biggest policemen in New York — Graham,
6 feet 7i inches, and GibHn, 6 feet 5i inches —
gave them a military salute. Such distinguished
recognition staggered the old fellows for the
moment. Recovering, however, they returned
the salute with great dignity, locked arms, and
marched off.

By lo o'clock the crowd around the residence
had grown to such proportions that Seventy-first
Street was cleared and police lines were estab-

138 LIFE OF GENERAL WM. T. SHERMAN.

llshed at Eighth and Columbus Avenues. There-
after nobody was allowed to pass through with-
out especial authority. The sidewalks of all the
adjacent streets were, however, lined with people.
The busy "fakir" appeared as usual, and was
everywhere howling out that he had the " only
original Sherman memorial badge."

Shortly after ii o'clock carriages began to ar-
rive at the house bringing mourners and distin-
guished guests. Chauncey M. Depew and
Grover Cleveland were at the house before noon.
Secretary Blaine and Gen. Ewing arrived just
after noon.

The private funeral services were held at noon.
There were present in the parlor at the time the
Rev. Father Taylor, the Rev. George Deshon, a
Paulist Father ; the Rev. Father " Tom " Sher-
man, the Rev. Neil H. McKennon, a Jesuit priest;
members of the Sherman, Ewing and Hoyt fam-
ilies, and Secretaries Rusk and Noble. Father
Sherman and Father Taylor officiated, the former
reading a brief service and the latter saying the
regular prayers for the dead. The surpliced boy
choir of the Church of St. Francis Xavier stood

THE FUNERAL. 139

around the casket, and after the holy water had
been sprinkled, rendered the anthem, " If Thou,
O Lord, will Mark Iniquities." This was followed
by Psalm cxxix., *' De Profundis," " Out of the
Depths I have Cried to Thee, O Lord, Lord Hear
My Voice," and the " Pater Noster. " The ser-
vices lasted only fifteen minutes. Then the
casket was finally sealed. Senator John Sherman
was the last to look upon the General's face.

Father Sherman was seen at the conclusion of
the service. He said : " The service was Cath-
olic. My father was baptized in the Catholic
Church, married In the Catholic Church, and at-
tended the Catholic Church until the outbreak of
the civil war. Since that time he has not been a
communicant of any Church ; but he has re-
peatedly told me that If he had any regular re-
ligious ideas they were Catholic. A week ago
to-day my father received absolution and extreme
unction at the hands of Father Taylor. He was
unconscious at the time, but that has no import-
ant bearing, for the sacraments can properly be
administered to any person whose mind can be
interpreted as desirous of receiving them."

140 LIFE OF GENERAL IVM. T. SHERMAN.

By I o'clock the neighborhood was echoing
with the sounds of martial music. The various
divisions of the great parade were beginning to
arrive at the points assigned to them in the plan
of formation. Shortly after i o'clock Inspector
Steers rode through Seventy-first Street at the
head of fifty mounted policemen, who were to
head the procession. Following them came the
regular military escort, consisting of a regiment
of United States marines, four companies of
United State engineers, six companies of artillery,
three battalions of light artillery, a troop of
United States cavalry, and Lafayette Post. This
division lined up along the south side of Seventy-
first Street, facing the residence.

Members of the Presidential party. Senators,
Congressmen, Governors and their staffs, army
and navy officers, and other distinguished people
who were to ride in carriages were arriving at this
time In a steady stream. They entered the house
and remained there until directed to enter their
carrlaees. President Harrison, with Gen. Hor-
ace Porter and Elijah Halford, drove up at 1.50
o'clock in an open carriage. The President wore

THE FUNERAL. 141

a coat with sealskin trimmings and was snuggled
down behind a bearskin robe.

The street presented a most brilliant appear-
ance before 2 o'clock. The Sherman residence
had become overcrowded, and the army and navy-
officers, in rich gold and dark blue uniforms, with
heavily-braided overcoats, had grouped them-
selves about on the stone steps. Residents along
the street had of course invited all their friends to
come to their houses for the day, and consequently
every window and doorway was crowed with men
and women.

Just before 2 o^clock the caisson rumbled Into
sight from Columbus Avenue. It was drawn by
five coal-black horses in sombre trappings. There
were three horses abreast in the leading traces
and two spirited animals were behind them. Two
of the horses were ridden by artillerymen in blue
uniforms, with black helmets and red plumes. The
caisson was draped in black. Behind the caisson
there came a soldier leading a pure black, high-
spirited steed covered with a long, black velvet
housing reaching half-way to the ground. On
the horse's back were Gen. Sherman's old saddle

142 LIFE OF GENERAL WM. T. SHERMAN.

and his riding boots, the boots being reversed.
Presently the heavy doors of the residence were
opened, the honorary pall-bearers came out, and,
descending the steps, ranged themselves in two
lines to permit the coffin to be carried between
them.

Half-way down the block toward Central Park
there sounded the quick notes of the bugle.
" Attention !" was its warning. Scarcely had the
notes died away when Gen. Butterfield, the senior
marshal, and his staff, in their brilliant uniforms,
cantered along to take their places at the head of
the column, following the escort of police. Gen.
Butterfield's aides were : Mr. Loyall Farragut ;
Capt. H. P. Kingsbury, Sixth Cavalry ; Capt. A.
M. Wetherill, Sixth Infantry; First Lieut. R. H.
Patterson, First Artillery; First Lieut. L. A.
Craig, Sixth Cavalry; First Lieut. Guy Howard,
First Lieut. Harry C. Benson, Fourth Cavalry ;
First Lieut. David Price, First Artillery; First
Lieut. Charles G. Treat, Fifth Artillery; First Lieut.
W. W. Forsyth, Sixth Cavalry; Second Lieut. Sam-
uel Rodman, Jr., First Artillery ; Additional Second
Lieut. Golden L. H. Ruggles, First Artillery.

THE FUNERAL, 143

The doors of the residence were again opened,
and the pall-bearers and those around them rev-
erently uncovered their heads as there appeared
in view the coffin of the dead General. The
bright sun shone warmly on the rich colors of the
starry silken flag in which it was wrapped. Bright
were its crimson bars and deeply azure was the
field of blue. Around the flag was a long fringe
of yellow silk. Tenderly the soldiers bore their
precious burden down the winding flight of steps.
Women standing at the windows of the houses on
both sides of the street, who but a moment before
had watched for the coffin with expectant eyes,
drew back in tears when it came into sight.

As the casket bearers approached the shrouded
caisson there was heard the music of the dirge,
"Adeste Fideles." Faint at first and borne sadly
on the wind, the notes of the dirge grew louder
and clearer. The soldiers placed the coffin on
the caisson, and the members of Lafayette Post,
No. 140, Grand Army of the Republic, composing
the special guard of honor and dressed in post
uniform, without overcoats, moved up and formed
a hollow square around the caisson.

144 LIFE OF GENERAL WM. T. SHERMAN.

The honorary pall-bearers, In carriages, took
their places ahead of the caisson. They were as
follows: Major-General J. M. Schofield, Major-
General O. O. Howard, Major-General Henry W.
Slocum, Rear Admiral D. L. Braine, Rear Ad-
miral J. A. Green, Prof. H. L. Kendrick, General
Joseph E. Johnston, Major-General D. E. Sickles,
Major-General G. M. Dodge, Major-General J.
M. Corse, Major-General Wager Swayne, Major-
General Stewart L. Woodford, Major-General
Horatio G. King, Brig.-General John Moore,
United States Army.

The column moved at 2.30 o'clock. After the
caisson came the carriages. In the first were
father T. E. Sherman, P. T. Sherman, and the
Misses Rachel and Elizabeth Sherman. In the
second carriage were United States Senator John
Sherman and Mrs. Sherman and Major Hoyt
Sherman and Mrs. Sherman. In the third car-
riage were General Thomas Ewing's family, and
in the other carriages were Mr. and Mrs. Colgate
Hoyt, Mr. and Mrs. T. W. Fitch, the Rev.
Fathers Deshon and Taylor, Mr. and Mrs. A. M.
Thackara, Mrs. Henry Sherman, Mrs. Frank Wil-

THE FUNERAL. 145

borg, Mr. and Mrs. Alfred Hoyt, General N. A.
Miles and wife, Charles Sherman, Mrs. Henry
Hoyt, Senator and Mrs. J. Donald Cameron, Mr.
and Mrs. H. R. Probasco, Dr. and Mrs. William
K. Otis, A. W. Hoyt, Arthur Sherman, Charles
Ewing, Jr., Miss Elizabeth Thackara, Miss Vir-
ginia Ewing, Benjamin Thackara, J. M. Barrett,
Secretary of State James G. Blaine and wife and
Emmons Blaine, and Mrs. Walter Dam rosch. Miss
Eliza Scott, William Scott, Mr. and Mrs. Bolton
Hall, Mr. and Mrs. John Scott, Mr. and Mrs.
Bowie Dash, the Rev. and Mrs. William Brown,
Mr. and Mrs. T. E. Steele, Judge and Mrs.
Granger, Mrs. and Mrs. J. F. Elliott, James Scott,
Mrs. General Grant, Col. John M. Bacon, Col. L.
M. Dayton, Mrs. Quirk, Dr. C. T. Alexander,
United States Army ; Private Secretary Barrett,
Col. Reese, Miss Alexander, William McCoomb,
Miss L. Alexander, Mr. and Mrs. B. Walker,
Mrs. John Lynch, Mrs. Emeline Kane, James W.
Collier, Miss Morgan, Mrs. Kilpatrick, Dr.
Robert H. Green and Mrs. Green.

Then came the distinguished visitors in open

carriages. In the first carriage were President
10

146 LIFE OF GENERAL WM, T. SHERMAN.

Harrison and Private Secretary E. J. Halford. In
the next carriage was Vice-President Levi P.
Morton, and in other carriages were General M.
D. Leggett, Secretary of War Redfield Proctor,
Attorney-General W. H. H. Miller, Postmaster-
General John Wanamaker, Secretary of the In-
terior John W. Noble, Secretary of Agriculture,
Jer. M. Rusk, Secretary of the Navy Benjamin
F. Tracy, Colonel Ernest and General A. B. Net-
tleton. Ex-President R. B. Hayes and Joseph H.
Choate rode together, and behind them was a
carriage containing Ex-President Grover Cleve-
land and Chauncey M. Depew. After them came
United States Senators William M. Evarts, of
New York ; Joseph R. Hawley, of Connecticut ;
Charles F. Manderson of Nebraska ; and Fran-
cis M. Cockrell, of Missouri. In other carriages
were the members of the committee appointed by
the National House of Representatives to attend
the funeral, as follows : General B. M. Cutcheon ;
of Michigan ; General Charles H. Grosvenor, of
Ohio ; General William Cogswell, of Massachu-
setts ; General Thomas J. Henderson, of Illinois ;
J. H. Outhwaite, of Ohio ; E. J. Dunphy, of New

THE FUNERAL, 147

York, in place of General Francis B. Spinola and
John C. Tarsney, of Missouri.

Governor Hill of New York was not able
to attend the funeral on account of sickness
and his place was taken by Lieutenant-Governor
E. F.Jones.

Among others in carriages were Mayor Hugh J.
Grant, Captain Schofield, of the Second Cavalry ;
Governor Pattison, of Pennsylvania, and staff;
Governor Morgan G. Bulkeley, of Connecticut,
and staff; Lieutenants Bliss and Andrews of the
artillery, and General Warren, who commanded
the old Sixth Corps ; the Rev. Mounsell Van
Rensselaer, Richard Butler, J. W. Pinchot, the
Rev. Alexander Mackay-Smith, Logan C. Murray,
A. M. Palmer, Augustin Daly, W. W. Cooper,
Stephen B. Elkins, Benjamin Field, Archbishop
Corrigan, Hamilton Fish, D. O. Mills, Ex-Mayor
Hewitt, Ex-Mayor Edward Cooper, Cyrus W.
Field, David Dudley Field, Archbishop Ryan, of
Philadelphia ; Dr. Metcalf, General Z. B. Tower,
Hiram Hitchcock, Quartermaster-General Batch-
ddcr, Assistant Secretary of War Lewis A.
Grant, George W. Childs and Anthony J.

148 LIFE OF GENERAL WM. T. SHERMAN,

Drexel, of Philadelphia, and General C. H. T.
Collis.

The Legislature of the State was represented
by Senators Saxton, Jacobs, Vedder, Robertson,
Brown, Sloan, Erwin, Stadler, and Assemblymen
F. O. Chamberlain, Addison S. Thompson, Levi
E. Worden, R. P. Bush, George P. Webster, Jacob
Rice and I. Sam Johnson.

As the head of the column, the military guard,
caisson and carriages passed out Into Eighth
Avenue, the Loyal Legion, which had formed at
Eighth Avenue and Seventy-first street, fell in.
The Grand Army of the Republic posts, which
had formed on the cross streets west of Eighth
Avenue, from Sixty-first street up, took their
places in turn, and the corps of cadets from West
Point, which had formed at Sixty-first Street and
Eighth Avenue, fell in behind the Grand Army of
the Republic division. This opened the line to
the division of the National Guard of the State,
which had formed with its head resting at Six-
tieth Street and Eighth Avenue, and after that
division had joined the column the miscellan-
eous organizations, which had formed along

THE FUNERAL. 149

Sixtieth Street and up the Boulevard, took their
positions.

ALONG THE LINE OF MARCH — THE STORY OF THE
PROCESSION .TOLD BY A PARTICIPANT.

If was precisely 2. 02 o'clock when the call of
" Attention ! " sounded by the bugler of the Grand
Marshal, gave warning to the escort that the time
had arrived for the column to move. As the cas-
ket was brought down the steps of the house,
borne on the shoulders of six regular army ser-
geants, who had been detailed to accompany the
body of General Sherman to St. Louis, the sev-
eral bands of the United States Artillery force
and of the Marine Corps battalions successively
took up the customary dirge from left to right,
the band of the leading organization completing
this part of the ceremony with a solemn rendition
of the "Adeste Fideles." Simultaneously with
the opening of the familiar hymn every head was
uncovered and the multitude of sight-seers, mem-
bers of the posts of the Grand Army of the
Republic, and others remained for some time in
eager expectancy.

150 LIFE OF GENERAL WM. T. SHERMAN,

Several minutes later General Daniel Butter-
field and the members of the staff of the Grand
Marshal clattered through Seventy-first Street
and forced their way down Eighth Avenue to take
their appointed place at the h^ad of the column.
Then came another delay while the family and
mourners were getting into their respective car-
riaofes and the carrla^res into line. The foot
troops of the escort blocked the way, but finally
it was ordered that the infantry should take posi-
tion In column of fours between the sections of
artillery, and by this order the way was cleared
for putting the procession in motion. It was
precisely 2.30 o'clock when the march began.

Eighth Avenue from Seventy-first to Sixty-first
Street was lined on either hand by the posts of
the Grand Army of the Republic. Flanking and
supporting these battle-scarred veterans was such
a multitude of on-lookers as New York has not
seen since the Washington Centennial parade of
1889, and which was not surpassed, even if it
were equaled, by the outpouring attending the
obsequies of General Grant. Central Park was
occupied as it had never been occupied before.

THE FUNERAL, 151

Every point of vantage had been pre-empted by
sight-seers hours before the time appointed for
the procession to start.

Throughout this portion of the route the scene
was pecuHarly impressive. By direction no music
was played by the bands of the escort, but, as
each of the Grand Army corps came into view of
the caisson conveying the remains, colors were
dipped, heads were uncovered, rolls were beaten
on muffled drums, or dirges were sounded by the
bands of the various organizations.

Wheeling into Fifty-seventh Street from Broad-
way the column encountered an obstacle which
materially retarded its progress. The greater
portion of the street being taken up with building
material, it became necessary for the cavalry and
artillery to deploy from column of platoons Into
column of sections, and for the infantry organiza-
tions to change their formation from column of
companies to column of fours, thus extending the
escort to quite double its original length and com-
pelling a halt of the head of the procession until
the line could be reformed.

The parade strength of the Grand Army of the

162 LIFE OF GENERAL WM. T. SHERMAN.

Republic was measurably a disappointment, and
it was not until the funeral escort proper had un-
covered Sixty-first Street that the impressiveness
of the pageant began to make itself manifest. At
this point the Old Guard, covered almost com-
pletely from view by a Grand Army post, its bear-
skin shakos being alone visible from the interior
of the procession, marked the left of the line of
military mourners. Drawn up on the west side
of the avenue, covering the intervening blocks
from Fifty-ninth to Sixty-first Street, and standing
rigid at present arms, was the battalion of cadets
from the United States Military Academy at West
Point. Here was a superb body of soldiery, every
youngster in the corps trained to the extreme of
perfection.

Then came the Seventh Regiment, a long line
of blue and white, covering all of Fifty-seventh
Street from Eighth to Sixth Avenue and beyond.

In the course of the passage of the funeral
cort6ge along the front of the military organiza-
tions, appropriate selections were played by the
bands of the several organizations. Thus the
musicians of the West Point cadets played an ap-

THE FUNERAL. 153

propriate dirge with exquisite taste and expres-
sion ; Leypoldt's Twelfth Regiment Band played
a selection of similar character equally well, while
Cappa, of the Seventh Regiment, greeted the
cortege with the opening strain of " The Gen-
eral's March," as presented in Tactics. Conterno,
the younger, who had charge of the Ninth Regi-
ment Band, Conterno pere parading with the
Marine Corps at the head of the Navy Yard
Band, performed a dirge of his own arrange-
ment, while Eben, of the Seventy-first, gave
an exquisite rendering of Chopin's " Funeral
March."

But it was left to the Gilmore to create the mus-
ical sensation of the day by his elevation of the
hackneyed air, which has been sung and played
from end to end of the land, in celebration of the
memorable march to the sea, and with which the
name and fame of Gen. Sherman are irreparably
connected. Gilmore transmitted the song of all
popular songs into a dirge of the most impressive
description by the simple expedient of changing
the tempo. None but a Gilmore would have had
the audacity to essay an undertaking of this

154 LIFE OF GENERAL WM. T. SHERMAN.

kind. It is stated that Gilmore mentioned his
purpose to the members of General Sherman's
family previous to the parade, and that they were
delighted with the suggestion. It was fitting that
the succession of dirges should be concluded at
the right of the line by the Sixty-ninth Regiment,
which, under the leadership of Bandmaster
Bayne, gave out the always welcome " Auld Lang
Syne," with such tender expressiveness as to draw
tears from many eyes.

Fifth Avenue, viewed from the place of its
junction with Fifty-seventh Street, presented an
unbroken and seemingly impenetrable mass of
people. Twice before at this point of recent
years — at the Grant obsequies and again on the
occasion of the centennial parade — the crush at
this point had been phenomenal. But yester-
day's demonstration far surpassed the demonstra-
tion upon either of those memorable occasions.
Sidewalks, stoops, fences, balconies, windows,
and even the housetops were covered with
people. As a thoroughfare for pedestrians the
avenue was hermetically closed, the only unin-
cumbered space being the roadway, kept clear by

THE FUNERAL. 165

the admirable police arrangements for the passage
of the procession.

For blocks on either side of the main route of
the procession groups were stationed on roofs and
in windows to catch a glimpse of the passing
cortege with the aid of opera-glasses. The driv-
ers and proprietors of vans, stages and wagons
did a profitable business at every cross-street, and
when the vehicles could contain no more persons
they rented out seats on the backs of the poor
beasts attached to them. Even the church
steeples were utilized to the fullest extent, and
from the eyries of the lofty spires of St. Patrick's
Cathedral eager faces looked down on the proces-
sion.

Only at the clubs and on the balconies of pri-
vate residences was there a general uncovering
as the caisson and its flag-draped casket came in
view. Along the sidewalks it was only occasion-
ally that a hat was raised, and it is worthy of note
that from start to close of the parade but a single
polite officer bffered this tribute of respect — a
Sergeant in the vicinity of Thirtieth Street.

A touching incident occurred at the orphan

156 LIFE OF GENERAL WM. T. SHERMAN.

asylum, adjoining the Roman Catholic Cathedral,
at Fiftieth Street. The grounds were crowded
with spectators, in the centre of whom, occupying
a commanding position, the cadets of the institu-
tion, in full uniform, the oldest not above twelve
years seemingly were drawn up at present arms.

At the Union League, the Century, 'and the
Knickerbocker Clubs, the quarters of the Seventh
Regiment Veterans, the Vanderbilt, Whitney,
Goelet, Wilson, and Vanderpoel residence, the
Buckingham and Langham Hotels, the Ohio
Society's quarters, the Victoria and Brunswick
Hotels, the Brevoort House and the Berkeley,
and the residences of Gen. Sickles and Gen. But-
terfield the display of mourning emblems was
especially notable.

The most striking display, however, was un-
questionably that presented by the Fifth Avenne
Hotel. A heavy fringe of spectators on the
roof brought the building into striking promi-
nence. Every window was occupied and the
building was elaborately decorated. The artistic
draping of the Hoffman House adjoining was also
notable.

THE FUNERAL. 157

In Madison Square a party of veterans had
taken post on almost the identical spot where,
a little less than two years ago, Gen. Sherman
witnessed the review of the centennial parade by
tlie President of the United States.

The Manhattan Club was given over almost
exclusively to the use of ladies, and a very pretty
display of feminine loveliness was made at the New
York Exchange for Women's Work. This pleas-
ing feature was duplicated at the Church of the
Ascension, where a platform had been erected
which was occupied by several scores of women,
while from each of the four corners of the tower
of the church floated a crape-draped national
color.

It was something more than a coincidence
that the procession should have passed over
in reverse order almost identically the same
route covered by the great jubilee parade of
April 30, 1889, of which Gen. Sherman was
one of the conspicuous figures. There was
much below Twenty-third Street to recall that
event. As then, the residences of ex-Mayor
Cooper, of Rhinelander Stewart, of Miss Rhine-

158 LIFE OF GENERAL WM. T. SHERMAN.

lander, and of Charles A. Post gave outward
evidence that the hearts of their occupants beat in
sympathy with the public pulse, but the gay dec-
orations of the centennial year had given place to
the sombre emblems of grief and mourning.

Going down Broadway from Washington Place
to Canal Street the pace was quickened and the
column moved without music. The escort
wheeled into line on the north side of Canal
Street, and, as the funeral party passed along the
front of the troops and the caisson and its pre-
cious burden disappeared from view on board the
ferry-boat, the Marine Band played the refrain of
the old hymn :

" Here bring your bleeding hearts,
Here tell your anguish ;
Earth has no sorrow
That Heaven cannot heal."

ARRIVAL AT THE FERRY— THE REMAINS SALUTED
BY THE CALIFORNIA PIONEERS

Many thousands stood along Watts Street and
on the east side and on the Pennsylvania ferry-
house side of West Street. They waited pa-
tiently, though the inquiry ** Are they coming

THE FUNERAL. 159

yet?" was frequently made. The breeze from
the river was cold, and though the people on the
street complained a litde, they said that they were
better off than the groups who stood on the roofs
of the houses on the east side of West Street.
Policemen were numerous. Tall Capt. Max
Schmittberger had out the whole steamboat
squad. It was the first time that, as a Captain,
he had appeared on such an occasion, but he was
quite at home.

Gen. Nugent, an old comrade of Gen. Sherman
in the regular army, now retired, was present to
take command of veterans other than those of the
Grand Army who were expected to appear at the
Desbrosses Street Ferry to salute the casket as it
passed into the ferry-house. Gen. Nugent waited
at the United States Building, 534 Canal Street,
for a time. Nobody came, so he went over to
the ferry and joined Capt. Francis D. Clark, Pres-
ident of the Associated Pioneers of the Territorial
Days of California, who was with Gen. Sherman
in California in 1846.

With Capt. Clark were these pioneers : W. M.
Necly, Daniel W. Clegg, R. J. Paulison, Alex-

160 LIFE OF GENERAL WM. T, SHERMAN.

ander Ludlow, Joseph M. Pray, Russell Myers,
A. T. Goodell, George C. Royce, William Colli-
gan, James E. Nutman, William Roberts, J. F.
Wiley, William M. Walton and William B. Kin-
ney. They lined up on the string-piece on the
north side of the plank drive-way leading to the
ferry-house entrance.

The mounted police turned from Watts Street
into West at five o'clock. They formed on both
sides of West Street. The procession had les-
sened materially when the ferry was reached.
The gates were thrown open and Gen. Butter-
field and his staff rode aboard the ferry-boat " Balti-
more." They were followed immediately by the
caisson and Lafayette Post. The members of the
post went inside the ferry-house and then retired.

The carriages containing those who were to
board the special train on the Jersey side went
down the gangway. Capt. Schmittberger and
forty policemen followed, and without any delay
the ferry-boat passed out of the slip and steamed
down the river to the Jersey City station.

THE FUNERAL. 161

LEAVING JERSEY CITY — THE CASKET IN THE FIRST
CAR OF A HEAVILY-DRAPED TRAIN.

For several hours before the time appointed for
the arrival of the special ferry-boat " Baltimore "
from Desbrossesstreetat the Pennsylvania Railroad
station slips in Jersey City, that place was a scene
of busde and preparation. The Fourth Regi-
ment of New Jersey militia, under command of
Lieut.-CoL Abernethy and numbering about 200
men, was drawn up opposite the northerly slip,
into which the boat was to come. A long double
line of guards extended from that point through
the ferry-house southward to Track 11, upon
which the funeral train was to be made up. Sand-
wiched in among these guards were about 140
Jersey City policemen, who did little during the
afternoon but interfere with arrangements that
would otherwise have been excellent.

Promptly at the hour which had been settled
upon for the arrival of the boat she appeared in
the slip, and the order was given to present arms.
The party proceeded to Track 1 1, the caisson be-
ing driven to the head of the train opposite the
11

162 LIFE OF GENERAL WM. T. SHERMAN.

composite car, No. 671, in which the casket was
to be placed. All but those who were going
West returned to the city.

The train which was to take the funeral part}^
to St. Louis was composed of palace cars, all of
them heavily draped in black. It was designated
as Section No. 2 of the Western express, leaving
at 6.45. The conductor of the train was George
K. Deane, who was conductor of the Garfield
funeral train, and the remainder of the train's
crew was made up of Engineer George Roe, of
Engine 1,328 and Brakemen T. C. Moore and L.
S. Paxson.

The flag-covered casket was transferred to the
first car in the train, where guard over it was at
once mounted by Sergts. Foley, Sobl, Nasahl,
Reardon, Hogan and McCarthy, under command
of Major W. F. Randolph, Inspector of Artillery
at Governor's Island, who relieved Lieut. Rod-
man, who had up to that time been in charge of
the guard over the General's body.

The next car was the Liverpool, occupied by
Gov. Pattison, of Pennsylvania, and his Cabinet.
Then came the Danville. In this were Secretary

THE FUNERAL, ^ 163

and Mrs. Noble, General J. M. Schofield, General
H. W. Slociim, General O. O. Howard, Secretary
Rusk, Assistant Secretary Grant, Major Ran-
dolph, Lieut. Guy Howard, Lieut. Andrews, Capt.
Barnett, and Capt. H. P. Kingsbury. The dining
car was next to the Danville, and then came the
Abyo, in which were ex- President Hayes, General
Thomas Ewing, Miss Virginia Ewing, Senator
John Sherman, Alfred Hoyt, Mr. and Mrs. Charles
Ewing, General and Mrs. N. A. Miles, George
B. Ewing, Mrs. Frank Witorg, Henry Sherman,
Mrs. Colgate Hoyt, Charles Sherman and Hoyt
Sherman. In the Cadi were Judge and* Mrs.
Granger, Mr. and Mrs. T. E. Steele, Mr. and
Mrs. H. R. Probasco, Col. L. M. Dayton, Col.
John M. Bacon, General and Mrs. Hugh Ewing,
William McCoomb, Col. Reese, Private Secretary
Barrett, and Dr. C. T. Alexancler.

Parlor car No. 1 20, President Roberts' private
car, followed, and in it were the immediate mem-
bers of General Sherman's family, not already
mentioned, including Father Sherman, P. T. Sher-
man, Miss Rachel E. Sherman, and Miss Eliza-
beth Sherman. The President's car came next.

164 LIFE OF GENERAL WM. T. SHERMAN.

It was Pennsylvania Railroad parlor car No. i8o,
and besides President Harrison were Vice-Presi-
dent Morton, Secretaries Proctor and Tracy,
Postmaster-General Wanamaker, and Assistant
Secretary A. B. Nettleton. This car was to be
switched from the train at Mantua Junction, near
Philadelphia, and sent to Washington direct,
with another section of the train, which was to be
filled with Senators and Congressmen who had
attended the funeral .

Everybody had found his place on the train by
the time it had been ordered to start and prompdy
at 6.45 It moved out of the station.

ON ITS WAY TO THE WEST.

When the funeral train left Harrlsburg at 11
o'clock that night, a cold rain was falling. This
continued all night and when the train arrived in
Pittsburgh it was still raining. The run during
the night was devoid of Incident. Altoona was
reached at 4.05. The Rev. S. P. Kelley, of Pitts-
burgh, representing the local committee at that
place, boarded the train here. The next stop
was for water — at New Florence — at 5.30.

THE FUNERAL, 165

At Edgewood the train stopped long enough
for three of Lieut. Fitch's children to get on. A
Grand Army post of veterans was drawn up in
line on the platform — standing with bared heads
in the pouring rain until the train moved away.
At Wilkinsburg, the next station, a similar scene
was witnessed as the train rushed by.

The train ran into an open switch at Mansfield
at 6.37. It was running at a slow rate at the
time, which was the only thing which prevented a
collision. Only five minutes' delay was caused.
The trouble was due to one Thomas Irwin losing
his presence of mind. There was a great crowd
at the station, and Irwin was standing on the
track when the train pulled in. Some one
yelled to him to get out of the way. He became
excited and threw the switch.

Thousands of people had assembled near the
Union Station in Pittsburgh when the train arrived,
at 7.47 o'clock. As the train drew slowly into
the station the great crowd uncovered heads, and
the Eighteenth Regiment band struck up a low
dirge. The veterans laid their tattered army
flags beside the casket, with a floral emblem from

166 LIFE OF GENERAL WM, T. SHERMAN.

the Union Veteran Legion. A heavily-draped
engine drew .up to take the place of the locomo-
tive which had ended its run. The Eighteenth
Regiment buglers played a soldier's requiem,
*' Rest," and the train resumed its sad journey to
the West. At every suburban station, and
even along the line, knots and crowds gathered
and all uncovered in the momentary presence of
the dead. In the city, as the train passed,
bells tolled, and minute guns were fired from the
hillsides, while all flags drooped at half-mast in the
driving rain.

The departure from Pittsburgh was at 7.10,
Central time. The only additions to the party
at this point were Assistant Superintendent
Turner, of the Pennsylvania Railroad, and Divi-
sion Superintendent Bradley of the Western
Union Company. Breakfast was served as
soon as the train had got outside of the city
limits on its way westward. While the travelers
were thus engaged the storm cleared away, the
sun shone out brightly, and a pleasant day
seemed to be in prospect. After they had break-
fasted, the members of the family went forward to

THE FUNERAL. 167

the car containing the body of the General and
remained there ten or fifteen minutes. They
found several beautiful floral pieces that had been
put on board by Grand Army posts.

Many requests had been received from posts
In towns through which the train was to pass that
it might be allowed to stop at these places
and the funeral car be opened to the veterans.
General Howard had to refuse all these requests,
as to comply with them would delay the progress
of the train too much. The Ohio River was
crossed at 8.40, and ten minutes later Steubenville,
Ohio, was reached. Hundreds of workmen from
the factories of the place were gathered at the
station, where the train made a short stop. They
were clad in their working clothes, but every man
reverently removed his hat while the train re-
mained at the station.

A touching scene was witnessed here. About
seventy-five veterans of Stanton Post were drawn
up in line on the platform. They were all old
men, many of them cripples, and as they marched
by the car containing the General's body more
than half of them were crying like children.

168 LIFE OF GENERAL WM. T. SHERMAN,

At Cadiz Junction, which was passed at 10.05,
a number of veterans from Cadiz stood on the
platform, one of their number holding the
remnants of a battle-torn flag. Twenty-five min-
utes later, as the train rushed by the little station
of Scio, those in the cars caught a slight glimpse
of a company of zouaves and a Grand Army post
paraded in front of the station. Dennison was
reached at 10.50.

At Dennison a large crowd was gathered at
the station, and the comrades of Welch Post,
of Ulrichsville, Ohio, were there also. The door
of the funeral car was opened and they were
allowed to take a look at the casket. After a
short stop here the train resumed its westward
journey.

At Newcomerstown all the public school chil-
dren stood in line at the street crossing, with
heads uncovered and carrying small flags edged
with black. As the train passed by they could be
heard singing "Nearer, My God, to Thee." At
Coshocton over 500 school children stood in a
long line on the street running parallel with the
track while the train passed through the place.

THE FUNERAL. 169

The church and fire bells of the town were tolled.
A similar demonstration was made at Trinway.

At 1.25 the train stopped in front of the station
at Newark. Here Mrs. Granger and her son
Sherman Granger boarded the train. Lemert
Post had about one hundred men in line on the
platform, and their fife and drum corps played
"In the Sweet Bye and Bye" as the train came to
a stop. The doors of the car in which the body
was were opened and the veterans took a look at
the casket as they passed. The entire trip from
Pittsburgh to this point was interspersed with dem-
onstrations of sorrow at the death of a universally
beloved soldier and citizen by all classes of the
people. The family of Gen. Sherman became,
as the day passed and these signs of sorrow mul-
tiplied, more and more impressed with the great
love the people bore for the General.

Father Thomas E. Sherman said that he would
conduct the services at his father's grave in Cal-
vary Cemetery in St. Louis. Just what the order
of services would be he could not say until he
arrived there.

As the train rolled into the Union Station at

170 LIFE OF GENERAL WM. T. SHERMAN.

Columbus at 2.25, the space on each side was
crowded with people, and for squares away there
was a mass struggling to get a view of the
train. McCoy Post and Wells Post were in the
station, accompanied by a drum corps. Senator
Sherman, ex-President Hayes, Gen. Ewing, and
others of the party came from the train and had
a brief talk with relatives who had come to the
train. The officers from the United States gar-
rison in this city were at the train to meet the
Government officials. A number of the relatives
of the General from Lancaster and Zanesville,
Ohio, joined the funeral party at this point.

The parade of the military took place before
the arrival of the train. The Seventeenth Regi-
ment, Col. Pocock, about five hundred men,
reached the Union Station half an hour before
the funeral train arrived, and proceeded by the
Baltimore and Ohio and Ohio and Mississippi to
St. Louis. The Fourteenth Regiment, Col. A. B.
Coit, about the same number of men, left at the
same time over the Big Four route. The mem-
bers of Gov. Campbell's staff accompanied the
officers of the Fourteenth Regiment. The mem-

THE FUNERAL. 171

bers of the joint legislative committee designated
to attend the funeral had a special car, which
was attached to the regular Pan Handle train
west, following the funeral train.

A wait of forty-five minutes was given the fun-
eral train at Columbus. The engine which was
taken here was 394, in charge of Engineer Phil
Chase, of Columbus, and Conductor H. M. May,
of Indianapolis. The engine was elaborately
draped and decorated. Above the headlight was
a large-size crayon portrait of Gen. Sherman,
surmounted by an eagle with spread wings, and
beneath the picture was the inscription, "Ohio's
son, the Nation's hero," in large letters. The
railings of the engine were studded with small
flags with fringe drapery. The train pulled out
on time — 3.15 p. m.

At Columbus the funeral party was joined by
William McComb, George Ewing, Judge and
Mrs. R. B. Ewing, and Miss Ewing. The widow
of Gov. Dennison entered the car occupied
by the Sherman family and made a call of a few
minutes.

At Richmond, Ind., Gov. Hovey met the party

172 LIFE OF GENERAL WM. T. SHERMAN.

and escorted it to Indianapolis, accompanied by
Grand Commander Stormount, of the Grand
Army. More than 10,000 people were at Rich-
mond station to meet the train. A handsome
floral tribute from Meredith Post was placed on
the casket containing the body of Gen. Sherman.
As soon as the old soldiers on the platform heard
that Gen. Schofield was on the train they called for
him. He came to the platform of his car and said:
"There are a thousand of my children here that
I Icnow. I am glad to see so many of you in good
health. It is under sad conditions that we meet.
We have all lost a comrade and friend. Take
good care of yourselves, boys, and good-bye."

HE IS LAID IN HIS TOMB.

The remains of Gen. William Tecumseh Sher-
man were laid to rest in Calvary Cemetery with
imposing ceremonies, combining severe simplicity
and military grandeur in a manner that gave to
St. Louisians and the thousands of strangers who
came to participate or see the solemn show a
spectacle that has rarely, if ever, been equaled in
the West.

THE FUXERAL. 173

The weather was perfect. The sun shone
brightly, affording sufficient heat to temper the
bracing breeze so that marchinof was not In the
least fatiguing. The funeral took place almost
exactly on time. The preliminaries had been so
arranged that the great procession was very litde
late in moving, and there were but few Inter-
ruptions to its progress. The ceremonies at-
tending the burial of the famous soldier passed off
without any particularly unpleasant incident or
accident.

As early as six o'clock In the morning crowds
began to assemble in the vicinity of the Union
Station in order to secure a vantage point from
which to witness the arrival of the funeral train,
which was due at 8.30. An hour before the train
arrived the streets for many blocks in all direc-
tions were a solid mass of humanity. At 8.45
A.M. the funeral train pulled slowly into the
station, minute-guns stationed on Poplar Street,
west of the Twelfth Street bridge, announcing the
arrival. The firing continued until the train had
come to a standstill, with the funeral car just west
of Twelfth Street and the rear coach, containing

174 LIFE OF GENERAL WM. T. SHERMAN.

the family and relatives, immediately in front of
the Poplar Street entrance. The entire train was
draped in sombre black, the funeral car being
completely covered with the emblems of mourn-
ing, even the doors and platforms. This car con-
tained only the remains and the guard of honor,
which was in charge of Second Lieut. Samuel
Rodman, Jr. The guard consisted of Sergts.
Gottlieb Maschl and John Reardon, of Battery G,
and Eugene McCarthy, of Battery A, First
Artillery, from Fort Hamilton ; Sergt. John E.
Hogan, of Battery C, First Artillery, from Fort
Wadsworth ; Sergt. Frederick Soule, of Battery
H, and Sergt. Charles Foley.

Next to the funeral cars was dininof car No.
704, then two Pullman palace cars, and at the end
of the train the private car of President Roberts
of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, which
was occupied by the members of the family, con-
sisting of the Rev. Thomas E. Sherman, Misses
Elizabeth and Rachel Sherman, Lieut. T. W.
Fitch, Lieut, and Mrs. A. M. Thackara, Mr. P. T.
Sherman, Mr. T. Fitch, and Miss Elizabeth
Rees. In the car immediately ahead of the one

THE FUNERAL. 175

occupied by the family were Private Secretary
Barrett, Mrs. Elizabeth Reese, Mr. and Mrs.
Thomas Steele, Judge and Mrs. Andrews, Mr. and
Mrs. Probasco, Cols. Dayton and Bacon, Gen. and
Mrs. Hugh Ewing, William McComb, Col. Reese,
and Dr. Alexander. The other Pullman seats
had been given Secretary Noble of the Interior
Department, Secretary Rusk of the Agricultural
Department, Gens. Schofield, Slocum, and
Howard, Gen. and Mrs. Nelson A. Miles, Gen.
and Mrs. Thomas Ewing, Judge P. B. Ewing, Mr.
and Mrs. Charles Ewing, Henry Sherman, Mrs.
Colgate Hoyt, Charles and Hoyt Sherman,
Mrs. Wittig, May Randolph, and several army
officers.

The police arrangements were not of the best,
and Chief of Police Harrigan had some difficulty
in clearing the streets in the immediate vicinity of
the train. This was finally done, however, and
then the committee of twenty-five appointed to
receive those who had come to St. Louis on the sad
mission, together with a delegation from Ransom
Post, G. A. R., and prominent citizens of the city
and State, headed by Gov. David R. Francis,

176 LIIE OF GENERAL WM. T. SHERMAN.

marched up the platform and greeted first Sen-
ator Sherman, of Ohio, who had got out to " rest
himself," as he expressed it, and then Secretaries
Noble and Rusk, Gen. Nelson A. Miles, and
others, who had alighted from the train. The
members of the family and the majority of those
on the train did not, however, come out, and the
committee, after extending greetings to those on
the platform, entered the cars. Several ladies,
friends of the Sherman family, were also at the
station, and a number of them entered the private
car to extend their sympathies to the bereaved.
A few of the distincruished travelers left the car
from time to time and stretched their leers on the
platform, but there was nothing out of ordinary
until the time for removing the body arrived.

Meantime the various divisions of the great
procession were forming on various streets east
of Twenty-fourth and north of the station. The
crowd along Eleventh and Twelfth streets was
very large, and in consequence of the doubt as to
which street the procession would pass through,
constant rushes occurred along Clark, Walnut
and Market streets ; people moving from one

THE FUNERAL. Vll

Street to another. The crowd grew every minute,

On to the roofs of most of the buildings on

Eleventh street people had climbed, and on the

flat roofs there were crowds. The police upset

the calculations of those who had made up their

minds to view the procession from wagons by

keeping the street clear, and it was only at the

intersections that the wagon arrangements could

be operated successfully.

Owing to the extraordinarily good condition of

the streets, those who kept on their feet had about

the best of it. Thanks to copious rain, followed

by the drying wind and sun, the granite was

as clean as though it had been scrubbed. The

telegraph poles were as crowded as it was

possible to crowd them, and there was little

chance to move on the sidewalk, so tightly was

the mass of humanity wedged in. All around

Grant's statue was a mass of people, and right

on the north line of Pine street wagons were

ranged side by side, the occupants having the

advantage of watching the procession as it

marched up from the south and wheeled to the

west. Along Pine street the people were stand-
12

178 LIFE OF GENERAL WM. T. SHERMAN.

ing forty and fifty deep where the street intersec-
tions rendered this possible.

Just before lo o'clock the caisson upon which
the casket was to be borne to the cemetery ar-
rived at the station, and immediately came the
infantry of the regular army, led by General For-
syth. The infantry were quickly drawn up in
line on the north side of Poplar street, facing the
station, and the carriages to convey the funeral
party to the cemetery were promptly got into
line. Then the caisson was backed up to the
arched entrance to the station-grounds, just east
of Eleventh street, and the riderless horse bear-
ing the saddle, bridle, boots and riding equip-
ments of General Sherman, pranced and tugged
at the bridle-rein, held firmly by Sergeant Roth-
geber, of the Seventh Cavalry, and seemed eager
to be on the move.

The local pall-bearers — Colonel George E.
Leighton, Colonel Charles Parsons, Byron Sher-
man, Daniel R. Garrison, Isaac Sturgeon, Thomas
E. Tutt and R. P. Tanzy — alighted from a car-
riage, and formed in two lines near the open door
of the funeral car, the car having been backed

THE FUNERAL. 179

down to the eastern exit, and were soon joined
by the honorary military pall-bearers, Major-
Generals Beckwith, Smith, Turner and Warner,
Brieadier-General Barrinorer, and Commander
Cotton of the Navy. In the rear of the pall-
bearers were members of General Sherman's
personal staff, and others who had been closely
associated with him in life.

Eight sturdy, broad-shouldered cavalrymen ad-
vanced towards the funeral car, and at that mo-
ment the band struck up a dirge. The guard of
honor within the car, surrounded by the members
of Ransom Post, G. A. R., lifted the casket from the
catafalque and placed it on the shoulders of the
cavalrymen. Then the hoarse voice of General
Forsyth rang out and hundreds of guns flashed
in the sunlight as the infantry responded. Gen-
eral Merritt rode up the line, orders were given
to aides, and in less than a minute the infantry
had formed by fours and was marching north on
Eleventh street. Then came the caisson bearing
the casket, followed by the riderless horse, bear-
ing the dead General's saddle and trappings.
Then came Rnnc^nm Post, G. A. R., and when

180 LIFE OF GENERAL WM. T. SHERMAN.

that much of the cortege had passed out at Pop-
lar street into Eleventh street, the carriages drew
up into line, and those who had accompanied
the remains from New York were quickly trans-
ferred from the train to the carriages in waiting.

The ladies of the family were all heavily veiled,
and the Misses Sherman were clad in the deepest
mourning. After they had been cared for, Secre-
tary and Mrs. Noble and Secretary Rusk and
others were escorted to their respective carriages,
and that portion of the cort6ge moved out on
Eleventh street.

The new caisson on which the remains were
conveyed to the grave was brought from Fort
Riley. It was decorated by Captain Murray. The
caisson was in charge of Sergeant John Cahoon,
with thirteen of the original Wounded Knee
troops, including Lieutenant E. T. Wilson, of the
First Artillery. The first of the six bay horses
was ridden by Bartholomew Meloy, the second by
John Ryan, and the wheel-horse by John Kraus.
The regular troops present were six companies
from Fort Leavenworth, and two companies from
Fort Supply, Indian Territory, with Colonel E. F.

THE FUNERAL, 181

Townsend in command. They were headed by
the Twelfth Infantry band.

At 10.45 the trumpeters, blowing the "Gener-
al's March," announced the arrival of the casket
at the caisson. In a very few minutes the long
line of regulars filed out of Poplar street upon
Eleventh street. Ransom Post then marched up
Poplar to the station entrance, where the caisson
stood, three hundred and seventy-five men in all.
On the extreme right of the infantry was Captain
T. A. Lacy, Company A, thirty-eight men ; next
came Captain S. M. McConihe, Company H, forty
men ; Captain J. F. Stretch, Company B, forty-
three men ; Captain H. G. Brown, Twelfth In-
fantry, Company E, forty men ; Captain J. M. J.
Sanno, Company H, Seventh Infantry, forty-eight
men. The major portion of the Seventh Infantry
were already formed at the extreme right of the
line on Pine street, from Twelfth to Sixteenth
street.

It was 1 1. 01 when the caisson with the remains
left the station on the line of march. Thomas
Conley, the famous bugler of C Troop of the
Seventh Regiment, was at the corner of Twelfth

182 LIFE OF GENERAL WM. T. SHERMAN.

and Pine streets to meet the first of the divided
line, and formally blow the trumpet blast of
" Forward " to the great and solemn procession.
The Twelfth United States Infantry band from
Fort Leavenworth came up playing Chopin's
Funeral March. At 11.19 Conley blew his
bugle for the formal start for the last resting-
place of the veteran warrior. It took until 11.24
for word to be sent to the head of the line that all
was in readiness in the rear, and at that time the
procession moved, headed by the mounted
platoons of police, who had hard work to clear
the way, so densely packed by the thousands of
eager but orderly people.

Brevet Brig.-Gen. James W. Forsyth, Colonel
of the Seventh Cavalry, commanding, with his
staff and troops, covered a mile of space before
the band ahead of the caisson and casket turned
at Twelfth Into Pine street. West on Pine street
to Grand avenue, a distance of twenty- four
blocks, the procession moved, and then it
went north on Grand avenue and northwest
on Florissant avenue to Calvary Cemetery,
through such crowds as have seldom witnessed

THE FUNERAL. . 183

a pageant in St. Louis. The distance is about
seven miles.

The procession was divided into six grand
divisions. The first division was headed by a
platoon of mounted police ; next rode the bugle
corps of the Seventh Cavalry. Immediately in
their rear rode Gen. Wesley Merritt He rode a
fine bay horse, wore his fatigue uniform and
forage cap, and a long military cloak. The hilt
of his sword was bound with crape, and from his
shoulder to his left side the sash of the Grand
Marshal was studded with crape rosettes. Be-
hind him rode his staff, composed of Col. William
J. Volkmar, Col. C. Page, Col. C. W. Foster,
Major J. A. Kress, Major P. D. Vroom, Major
Wirt Davis, Major J. B. Babcock, Capt. W. C.
Forbush, Capt. C. F. Powell, Capt. F. C. Gruzel,
Capt C. A. Whipple, Capt. A. Murray, Capt. C.
B. Ewing, United States Army ; Capt. C. King,
Lieut. J. N. Allison, Lieut. O. J. Brown, Lieut. P.
W. West, Lieut. C. J. Bevins, Gen. D. C. Cole-
man, Col. M. L. B. Jenney, Col. S. V. Churchill,
Major T. Pitzman, Major J. P. Dennis, P. A.;
Surgeon C. T. Peckham, United States Hospital

184 LIFE OF GENERAL WM. T. SHERMAN.

Marine Service, and A. E. Surgeon J. B.
Young.

At the head of the Seventh Cavalry rode its
Colonel, J. W. Forsyth, accompanied by his
Adjutant, Lieut. L. S. McCormack, and his regi-
mental Quartermaster, Lieut. E. B. Fuller. Next
came E Troop, under command of Capt. C. S.
Ilsley, the ranking Captains all mounted on bay
horses. K Troop followed, and its thinned ranks
bore sad testimony to the desperate nature of the
struggle at Wounded Knee. Its beloved com-
mander, Wallace, was replaced by Capt. L.
H. Hare. G Company, all of whose troopers
were mounted on gray horses, and D Company,
whose mounts were black, attracted especial
attention. The yellow regimental standard was
borne in the middle of the line.

Six troops were in column — E under Capt. C.
S. Ilsley and Lieuts. H. G. Sickel and S. Rice;
K, under Capt. L. H. Hare and Lieuts. S. J. D.
Mann and H. G. Squires ; G, under Capt. W. S.
Edgerly and Lieuts. A. P. Brown and J. F. Bell ;
I, under Capt. H. J. Nowlan and Lieuts. W. J.
Nicholson and J. C. Waterman ; B, under Capt.

THE FUNERAL. 185

C. A. Varnum and Lieuts. J. C. Gresham and E.
C. Bullock, and D, under Capt. E. S. Godfrey
and Lieuts. W. W. Robinson, Jr., and S. R. H.
Tompkins. The First Battalion was commanded
by Col. Forsyth and the Second by Major S. M.
Whiteside. In the rear of the cavalry came the
artillery, under command of Major E. B. Willis-
ton. Light Battery F of the Second Artillery
marched first, commanded by Capt. C. A. Wood-
ruff and Lieuts. H. A. Reed, E. G. Dudley, and
J. Conklin, Jr. It consisted of six twelve-pound
rifles. The artillerymen were seated on the
limbers and caissons, wearing army overcoats, the
capes thrown back to show the red facings, and
the horsemen were in their proper positions.

Next came Light Battery F of the Fourth
Artillery, under the command of Capt. G. B.
Rodney and Lieuts. F. S. Strong, A. Cross
White, and G. W. Gatchell. This battery was
armed with improved breech-loading rifles. In
the rear of the artillery was the ambulance and
the men of the medical corps, under command of
Dr. J. Van Hoff. In the rear of the artillery
marched the infantry, Col. E. F. Townsend com-

186 LIFE OF GENERAL WM. T. SHERMAN.

manding. Company A, Tenth Infantry, Capt. F.
E. Lowry and Lieuts. I. W. Littell and F. E.
Lowry, Jr., commanding; Company H, Four-
teenth Infantry, Capt. S. McConihe and Lieuts.
J. F. Eastman and W. R. Gample commanding ;
Company E, Twelfth Infantry, Capt. H. G. Browii
and Lieuts. R. K. Evans and W. E. Ayers com-
manding; Company H, Seventh Infantry, Capt.
J. N. J. Ganne and Lieuts. J. B. Jackson and A.
J. Lasseigne commanding; Company E, Thir-
teenth Infantry, Capt. J. S. Bishop and Lieuts.
W. L. Buck and C. Koops commanding ; Com-
pany H, Thirteenth Infantry, Capt. W. Auraan
and Lieuts. G. R. Weil and J. C. Fox command-
ing; Company F, Thirteenth Infantry, Capt. J.
Forwarde and Lieuts. M. F. James and J. S.
Gresaid commanding, and Company F, Tenth In-
fantry, Capt. J. F. Strech and Lieuts. C. J. S.
Clark and R. L. Bulkard commanding.

The guard of honor consisting of Ransom Post
and the survivors of the Thirteenth Regulars,
came next, surrounding the caisson bearing the
body. Commander H. L. Ripley led the advance
guard, three sets of fours in rank. Next came the

THE FUNERAL, 187

caisson, drawn by four black horses, ridden by
two artillerymen in regular uniform. Close to
the wheels walked the Sergeants who had accom-
panied the remains from New York, and on each
side of them marched comrades of Ransom Post.
The rear was closed by the comrades of the post.
The post flag was borne in advance. Behind Ran-
som Post came the survivors of the old Thirteenth
Infantry, commanded by Sergt. P. J. Carmody.
All wore appropriate badges, and one of the men
carried a beautiful floral tablet presented by the
Thirteenth. The funeral cortege was closed by a
long line of carriages containing the pall-bearers,
the members of the family and members of the
funeral party.

The members of the family rode in the follow-
ing order : First carriage, the Rev. Thomas Sher-
man, Mrs. T. W. Fitch, P. T. Sherman, Miss L.
Sherman ; second carriage. Senator Sherman,
Mrs. M. W. Thackara, Col. Hoyt Sherman,
Miss Rachel Sherman ; third carriage, Henry
Sherman ; Frank Sherman, and Master Willie
Fitch; fourth carriage, Judge P. B. Ewing, Mrs.
P. B. Ewing, Mrs. M. E. Steele; fifth carriage, Gen.

188 LIFE OF GENERAL WM. T, SHERMAN.

Thomas Ewing, Mrs. Margaret Reber, Gen. Nel-
son A. Miles, and Mrs. Gen. Miles ; sixth car-
riage, Mr. William McComb, Mrs. Henry Pro-
basco, Hoyt Sherman, Jr. Miss Nellie Sherman ;
seventh carriage, Mrs. Virginia Ewing, Sherman
Granger, Mrs. Haldeman, Frank Weborg ; eighth
carriage, Mr. Henry Probasco, Miss Maud Reber,
Mr. Haldeman, Miss Mary Ewing ; ninth car-
riage, Mr. George Ewing, Miss Mary Ewing,
Thomas E. Steele, Mr. John Ewing ; tenth
carriage, Mr. Reese Reber, Miss Mary Reber,
Mr. Charles Ewing, Miss Elizabeth Price ;
eleventh carriage, Henry Hitchcock, Col.
J. M. Bacon, Col. L. M. Dayton; twelfth
carriage, Mr. Asa Stoddard, Mr. Charles
Reber, Mr. Lyton Reber, Miss Lizzie Emetie ;
thirteenth carriage. Dr. Alexander, Gen. Fuller-
ton, J. M. Barrett, secretary of Gen. Sherman.
Captain Huggins ; fourteenth carriage, Mrs,
Henry Turner's family ; fifteenth carriage, Mr. E,
J. Ryan, Mrs. E. Ryan; sixteenth carriage, Lieut.
Fitch and Lieut. Thackara.

The funeral party was as follows : First car-
riage, Secretary J. W. Noble, Mrs. Noble, Judge

THE FUNERAL. 189

Hough, and Major Randolph ; second carriage,
Secretary Rusk, Assistant Secretary Grant, Carlos
S. Greely, and Capt. Kingsbury; third carriage,
Ex-Presldent R. B. Hayes, Gen. Schofield, Gov.
Stanard, and Lieut. Andrews ; fourth carriage,
Gen. Howard, Gen. Slocum, James O. Broad-
head, and Lieut. Howard ; fifth carriage. Gen.
Alger and Col. William McCrary, of Gen. Sher-
man's old body guard.

The second division consisted of the Loyal
Legion and other army societies under command
of Major H. L. Morrill, Commander of the Mis-
souri Commandery of the Loyal Legion, and a
number of the societies of the Army of the Ten-
nessee. The Illinois contingent, loo strong, came
first, and was followed by members of the society
from Ohio, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, and
Colorado. Nearly all who wore the badge of the
Army of the Tennessee were also decorated with
the Loyal Legion button, as the constitution of
the two societies Is similar, none but commissioned
officers being eligible.

The third division consisted of Grand Army
posts, Sons of Veterans and allied organizations.

190 LIFE OF GENERAL WM. T. SHERMAN.

First came Grand Marshal Rassieur, with the
following staff: Louis Koop, John C. Bensieck,
Anton Demuth, Val Barth, John P. Kivits, E. W.
Duncan, Daniel Clock, F. G. Uthoff, Charles
Moller, H. R. Taylor, Madison Miller, C. V. Bisser,
Anthony D. Englemann, Arnold Beck, E. L.
Gottschalk, W. H. Uthoff, W. H. Buder, P. F.
Bobe, J. N. Hutchinson, Max Langan, and O. C.
Eadmann. There were about 1,200 men in all,
represendng all the Grand Army posts in the
city and many from other cities. The depart-
ment commanders and their staffs followed in
behind Commander-in-Chief Veazey as follows :
Department Commander W. L. Diston, of Illinois,
Grand Army of the Republic, and his staff; De-
partment Commander Clarkson, of Nebraska, and
his staff; Department Commander Henry M.
Duffield, of Michigan, and his staff; Department
Commander Collins, of Kansas, and his staff.

The fourth division was headed by Gov. D.
R. Francis and staff. The Missouri miliua fol-
lowed. This portion of the division included
about 1,200 men. Following the Missouri mllida
came the militia from Ohio, under the command

THE FUNERAL. 191

of Gen. Hawkins. This detachment consisted of
three regiments — the First, Fourteenth and Sev-
enteenth Ohio — in all about 1,400 men. Next
came the Missouri judiciary, in carriages, followed
by the Missouri Legislature delegation, the Illi-
nois Legislature, and members of the Ohio Gen-
eral Assembly.

The fifth division included the ex-Confederate
Historical Society, under command of Major C.
C. Rainwater, and several civil societies. The
sixth division was made up of miscellaneous civil,
mercantile, industrial, and other organizations.

At the corner of Easton and Grand Avenues
about one-fourth of the procession, including
most of the Grand Army veterans, dropped out
of line. Some of them, however, took carriages
and continued the journey to the cemetery.
Ransom Post arranged its guard of honor in re-
lays. One delegation marched as far as Easton
and Grand Avenues, where a relay was in wait-
ing. These took their places beside the coffin
and marched half the remaining distance to the
cemetery, where they were relieved by a third
delegation, which served the rest of the distance.

192 LIFE OF GENERAL WM. T. SHERMAN.

The long march to the cemetery was tiresome
in the extreme for those who had to make the
journey on foot, as thousands did.

By 8 o'clock in the morning the people began
gathering about the entrances to the cemetery,
but they found there a detail of United States
regulars to keep them out, and only a few fav-
ored ones gained admission. At lo o'clock Un-
dertaker Thomas Lynch and his corps of assist-
ants arrived at the grave in the Sherman lot and
began to arrange the preliminaries. The grave
had been dug the night before and the earth
taken therefrom cleaned up and confined in a
framework. The ground in the immediate vicin-
ity of the grave had been covered for a radius of
probably loo feet with canvas. By ii o'clock
the carriages began to arrive, loaded with floral
tributes.

It was just 1.55 o'clock when the head of the
funeral procession reached the Florissant Avenue
entrance to the cemetery. Already the avenue
for nearly a mile was bordered on both sides
with people, and the great sea of human beings
was surging and beating against the gates and

THE FUNERAL. 193

walls of the cemetery. The crowd were driven
back and an effort was made to hold them until
the funeral party could get through the gates.
This was in a degree successful. The roadway
and entrances were kept clear, but hundreds
climbed over the high stone walls, and there was
a wild rush for advantageous positions near the
grave. The rushers were, however, disappointed,
for careful preparations had been made to keep
ample space clear for the ceremonies.

The carriages containing the mourners drove
up close to the spot selected for the General's
last resting-place, and the members of the family
were soon in position at the head of the open
grave. The caisson containing the coffin stopped
some distance away. The casket was borne to
the grave attended by the honorary pall-bearers.
Then the Rev. Father Sherman, son of the dead
General, book in hand, advanced to the grave.
All this was done expeditiously, and, in fact, oc-
cupied very litde more time than is required to
tell of it. As the casket was lowered into the
grave Father Sherman began the Roman Catholic

burial service, which he conducted without assist-
13

194 LIFE OF GENERAL WM. T. SHERMAN.

ance, although there were two other priests in the
party. The grave was then filled, and as the men
with shovels were shaping the mound the family
moved away to their carriages.

The firing party, a battalion of regular in-
fantry, took position in the roadway, probably
thirty feet northeast of the grave, and at the word
of command discharged three volleys. The
smoke from their rifles was still thick when the
artillery, a hundred yards away, thundered forth
three volleys, and the last rites were complete.
Then began a stampede for home. The regular
troops were taken direct from the cemetery to
Jefferson Barracks by railroad. Those who went
in carriages had a pleasant drive returning, but
the great throng who went on foot or depended
on street-car service had a hard time to get
back to the city. The outgoing trains in all direc-
tions were crowded this evening with departing
people.

The New York Times describes the funeral in
Its editorial columns as follows: "Once before New
York has seen a military pageant, arranged upon
a like occasion, that was even more deeply im-

THE FUXERAL. 195

pressive than the funeral procession of Gen.
Sherman, which yesterday passed slowly through
streets packed on either side with people.
Another pageant of the same kind equal to it the
present generation of New-Yorkers are not
likely to see. It is not even to be desired that
they should see it. For the funeral honors paid
to Gen. Grant five years ago last August and
those paid yesterday to Gen. Sherman were hon-
ors such as could be paid only to men who had
delivered their country from mortal peril, such as
it is to be hoped the Nation may not again en-
counter in our time. Hundreds of thousands of
men did for the Union what they could, but by fate
and chance and desert, combined in proportions
that no man is wise enough to assign with exact-
ness, these two men became the heroes of the
war, and when it was over it was by common con-
sent that it was decreed that its first honors should
fall to them. Such services as it is now, and as it
is henceforth likely to be in the power of Ameri-
cans to render their country, are not the services
that strike the popular imagination like the deeds
of a great soldier. They are the services of

196 LIFE OF GENERAL JVM. T. SHERMAN.

patient and careful statesmanship. These are only
comparable in public esteem to military services
when they are accompanied by that gift of elo-
quent speech that seems either to be less com-
mon than it was in the earlier days of the Repub-
lic, or to have lost its national influence as the
national interests have increased. Assuredly
there is no one left to die and be buried the story
of whose achievements is at once so familiar and
so stirring to his countrymen as that of Gen.
Sherman's.

" Any comparison between the honors paid to
Gen. Grant and those paid to Gen. Sherman is
really a comparison between the emotions with
which the two funerals were regarded by those
who witnessed them and by those who read of
them, and any such comparison is fallacious, if not
impossible. Gen. Grant's funeral was the occa-
sion of a great reconciliation in a sense in which
the funeral of no other man could be. 'The en-
emies he had made were not alone those whom
he had fought in war. He had permitted himself
to be drawn into civil strife. He had twice been
chosen to the Presidency, after heated contests, in

THE FUNERAL. 197

which a very great number of his countrymen had
come sincerely to regard him as a public enemy,
and he had held office at a time when sectional
bitterness had by no means died away, an^d when
no man could have been President without array-
ing against himself either the majority at the
North or the majority at the South. But little
more than pight years separated his retirement
from the Presidency from his death, and eight
years would not have been long enough for the
passions his political career had excited to subside
but for the events of these intervening years. To
him they had been years of darkness and sorrow,
and his life was ended by a torturing and linger-
ing malady at an age when, according to the com-
mon computation, he had still some years of
activity and usefulness before him. The heroic
patience with which he continued during his last
days the work by which he hoped to leave his fam-
ily above want constituted the strongest claim
upon human sympathy, and the earnest appeals
that he put forth from his sick-room, and almost
from his death-bed, for a closer reunion of the
States touched all American hearts. The

198 LIFE OF GENERAL WM. T. SHERMAN,

Southerners who assembled at his funeral came
to show that they forgave him freely, but they felt
that they had something to forgive.

" In ];he last days of General Sherman there
was no such gloomy tragedy as this, a tragedy of
which the nobility could not dispel the gloom, and
which made the funeral of General Grant an
event unique in our history and in all history.
It was a quarter of a century since General
Sherman had finished his work, and when the war
was over he left all its bitterness behind him. In
the long interval he had led a happy life, but for
his share of the sorrows that are common to all
mankind, an honored life, and a life that was at
once peaceful and active. He died full of years
and of honors, without surviving his interest in
life or his faculties of enjoyment. To those who
honor and who mourn him it seems that there is
here no tragedy beyond the universal tragedy of
mortality, and that an enviable life has been
crowned by an enviable death."

CHAPTER VIII.

HIS CHARACTER.

/^ENERAL SHERMAN was a man who
possessed great simplicity of character, and
was noted for his love of truth and honesty. He
would never for an instant condescend to receive
praise that did not justly belong to him. He
gave a siornal illustration of this splendid trait in
his character after the successful investment of
Vicksburg. The conception of that campaign
was attributed to him. At the first opportunity
he related to a number of prominent men visiting
the army at the time an incident that showed
Grant to be entitled to all the honor and that, in
fact, the movement was made against the advice
of all the odier commanders, including himself,
McPherson, Logan and Wilson. They believed
that to move the army below Vicksburg was to
separate it from the North and all its supplies ;
to hazard everything, for if defeat followed it was

199

200 LIFE OF GENERAL WM. T, SHERMAN.

certain to be disastrous. Sherman told that even
after the orders to march had been issued he
rode to Grant's headquarters and proposed his
own plan, which was that Vicksburg should be
attacked from the north, selecting some high
ground on the Mississippi as a base of opera-
tions. " That," replied Grant, " would require me
to go back to Memphis." " Exactly," answered
Sherman. Grant did not think the country was
in any mood for retrograde movements at the
time and adhered to his purpose. Sherman rode
back to his quarters discouraged and put his plan
of campaign in writing. He suggested that all
the corps commanders should be called into
council and the subject discussed. Col. Rawlins
handed the paper to Grant without a word. He
read it in silence and made no comment. " But,"
says Badeau, " the orders were not revoked, the
council of war was not called and the existence of
the letter was never mentioned between the two
commanders or disclosed by Grant. It was Sher-
man himself who told the story. He was just
and generous even at the expense of hurting his
own reputation."

HIS CHARACTER. 201

The following anecdote illustrates the simple
taste of General Sherman :

About two years ago, General Sherman asked
ex-Gov. Cornell, then Chairman of the Grant
Memorial Committee, what were the prospects of
the memorial. "It will be built, General," an-
swered Cornell. " It will be a splendid mausole-
um, and a place shall be reserved for you in it
beside Grant." "No, no!" responded Sherman,
very decidedly. " No mausoleum for me. I
want no such thing. When I die give me a grave
and a ^75 tombstone — that's all."

ESTIMATES OF HIS CHARACTER.

No better estimate of his character can be
formed than by giving editorials from some of
the leading papers :

"The heroic but unequal struggle of General
Sherman with the final conqueror of all men
ended yesterday. The brave soldier who had
faced Death without fear on a hundred battle-
fields, and who resisted the final attack with
characteristic grim determination, succumbed at
last.

202 LIFE OF GENERAL WM. T. SHERMAN,

*' Gen. Sherman was the last of the great lead-
ers of the war of the rebellion. In some respects
he was the most popular soldier of his day. In
every fibre of his character he was an American.
His genius was of that quick and ready kind
that characterizes his countrymen, and his simplicity
and straight-forwardness appealed strongly to the
democratic mind and heart.

" In the early days of the war iie was thought
by slower and more conservative men to be
erratic. His brilliancy dazzled them. They could
not grasp his large conceptions. His plans and
his talk were far above the heads of the plodders.
He saw the vastness of the undertaking, the im-
mensity of the task with which he and his fellow-
soldiers were charged. Men shook their heads
when he proclaimed his opinions, but when he
faced Joe Johnston he played the game of grand
strategy with the skill and coolness of the scien-
tific soldier that he was.

** In peace he was a simple, undemonstrative, pat-
riotic citizen. He wore his military honors modesdy.
He never reached after the civic crown. He was
one of the most charming and interesting men of

HIS CHARACTER. 203

his time. He never shrank from expressing his
opinion, and if he seemed to seek controversy it
was to vindicate the truth.

" His death removes a familiar and much-
loved figure. His memory will linger as long as
military genius, rugged honesty and high patriot-
ism hold their place in the world." — New York
World,

" No figure in late years had become more famil-
iar in New York than that of General Sherman.
The simplicity, candor, and childlikeness of his
nature, his manly cordiality of manner, his ready
sympathy and lively humor, and the great career
of heroic achievement which lay behind all, made
him a most interesting and memorable personality.
His name is indissolubly associated with that of
General Grant in the history of the civil war, and
there is no more romantic and inspiring story in
our national annals than that of the march to the
sea.

" The General was always welcome, not only be-
cause of his great renown and his illustrious ser-
vices, but because of his personal charm. The
papers have been full of conversations which re-

204 LIFE OP GENERAL WM. T. SHERMAN.

call his happy speeches, the constant flow of
delightful anecdote, the pleasant dalliance of a
great nature in repose. Edward Everett, in his
oration at the unveiling of the statue of Daniel
Webster in Boston, describes the Defender of the
Constitution on the evening before the delivery of
his most famous speech, the reply to Hayne, and
on the next day at its delivery in the Senate. In
the evening, says Everett, but in his most
elaborate and consummately effective manner,
he was like one of the boats he loved rocking and
swinging on the gentle lap of the waves upon the
shore. But the next day he was * a mighty ad-
miral ' in action on mid-ocean, with all his broad-
sides thundering, his canvas strained, and his flags
and pennants streaming.

"Sherman, in his later day, as we have known
him in New York, was the boat easily swinging
on the tide, the lightnings of battle sheathed, and
the frowning tier on tier of guns Invisible. It is
perhaps not too much to say that the feeling with
which in every company he was greeted was akin
to love. It is good to think of him so, good that
the last thought of a man whose name is honored

HIS CHAR A CTER. 205

and cherished by millions should be as kindly and
gende as it is admiring and grateful. So he
would have had it, and would have asked no
sweeter rosemary for remembrance." — Harper s
Weekly.

The New York Herald has this to say:

*' Sad tidings these, that General William
Tecumseh Sherman has for the first time been
forced to surrender.

" His strategy has heretofore been that of at-
tack, but on this occasion the first blow was de-
livered by the enemy. He resisted with such
vigor as old age provides, made a brave fight
against the odds of Death, yielded to the only
foe of mortality who never lost a battle, and now
* sleeps in fame.'

" But death has bestowed upon him a double im-
mortality. He will live forever in the 'mansions
not made with hands ' and live forever in the
hearts of a grateful people. His name is written
on this lower firmament together with those of
Grant and Sheridan, his comrades on the field —
in * tracings of eternal light,' and his place in the
Hereafter is assured by the fact that the jewel,

206 LIFE OF GENERAL WM. T. SHERMAN.

honor, which he has worn on his breast for the space
of two generations has never lost its lustre.

'^Sherman's rank in the long list of historic
soldiers may be safely left to the future. For the
present, discussion must give way to eulogy. We
lift no curious eyes to discover the height of his
greatness, have no desire to compare him with
any but himself, and are satisfied with the
tender memories which cluster about the house of
mourning. He will be numbered with the nation's
most illustrious dead, to be honored as a leader
of our hosts on the perilous field, a defender of
the people's cause, a valiant contributor to that
great victory which made republics stronger and
thrones weaker. For the present, therefore, we
leave the task of criticism to the indifferent or
the stranger, and speak only in the whisper of
sorrow and condolence.

" Sherman was in many respects a unique
character. He was a man of simple manners, a
product of our peculiar institutions, as pure-
minded and honest as Goriolanus. He was
blunt, brusque and wore his heart upon his
sleeve. Had there been no war he might have

HIS CHARACTER. 207

found no opportunity — would have kept the even
tenor of his way along the ordinary level, as a
merchant or the president of a military academy.
But when the nation trembled for its fate he
gravitated to leadership with the irrepressible im-
pulse of commanding ability. His sword was
forged in fire and tempered with blood. He rose
from lieutenant to General by hard service in
front of the enemy. Without ambition except
to save the country, always master of the position
to which he was assigned, he disdained to ask
preferment and waited for preferment to seek for
him. We have had many brave soldiers, but few
of whom it may be said, as we are proud to say
of Sherman, ' There are no tricks in plain and
simple faith.'

" He was pre-eminendy a fighter, the man for
the time. In his judgment war is always war,
and should be conducted without ' dangerous
lenity.' With every fibre he believed in the
righteousness of our cause, and when the first
rumblings of secession were heard in the
Louisiana sky, he wrote to Governor Moore :
• On no earthly account will I do any actor think

208 LIFE OF GENERAL WM. T. SHERMAN.

any thought hostile to the old government of the
United States.'

" When in the field, therefore, he smote with all
the might of arm and conscience, dreamed of
nothing except to rout the enemy at any cost and
if possible to exterminate him. To his soldiers
he said : — ' Put your shields before your hearts
and fight with hearts more proof than shields/
He never followed, was always at the front, a
hard rider, a hard fighter, not reckless, but bold.
His army loved him as his army loved Napoleon,
but the Corsican looked with ' soaring insolence '
upon a throne as his reward, while Sherman re-
fused everything which politics would have gladly
offered, saying with Marcius : — ' I cannot make my
heart consent to take a bribe to pay my sword.'

"With Sherman we lose the last of that historic
group in which he stood by the side of Lincoln,
Grant and Sheridan. If it be true that the dead
may by some subtle metempsychosis become the
inspiration of the living, the memory of these four
will keep the fires of patriotism alive and help our
children's children to make the future of the Re-
public as glorious as its past."

HIS CHARACTER. 209

The New York Twtes\\:is the following: ''Upon
the side of the Union,* the last ' hero of the civil
war' is gone. There are hundreds of men left
who have done * gallant and meritorious service,*
not merely in the ranks, but in command of reg-
iments and brigades and divisions and army
corps. There are a few who have led armies and
held independent commands. But of the con-
spicuous commanders whose names were known
a quarter of a century ago to all their country-
men , and whose faces were familiar to hundreds
of thousands of soldiers^ General Sherman was
the last. By common consent, ratified by the
acts of Congress, three men were recognized at
the close of the war as pre-eminent in the service
they had rendered in making the war for the
Union successful — Grant and Sherman and Sheri-
dan— and these three men succeeded each other
after the war was over in the command of the
Army of the United States. Of these three men
General Sherman was the oldest man and the
latest survivor. Those who witnessed the funeral
of Grant will never forget that among the most

touching and impressive incidents of the long
14

210 LIFE OF GENERAL WM, T, SHERMAN.

procession was the appearance In one carnage of
an elderly man brilliant with the uniform and in-
signia of the rank of General, and of another
still older in civilian's dress. The soldier in uni-
form was General Sherman ; the soldier who no
longer had the right to wear a uniform was Gen-
eral Johnston, who, thirteen years older than his
companion of that day, and his antagonist on
many well-fought fields, still lives to enjoy the
affectionate veneration of the people whom he led
and the respect of the people against whom he
fought. But with the death of General Sherman
the last of the towering figures of the war disap-
pears for the people of the Northern States. It
is a reminder which must impress the dullest mind
that the civil war is of another age than ours.
^" Of the three heroes of the war whom we have
named, General Sherman was by far the most
picturesque and interesting figure. In the
minds of most of his countrymen he was almost
more identified with the history of the war than
Grant himself, because he was identified with
nothing else. His public career began in 1861
and ended in 1865 with the surrender of Johnston.

HIS CHARACTER, 211

On the other hand, he was not, hke General Sher-
idan, a soldier only, but a very active-minded man,
whose curiosity and sympathy expanded in all di-
rections and toward all interests. Nothing hu-
man was foreign to him, and his habit of speaking
his mind upon all subjects without weighing his
words and without the least regard to conse-
quences endeared him the more to his country-
men by affording them the continual spectacle of
a great man who was also intensely human. At
the beginning of the war he incurred for a time
the reputation of insanity for a prediction con-
cerning the extent and duration of the struggle
which, as the event proved, showed the soundness
and shrewdness of his mind. By nature he wa«
not especially amenable to discipline. If hisj

mediate superior, General Grant, had not'^e^fWP- V
tained a sincere admiration for the man whom Ifie '*
unaffectedly regarded as his intellectual superior,
though his military subordinate, it is likely that
the relations of the two Generals would have
been so strained as to interfere with the success
of their joint operations. Happily this did not
occur, but General Sherman had no hesitation

212 LIFE OF GENERAL WM. T. SHERMAN.

about embroiling himself with his ultimate super-
ior, the Secretary of War, and he relieved his
mind by describing Mr. Stanton as a * clerk '
and cutting him dead when they met upon the re-
viewing stand at the close of the war. For a
man of this impulsive, not to say explosive, na-
ture it was especially fortunate that he did not
permit himself to be beguiled by civic ambitions
after his soldierly work was done. General
Grant often lamented that he had not remained
at the head of the army instead of becoming em-
broiled in the thankless struggles of politics,
where political opposition impaired the universal
good-will that would otherwise have been his. In
nothing was the good sense that lay at the base of
General Sherman's character, in spite of his
superficial eccentricities, more clearly shown than
in his scornful scouting of all proposals from po-
litical parties, and in his repeated declaration that
he would not accept the Presidency of the
United States if it were offered to him without a
struggle. Even In such a contingency he would
have consulted his own happiness if he had re-
mained in a private station, where he could speak

HIS CHARACTER. 213

his mind freely without committing anybody but
himself, and where he could live his own life with-
out molestation. After his retirement from the
army and since he took up his residence in New
York, General Sherman has been a very familiar
figure. He went everywhere, he spoke often in
public, and, as he said nothing that was not worth
listening to, people heard him gladly. The peace-
ful activity of his last years, after the stormy
scenes of his prime, made his a happy and
enviable old a^^e. There has seldom been a
happier conjunction of temperament and fate.
Now that he has gone he has taken with him
not merely the honor and gratitude of his coun-
trymen for great and patriotic deeds, but a
widespread affection and regret for the departure
of a brave, shrewd, kindly and transparently
honest man."

The Philadelphia Ledger says : " Nearly twenty-
six years after the close of the War of Secession
death has removed the last of that renowned
group of soldiers — Meade, Grant, Sheridan and
Sherman — whose magnificent soldiership was so
conspicuously displayed during the war by which

214 LIFE OF GENERAL IVM. T, SHERMAN.

the integrity of the Union was assured, rebellion
crushed and slavery abolished.

"We have mentioned the names of these illus-
trious soldiers in the order of their death ; the
order of their greatness their countrymen long
ago determined. General Meade followed only
after Grant, and parallel with him was Sherman,
not only in the brilliancy of tactical skill, but in
the effective results of execution. Sherman's ed-
ucation was unusually liberal and comprehensive
before the war began. He was graduated from
the West Point Military Academy with distinct-
ion ; he served in the army with credit and use-
fulness, as Second and as First Lieutenant and as
Captain. Subsequently resigning his commission,
he became a banker and a lawyer, and still later
on a Railroad President and the Superintendent
of the Louisiana State Military Institute — which
latter position he resigned when Louisiana se-
ceded from the Union, in a letter that was in the
highest degree creditable to his honor and patri-
otism. He was nearly forty-one years old when
the civil war began, and was then in the fullest
vigor of physical and mental health. His fine

HIS CHARACTER. 215

intelligence, his diverse education, his varied asso-
ciations and intercourse with men of distinction
in different walks in life, had peculiarly fitted him
for the great work to which his country called him
at the beginning of the war.

" Like Grant, Meade and Sheridan, General
Sherman had not only military genius ; he had
the highest qualities of a citizen of the great Re-
public. He entered the service of his country as
one who was as willing, If need be, to die for as to
fight for it. He gave It no half-hearted, halting
service, and the mighty energy he so continuously
displayed on the march and in the assault was as
much the inspiration of his loyal heart as of his
alert mind and vigorous body.

" The story of his achievements is one of the
most glorious and precious records of his country,
and most conspicuous in it is that chapter of it
known to his countrymen, to the admirers of mili-
tary genius of all countries — the march through
Georgia from the Mountains to the Sea. It was
the grandeur of this great movement, the
grandeur of its courage and its results, which will
render it forever remarkable. No soldier of ancient

216 LIFE OF GENERAL WM. T, SHERMAN.

or modern history more completely burned his
bridges behind him than did Sherman when he
marched out of Atlanta at the head of that great
Union host, the objective point of which was the
Atlantic ocean, the purpose of which was to cut
through the Confederacy in its most vital part,
and to bring its chief support, the army of Lee,
between two fires, that of Grant and Meade and
of Sherman. As it was planned, it was executed
— without a single failure at any point. All that
was anticipated from it was realized, and the doom
of the Confederacy was sealed that day when
Sherman, turning his back upon the mountains,
set out In his march to the sea.

" It Is Impossible to form any just estimate of
the value of services such as this illustrious
soldier rendered his country In Its time of great-
est need. He was one of those who stood as an
Impregnable fortress against the destroying plans
of Its enemies. He offered to the Cause of Union
and Freedom all that man has to offer — Intellect,
strength, and even that for which all things else
will be freely sacrificed, life. General Sherman's
was the genius of both planning and doing. He

ms CHARACTER. 217

thought and he wrought with magnificent
courage and effective skill for his country, and his
efforts were crowned with success. In the sud-
den making of splendid names his name became
one which inspired armies with confidence and
assured the soldierly endeavor which achieved tri-
umphs. Such men are so truly great that their
countrymen can only reverently salute them and
resolve to keep their deeds in grateful remem-
brance as they pass from the world which was bet-
ter for their living in it.

"A patriotic American, a wise, brave, skillful
soldier, a sincere, earnest, friendly man, General
Sherman died honored and beloved by number-
less personal friends and by millions of his coun-
trymen. In a sense broader than that of a mili-
tary genius. General Sherman was a great man.
He showed in his war correspondence that he had
the learning of the scholar and the wisdom of the
statesman — just as in his famous and admirable
book containing the Memoirs of his Life he proved
that he had rare gifts as an autobiographical
author. Such men do not die ; they pass on from
among their surviving old comrades of camp and

218 LIFE OF GENERAL WM. T. SHERMAN.

field to more life, to a fuller, completer one ; to
the reward of men entirely good and great."

FOREIGN OFFICERS EULOGIZE GENERAL SHERMAN.

General Lord Wolseley, in an interview to-day,
said of General Sherman: "All military men of
every country join the people of the United States
in their regret at General Sherman's death, for
the loss is not confined to America, but is shared
by all military people." When asked what he
thought of General Sherman as a military com-
mander. Lord Wolseley replied that it was a diffi-
cult matter for an outsider to make comparisons,
but, speaking purely from a military point of view,
he undoubtedly would place Sherman at the head
of all Northern commanders. As a strategist,
Sherman showed great power, and in this he ex-
celled all others, while in achievements for which
he was most famous, notably his march to the sea,
he displayed the dash, combined with strategical
skill, that at once proved his great power. In an-
swer to a question Lord Wolseley said that he, in
common with other European commanders, ranked
Lee as first of the commanders on either side.

HIS CHARACTER, 219

Major-General Philip Smith, C.B., command-
ing the Home District, whose opinion may be said
to represent the entire brigade of Guards, says
he thinks General Sherman was the finest all-
round soldier of the American Civil War.

Colonel Hugh McCalmont, C.B., who has seen
service in India, and is at present commanding the
Fourth Royal Irish Dragoon Guards, Dublin, said,
with great feeling, that, in his judgment, Grant
would not have been able to break down the
heroic opposition of Lee if it had not been for
the genius of Sherman, whose march was the
grandest thing of its kind in history.

Sir Edward Hamley, K.C.B., is regarded as
one of the first of living English strategists, his
book on "The Operations of War" having been
translated into almost all languages. He said:
'• General Sherman was a great tactician. I have
already expressed in writing my opinion that his
march through Georgia was deliberately planned,
and for boldness of conception and marvelous
organization it has scarcely a parallel In the history
of war."

Many other distinguished British officers and

220 LIFE OF GENERAL WM. T. SHERMAN,

ex-officers spoke In highest terms of the military
genius of General Sherman.

General Vernols, ex-MInister of War, when
asked about General Sherman's position as a
commander, said: "Before I could express an
opinion which would even do justice to Sherman,
I should wish a closer study of the rich material
in his military career. His march to the sea was
the work of a great soldier.'*

General Taysen, who is Chief of the Historical
Department of Germany's General Staff, said:
"Sherman was certainly one of the greatest Gen-
erals in the American war. He was remarkable
for his clear Insight, his sharp strategical ideas,
and, above all, for thev wonderful activity with
which he carried out his ideas. His celebrated
flank march to the sea astonished the world. I
especially value in Sherman his genius of carry-
ing out with strict strategical art simple Ideas with
most simple means."

General Von Estoroff, chief of the official
paper of the Prussian Ministry of War, said:
"Sherman Is regarded in the military circles of
Germany as one of the most distinguished Gen-

HIS CHARACTER. 221

erals of modern times, not only in designing, but
in carrying out most daring schemes."

" Gradually all the leading historic personages
on both sides of our great civil war are disap-
pearing from the ranks of the living. On the
Confederate side Generals Johnston, Longstreet,
Early, Gordon and Beauregard are the last of the
great commanders. On the Union side General
Sherman enjoyed the same distinction. His
death, following so closely upon th^t of Admiral
Porter, of the navy, will serve to recall vividly the
stirring events in which they both figured in
defence of the Union cause. The republic will
at the same time honor them as 'heroes of the
civil war,' and as citizens of the highest distinc-
tion, entitled to grateful memory. The bitter-
nesses of the late struggle have been replaced at
length by a restored Union, where the dominant
sentiment or aspiration is heartily for peace and
progress under liberal government. General
Sherman spent the later years of his life in peace-
ful activity amidst the surroundings of civil life,
which he adorned by the graces of mind and con-
versation. He took a lively mterest in all that

222 LIFE OF GENERAL WM. T. SHERMAN.

was going on In the world, and made the wisest
use, perhaps, of the time left to him after retire-
ment in making himself and others happy. He
would not sacrifice the peace and contentment of
these surroundings for the presidency, or to listen
to the tempting offers of politicians who sought to
allure him into the whirlpool of politics. He was
a man of pronounced convictions and straight-
forward speech. He preferred to remain In
private life, where, as has been said of him, 'he could
speak his mind freely when there was occasion to
do so without committing any one but himself.* "
— Baltimore Siin.

"When all Is said that can be said, the fact looms
up that this man was one of the greatest soldiers
of the age. Perhaps he was so essentially a
soldier that we run the risk of misjudging him.
He knew and cared nothing about politics and
diplomacy. His way of settling a difficulty was
to cut the Gordian knot with his sword. He was
a hard ficrhter, and never orrew sentimental In the
presence of bloodshed and death. But when the
business of war was over — when he had accom-
plished his mission — he showed a softer side, and

HIS CHARACTER. 223

men and women, even among his former foes,
found him a very lovable man." — Atlanta, Ga.,
Constitution,

A GREAT SOLDIER S CAREER.

Rumble and grumble, ye drums,

Shrill be your throat, O pipes !
With blood-red flag, in your mourning band.

Serpent of harlequin stripes !

But — stars in the banner's blue !
* Smile, for the war chief true

Up from the myriad hearts of the land

Comes — to your haven comes.

Guns that sullenly boom

Mourn for the master's hand
Dreadful, uplifting the baton of war

While your hurricane shook the land!

Marching, marching, battle and raid,

Gay and garrulous, unafraid.
Sherman drove with his brilliant star

A dragon of eld to its doom.

Pass, O shade without stain I
Sunsets that grimly smile

Shall paint how your signal flags deploy
Battalions, mile on mile —
Horseman and footman, rank on rank.
Sweeping against the foeman's flank.

Howling full of the strange mad joy
Of slaughter and fear to be slain I

224 LIFE OF GENERAL WM. T. SHERMAN.

Orators, thunder and rave !

Chant ye his dirge, O bards ,
Ho, cunning sculptors, his charger design,

Grave ye his profile on sards !

But to picture the hero's brain

Shall ye ever thereto attain ?
Can ye utter the soul of the long blue line

And the tongue-tied love of the slave ?

Rumble and grumble, ye drums,
Strain in your throat, O pipes !
Last of the warriors of oak that were hew
Into strength by failure and stripes !
Last, not least, of the heroes old.
Smoke-begrimed, fervid, crafty, bold —

Sheridan, Grant, your comrade boon
Comes — to your haven comes !

— Charles De Kay.
In New York Times.

General Sherman's faith or belief in religious
matters has been very widely discussed, and we
give in full an article from the North American
Review on Hon. James G. Blaine:

"As time passes and the period rapidly
approaches when in the course of nature my
tongue must be silent, and the pen drop from my
fingers, it seems but right that I should record

HIS CHARACTER. 225

some of the thousand and one reminiscences of a
somewhat eventful career which may concern
others, and may in the future be conducive to the
good of my fellow-mortals.

"In June, 1840, 1 graduated at the U. S. Military
Academy at West Point, and in common with my
classmates was grante4 a three months' furlough
to repair to my home to prepare for active service
with my regiment in Florida. My home was
then in the family of the Hon. Thomas Ewing, at
Lancaster, Ohio. This family was large, occupy-
ing one of the best mansions of that ancient
village, and among the family were two boys,
' cousins,' of about eleven years of age, as bright
and handsome as ever were two thoroughbred
colts in a blue-grass pasture of Kentucky.

" Being myself a full-fledged graduate of the

National Military Academy, and a commissioned

officer in the Third U. S. Artillery with a salary

of $65 a month, all in gold, I could hardly stoop to

notice these lads, but was informed that they were

attending the select school of Mr. Lyons, an

English gentleman, a classical scholar, uncle to

the Lord Lyons who long represented Great
15

226 LIFE OF GENERAL WM, T. SHERMAN.

Britain at Washington, and since has represented
his country in Paris up to the time of his recent
death. This teacher, Mr. Lyons, being a younger
brother without estate, though with Oxford edu-
cation, like many thousands of strangers, had
come to America for a maintenance, working out
the great unseen problem of life which often
startles us with its results ; for I honestly believe
that the bias given to the minds of Jim Blaine and
Tom Ewing, Jr., at Lancaster, Ohio, in 18401 by
Mr. Lyons, has furnished us two of our brightest
national luminaries.

" Blaine's history from that time forth is well
known to all who seek the truth, and I propose to
limit myself in this article to a single episode, or
it may be to two, of his brilliant career.

" In 1846-48 occurred the war with Mexico.
General Zachary Taylor commanded our troops,
invadinof Mexico from the direction of Texas, and
General Winfield Scott those from Vera Cruz.
Both campaigns were eminently successful, and
both leaders were afterwards sought for by the
politicians of their day as Presidential candidates.
I believe the military world will accord to General

HIS CHARACTER, 227

Scott the higher war honors ; but General Taylor
had been equally brave, heroic and successful, and
moreover possessed those personal qualities of
patience, subordination and honesty which always
command popular applause. Therefore, although
the civilian politicians had expected to profit by
the Mexican War, the American people chose for
their President in November, 1849, General Zach-
ary Taylor.

"At the time of his election he was a major-
general In the army of the United States, which
commission he resigned January 31, 1849, ^^^
was inaugurated President, March 4, 1849. He
was then possessed of property in Kentucky, and
a sugar plantation, with slaves, in Louisiana.

" His family was composed of his son Richard,
who for a time was with his father in Mexico and
at Washington, who afterwards setded in Louisi-
ana, and went off to the Southern Confederacy
with the stampede of 1861 ; a daughter, Mrs. Ann
M. Wood, wife of the eminent army surgeon,
Robert C. Wood, and Mrs. Betty Bliss, wife of
Major W. W. S. Bliss, then universally known
and respected as General Taylor's most faithful

228 LIFE OF GENERAL WM. T. SHERMAN,

military adjutant and private secretary. At that
date, 1850, Mrs. Wood was with her husband at
Fort McHenry, Baltimore, and Mrs. Bliss did the
honors of the White House in Washington, from
March 4, 1 849, till her father's death. With them
all I had a more or less intimate acquaintance.
Surgeon Wood attended General Taylor in his
last fatal illness, but his great skill and kindness
were unavailing. President Taylor died July 9,
1850, and his family afterwards became scattered.
" Long years passed, the ' Great Conspiracy of
1861' was hatched, and the Civil War was at its
crisis. In April, 1864, I found myself at Nash-
ville, Tennessee, charged with a heavy load of re-
sponsibility, but I had plenty of good men to help
me, among them this same surgeon, Robert C.
Wood, then promoted to be Assistant Surgeon-
General, who had become an old man, with a
young heart and a big soul. He was posted at
Louisville to receive, care for and professionally
treat the hundreds and thousands of poor fellows
doomed to drift to the rear In the mad onslaught
then preparing. He met his responsibilities like
a man, and his letters, which I preserve, are proof

HIS CHARACTER. 229

to me that this world is not as bad as represented.
I went on, never saw him again, and only after-
wards read in the Gazette that Assistant Surgeon-
General Robert C. Wood died March 28, 1869,
having served his country faithfully since 1825 —
full forty-four years.

" In the year 1873 General U. S. Grant was Pres-
ident of the United States. . I was General-in-
Chief of the armies of the United States, and
James G. Blaine was Speaker of the House of
Representatives. All were resident in Washing-
ton, D. C. I was seated in my office at the old
War Department, now destroyed and replaced by
a better one, when my orderly produced the card
of "Mrs. Wood," widow of the late Assistant Sur-
geon-General, U. S. A. Of course I instructed
him to show the lady in. She was deeply veiled,
then not uncommon, by reason of the many de-
pendent widows and orphans who thronged the
national capital to appeal for help. She, without
unveiling, handed me a letter in the familiar hand-
writing of the venerable General David Hunter,
asking me to befriend 'the bearer.* Casting my
eyes over it, I exclaimed, 'What! are you the

230 LIFE OF GENERAL JVM. T. SHERMAN.

widow of my old Surgeon-General Wood, and the
daughter of General Zachary Taylor ? ' ' Yes,' she
answered, raised her veil and revealed her features,
then of an old lady, but beyond question the daugh-
ter of General Zachary Taylor. ' Dear Mrs. Wood
what does this mean? What can I do for you?*
She repHed, *'I do not know, but General Hunter,
our steadfast friend, has sent me to you,' and she
went on to explain : 'When my husband died in
1869, I supposed I had estate enough to satisfy
my moderate wants. I went to Louisiana, took
possession of the old sugar plantation, collected
a few of the old slaves with promises of wages
or shares, tried to make a living, but everything
was out of joint. I then tried a lease with no
better success. Now my daughter writes me
from Austria that she Is very sick and begs me
to come to her. General Sherman ! I must go
to my daughter, and I have not a cent. My
old friends are all dead, and I know not what
to do.' I naturally Inquired how much money
was necessary? She said a thousand dollars.
I had not the money. General Hunter had not
the money. How about your pension? 'When

HIS CHARACTER. 231

my husband died after forty-four years of faith-
ful service in the Florida War, in the Mexican
War and the great Civil War, I thought I could
take care of myself and never asked for a pen-
sion, but now my child calls to me from abroad.'
'Mrs. Wood, I am sure we can easily make up
a case under the General Pension Law, which
will give you §30 a month, but it can only date
from the time of your formal application.'
• What good will that do me ? ' she exclaimed ;
*my daughter is calling for me now/ My
passage across the ocean will cost .^120, and
the incidental expenses afterwards will run up
to a full thousand.' After a few moments'
thought I said: 'Mrs. Wood, we must get a
special bill, putting your name on the same list
with that of Mrs. General Worth, Mrs. General
Sumner and others, and have this special pen-
sion to date back to your husband's death, viz.:
March 28, 1869. This will require an act of
Congress. What member of that body do you
know from Louisiana ? ' * Alas, none.' ^ What
member from Kentucky ? ' ' Not one.' * Do
you know anybody in Congress?' 'Not a

232 LIFE OF GENERAL WM. T. SHERMAN.

single member." ' Don't you know Mr. Blaine ?
He is the Speaker of the House, a fellow of in-
finite wit and unbounded generosity.* No, she
had never met Mr. Blaine. * Now, my dear Mrs.
Wood, can you meet me this afternoon at the
Speaker's Room, say at 4 p. m., punctually?' 'I
will do anything,' she answered, 'that you ad-
vise.' 'Then meet me at the Speaker's Room,
south wing of the Capitol, at 4 o'clock this even-
ing.' Of course she did.

" I was there ahead of time, sent my card to Mr.
Speaker Blaine, who was in his chair presiding
over a noisy House, but who, as always, respond-
ed quickly to my call. In a few words, I explained
the whole case, and we went together to the
Speaker's Room across the hall, behind the
'Chair,' where sat the lady, closely veiled. No
courtier since the days of Charlemagne ever
approached a lady with more delicacy and grace
than did Mr. Speaker Blaine the afflicted widow of
Surgeon Wood, the daughter of General Zachary
Taylor, a former President of the United States.
After a few words of inquiry and explanation, he
turned to me, and said: 'Great God! has it come

HIS CHARACTER, 233

to this, that the daughter of Zachary Taylor, and
the widow of a faithful army surgeon who served
his country and mankind all his life, should be
here knocking at the doors of Congress for the
pitiful pension of fifty dollars a month?' I could
only answer: *'Tis true, and pity 'tis 'tis true.'
Turning to Mrs. Wood, Blaine continued: 'Your
father was the first man I ever shouted for as
President, and for you, his daughter, I will do all
a man can in this complicated government. I
will make your case my own. Don't leave this
city till you hear from me.' Finding I had touched
the proper chord of his generous nature, I advised
Mrs. Wood to return to General Hunter's, and
await the result. Blaine escorted her to the stair-
way with many friendly expressions, returned to
the Speaker's chair, and resumed his functions.

" I did not remain, but learned from a friend
afterwards the sequel. Blaine sat in his chair
about an hour, giving attention to the business of
the House, occasionally scribbhng on a bit of
paper, and when a lull occurred he called some
member to take his place and walked straight to
Mr. Holman, the 'Universal Objector,' saying:

234 LIFE OF GENERAL WM. T. SHERMAN.

"Holman, I have a little matter of great Interest
which I want to rush through, please don't
object.'" 'What Is It?' *A special pension for
the widow of Surgeon Wood, the daughter of
General Zachary Taylor.' 'Is It all right?' *Of
course it Is all right, and every American should
blush that this thing could be.' 'Well,' said
Holman, *go ahead; I will be out of the way, in
the cloak-room.* Watching his opportunity,
James G. Blaine, as a Member of Congress for
Maine, got the eye and ear of the Acting Speaker,
made one of his most eloquent and beautiful
speeches, introduced his little bill for the pension
of Mrs. Wood for $50 a month, to date back to
the time of Surgeon Wood's death (about four
years), which would give her about $2,400 of
arrears and <f6oo a year for life. It was rushed
through the House by unanimous consent, and
Blaine followed It through to the Senate and to
the President, where It became law, and this most
deserving lady was enabled to go to Austria to be
with her daughter in her illness. I understand that
both are now dead, and that the overflowing treas-
ury of the United States is no longer taxed by this

HIS CHARACTER. 235

pension, but I must rescue from oblivion the mem-
ory of this pure act of unrecorded benevolence.

"Pensions are not always matters of legal con-
tract but of charity, which blesses him who gives
as well as receives; and I of all men fully recog-
nize the difficulty of making pensions subject to
the tender feelings of an executive officer; but
when I discover an instance illustrating the gen-
uine feeling, no one should object to my record-
ing it and printing it if need be.

" There is another phase in Mr. Blaine's charac-
ter of which I, and I aloiie, can testify. The press
of our country supposes that it controls public
opinion and public events. Whereas In fact pru-
dent men conceal their most important thoughts.
During the Civil War the Northern press was
not friendly to the generals who succeeded, but
lavished flattery without limit on the * failures '
and on our distinguished opponents.

" Well do I recall General McPherson's excla-
mation a few days before his heroic death : ' Sher-
man, why is it that our Ohio papers, especially
those of Cincinnati, continue their abuse of Grant,
and you, and me, all natives of Ohio, who surely

236 LIFE OF GENERAL WM. T, SHERMAN.

are doing our very best ? ' I could only answer
that I did not know except that it was easier for
the editors and reporters to fight battles in their
safe offices in the North than among the rocks,
ravines and rivers of the South. Yet we soldiers
did eventually win the battle, and restored the
country to its normal condition of law and peace.

" In peace, also, the press is generally hostile to
whomsoever is prominent and positive. Let any
man rise above the common level, and the cry
goes forth, crucify him ! crucify him ! — the same
old story ! Nevertheless, I honestly believe the
people of the United States to be a thinking
people ; that the press chiefly records the gossip
of the day, and that the future of our beloved
land is safe in the custody of its good, industrious
citizens. To be sure it sometimes requires an
earthquake like that of 1861 to arouse them to
serious thouofht.

" In the year of our Lord 1884 there was to be
a sharp contest for the nomination in Chicago
for a presidential candidate of the Republican
party. The press and people generally believed
that Blaine w^anted it, and everybody turned to

BIS CHARACTER. 237

him as the man best qualified to execute the policy
to accomplish the result aimed at. Still, abnegat-
ing himself, he wrote to me from Washington
this letter:

" * Confidential, strictly and absohUely so,
**' Washington, D. C, May 25, 1884.
^' * My Dear General :

^* ' This letter requires no answer. After reading
it file it away in your most secret drawer or give
it to the flames.

" * At the approaching convention at Chicago it
is more than possible, it is indeed not improbable,
that you may be nominated for the Presidency.
If so you must stand your hand, accept the re-
sponsibility and assume the duties of the place to
which you will surely be chosen if a candidate.

" * You must not look upon it as the work of the
politicians. If it comes to you it will come as
the ground-swell of poplar demand, and you
can no more refuse than you could have refused
to obey an order when you were a lieutenant in
the army. If it comes to you at all it will come
as a call of patriotism. It would in such an

238 LIFE OF GENERAL WM. T. SHERMAN.

event injure your great fame as much to decline
it as it would for you to seek it. Your historic
record, full as it is, would be rendered still more
glorious by such an administration as you would
be able to give the country. Do not say a word
in advance of the convention, no matter who
may ask you. You are with your friends, who
will jealously guard your honor and renown.

"'Your friend, James G. Blaine.'

" To w^hich I replied :

"'912 Garrison Avenue, St. Louis, Mo.,

"'May 28, 1884.
" ' Hon. James G. Blaine, Washington, D. C.

" ' My Dear Friend : I have received your letter
of the 25th, shall construe it as absolutely confi-
dential, not intimating even to any member of my
family that I have heard from you, and though
you may not expect an answer I hope you will
not construe one as unwarranted.

" * I have had a great many letters from all points
of the compass to a similar effect, one or two of
which I have answered frankly, but the great mass
are unanswered.

HIS CHARACTER. 239

" * I ought not to submit myself to the cheap
ridicule of declining what is not offered, but it is
only fair to the many really able men who right-
fully aspire to the high honor of being President
of the United States, to let them know that I am
not and must not be construed as a rival. In
every man's life occurs an epoch when he must
choose his own career and when he may not
throw off the responsibility, or tamely place his
destiny in the hands of friends. Mine occurred
in Louisiana, when, in 1861, alone in the midst of
a people blinded by supposed wrongs, I resolved
to stand by the Union as long as a fragment of it
survived on which to cling. Since then, through
faction, tempest, war and peace, my career has
been all my family and friends could ask. We
are now in a good house of our own choice, with
reasonable provisions for old age, surrounded by
kind and admiring friends, in a community where
Catholicism is held in respect and veneration, and
where my children will naturally grow up in con-
tact with an industrious and frugal peoplp. You
have known and appreciated Mrs. Sherman from
childhood, have also known each and all the

240 LIFE OF GENERAL WM. T. SHERMAN.

members of my family, and can understand
without an explanation from me how their
thoughts should and feelings and ought to influ-
ence my action. But I will not even throw off on
them the responsibility.

'' ' I will not in any event entertain or accept a
nomination as a candidate for President by the
Chicago Republican Convention, or any other
convention, for reasons personal to myself. I
claim that the Civil War, in which I simply did a
man's fair share of work, so perfectly accomplished
peace that military men have an absolute right to
rest, and to demand that the men who have
been schooled in the arts and practice of peace
shall now do their work equally well. Any Sena-
tor can step from his chair at the Capitol into the
White House and fulfill the office of President
with more skill and success than a Grant, Sherman
or Sheridan, who were soldiers by education and
nature, who filled well their office when the
country was in danger, but were not schooled in
the practice by which civil communities are and
should be governed. I claim that our experience
since 1865 demonstrates the truth of this my prop-

HIS CHARACTER. 241

osltion. Therefore I say that patriotism does
not demand of me what I construe as a sac-
rifice of judgment, of inclination, and of self-
interest.

" ' I have my personal affairs in a state of abso-
lute safety and comfort. I owe no man a cent,
have no expensive habits, envy no man his
wealth or power, no complications or indirect
liabilities, and would account myself a fool, a mad-
man, an ass, to embark anew at sixty-five years
of age in a career that may become at any
moment tempest-tossed by perfidy, the defalca-
tion, the dishonesty or neglect of any single
one of a hundred thousand subordinates utterly
unknown to the President of the United States,
not to say the eternal worriment by a vast host
of impecunious friends and old military subordi-
nates. Even as it is, I am tortured by the chari-
table appeals of poor, distressed pensioners, but
as President these would be multiplied beyond
human endurance.

" *I remember well the experience of Generals

Jackson, Harrison, Taylor, Grant, Hayes and

Garfield, all elected because of their military serv-
16

242 LIFE OF GENERAL WM. T. SHERMAN.

ices, and am warned, not encouraged, by their sad
experiences.

" * The civiHans of the United States should and
must buffet with this thankless office, and leave
us old soldiers to enjoy the peace we fought for,
and think we earned.

" * With profound respect,

" * Your friend, W. T. Sherman.*

"These letters prove absolutely that Mr. Blaine,
though qualified, waived to me personally a nom-
ination which the world still believes he then
coveted for himself.

" For copies of these letters I believe I have
been importuned a thousand times, but as a
soldier I claim the privilege of unmasking my
batteries when I please.

" In looking over my letter-book of that period I
find one recorded and dated two weeks before the
Blaine letter, which is to me more satisfactory
than any other, and therefore I embrace it in this
article, which I want to be complete and final on
this subject matter, viz.:

HIS CHARACTER, 243

"*9i2 Harrison Avenue, St. Louis, Mo.,

"* May 1 6, 1884.
" * Hon. M. C. Butt, Virogna, Wis.

•* * My Dear Sir : I Infer from your letter of
May 14, just received, that you are one of those
soldiers who served under me In the Rebellion,
and that you entertain for me that most accepta-
ble feeling of love and confidence which I value
more than gold and riches. I also infer that you
are a delegate to the Republican convention to
meet at Chicago early In June, to select out of the
great number of eminent and experienced men a
candidate for President.

" ' I am embarrassed by the receipt of many
private letters intimating that my name may be
presented, and that as an American officer and
citizen I have no right to decline. It is simply
exposing myself to ridicule to answer declining
what is not offered, and probably never will be ;
and. as a rule, such letters are ignored ; but you
are a Delegate, and, in my opinion, have a higher
title in being a member of that Army which made
our Government permanent and most honored

244 LIFE OF GENERAL WM. T. SHERMAN.

among the Nations of the earth, therefore en-
titled to an answer.

" ' At this moment of time no danger or neces-
sity exists which can make such a personal
sacrifice necessary on my part. My brother,
Senator Sherman, is fully advised of my views, so
is my neighbor, ex-Senator Henderson, who will
be at Chicago as a delegate from Missouri, and
both should relieve me of any embarrassment,
for I will not allow the use of my name as a can-
didate. I have a thousand reasons, any one of
which to me is good and sufficient, and I claim
the full benefit of the freedom for which we
fought of choosing for myself my own course of
action in life. I do not want my old comrades to
think me eccentric or unreasonable, but to con-
cede to me the simple privilege of living out my
own time in peace and comfort.

" * This letter is meant for yourself alone and not
for the public.

" * With great respect,

" * Yours, &c., W. T. Sherman.*

HIS CHARACTER. 245

"In giving to the North American Review at
this late day these letters, which thus far have
remained hidden in my private files, I commit no
breach of confidence, and to put at rest a matter
of constant inquiry referred to in my letter of
May 28, 1884, I here record that my immediate
family are strongly Catholic. I am not and can-
not be. That is all the public has a right to
know ; nor do I wish to be construed as depart-
ing from a resolve made forty years ago never
to embark in politics. The brightest and best
youth of our land have been drawn into that
maelstrom, and their wrecked fortunes strew the
beach of the Ocean of Time. My memory even
in its short time brings up names of victims by
the hundreds, if not thousands.

" Still American citizens should take an interest
in public events, because with them resides the
ultimate power, the * Sovereignty.' We have
thrown overboard the old doctrine of the Divine
right of kings, and substituted *The will of the
people,' and the civilized world looks toward
America for a solution of the greatest problem of
human existence and \\2j^^\x\^ss, good goi^emment ;

246 LIFE OF GENERAL WM. T. SHERMAN.

this Is only possible by watching jealously and
closely the drift of public events.

" Thus far as a nation we have met every phase,
colonial and national, military and civil, and In
my judgment the people of the United States
have In the past fifty years accomplished larger
physical results than those of Asia in a thousand
years or of Europe in five hundred years. I am
equally convinced that our people In every sec-
tion are more Intelligent, more temperate, and
enjoy more of the comforts of life than did our
Immediate ancestors. So that we are well war-
ranted in allowing the drift of public events to
continue as now, as little disturbed by artificial
obstructions as possible. ' TIs true that * eternal
vigilance is the price of liberty,' and citizens
should and must watch the conduct of their chosen
agents. Acts are substantial, words and profes-
sions are only Idle wind ; none but men who have
done well should be chosen to office. The worst
men always promise most — and of all things the
Nation should not be represented abroad by men
who labored to destroy the Government. Again, the
incident recendy reported as having occurred at

HIS CHARACTER. 247

Richmond, Virginia, of displaying the Rebel flag
in a procession to which Union men were invited,
amonof them the venerable Andrew G. Curtin, of
Pennsylvania, one of the famous war governors,
who to my personal knowedge has gone to the
extreme limit of possibility to create a perfect
reconciliation, was calculated to arouse feelings
which it were wiser to allow to die out. We
now have a common country, a common destiny,
and but a single national flag.

" I was glad to receive from high authority the
assurance that the affair had been greatly exag-
gerated. Still it is well to emphasize the fact that
the Rebel flag went down Jorever at Appomattox,
and cannot be resurrected without protest, if not
actual bloodshed. W. T. Sherman."

In this connection a letter written by General
Sherman's son, Rev. T. E. Sherman, will be read
with special interest. Mr. Sherman wrote as

follows :

"912 Garrison Avenue,

"St. Louis, Mo., June i, 1878
*• The Hon. Samuel Reber.

" Mv Dear Sir: I sail on Wednesday, the 5th

248 LIFE OF GENERAL WM. T. SHERMAN.

Inst., from New York to Liverpool by the steamer
Scythia of the Cunard Line, and as the purpose of
my voyage has relation to the whole future course
of my life, I desire that you, as a friend and kins-
man of the family, should know definitely and
explicitly what that purpose is. You are aware,
my dear Sir, that I graduated a few weeks ago at
the Law School of the Washington University in
this city. You know, too, that my father has
given me a complete education for the bar, having
sent me to Georgetown College to make my
classics and mathematics, then to the Scientific
School at Yale for a foundation in natural sciences
and modern languages, and finally to our St. Louis
Law School, where I have attended the full course
of lectures during the past two years under the
kind instruction of yourself and our other learned
professors.

" For some time past I have had a strong leaning
for the ministry, and so having now reached
the age when every man has to choose his own
career in life, and having weighed this important
matter of a choice with all the care and deliber-
ation of which I am capable I have decided to

HIS CHARACTER, 249

become a Catholic priest. How long ago I
reached this decision, what means I have taken to
test and confirm myself in my resolution, and why,
having finally decided, I now choose to go to Eng-
land to make part of my preparation for the
priesthood, are inquiries which are of no interest to
any one but myself, and to answer them would be
apart from the object of this letter.

"I write to inform you, and beg you to communi-
cate the information to those who may inquire
concerning me, that I assume to myself the whole
responsibility of my choice. As with me alone
rested the duty and the burden of choosing
a path in life, so with me alone rests the blame
or praise of having chosen the Church instead
of law.

*' My father, as you know, is not a Catholic, and
therefore the step I am taking seems as starding
and as strange to him as, I have no doubt, it does
to you, my dear Sir. I go without his approval,
sanction, or consent ; in fact, in direct opposition
to his best wishes in my behalf. For he had
formed other plans for me, which are now defeat-
ed, and had other hopes and expectations in my

250 LIFE OF GENERAL WM, T SHERMAN.

regard, which are necessarily dashed to the
ground.

*4n conclusion, my dear Sir, I have one request to
make, and I make it not only to you, but to all our
friends and relations to whom you may see fit to
show this letter or communicate its contents ; it is
this:

"Feeling painfully aware that I have^grieved and
disappointed my father, I beg my friends and his,
one and all, of whatever religion they may be, to
spare him inquiries or comments of any sort, for
I cannot help feeling that anything of the kind
would be ill-timed and inappropriate.

*' Trusting to your delicacy and to theirs to
appreciate my motive in this, and to comply with
a request so easily fulfilled, I remain with great
respect affectionately and sincerely yours,"

Thomas Ewing Sherman.

REMINISCENCES AND TRIBUTES.

REMINISCENCES AND TRIBUTES.

BY HORATIO G. KING.

T REGARD it as one of the greatest privi-
leges of my life that I have been favored with
the close friendship of General Sherman. He was
the most interesting conversationalist I have ever
met and his fund of reminiscences was seemingly
inexhaustible. Of course I have met him at many
army reunions, and one of my annual duties as
secretary of the society of the Army of Potomac
was to secure his attendance at its reunion. I
shall never forget the first address he made atone
of our meetings, held in Philadelphia on June 6
of the centennial year. He made quite a lengthy
and patriotic off-hand address, in which he coun-
seled tenderness toward the South. * Let us,' he
said, * forgive and forget — provided they will do the

same.* At that time there was considerable real

263

254 LIFE OF GENERAL WM. T. SHERMAN.

or feigned apprehension among politicians that
the South might try conclusions in another war.
Of this he said : * We cherish only feelings of
charity, of kindness, of forgiveness toward the
people of the South. We are ready to forgive
and forget If they will do the same. But If they
will not (pointing to the muskets and cannon on
the stage), boys, there's the things!' The effect
was electric, 'and I am sure It was at least five
minutes before the applause and enthusiasm
abated. Then he added, * I see you understand
your business. But I am out of practice now, and
I am going to be a peaceable man from this time
on.' At the banquet he responded to the toast to
the regular army and made an earnest appeal in
its behalf, strongly criticising the parsimony of the
government toward Its small force, which, by the
way, at that very time was occupied in an Indian
war.

" General Sherman has felt of late years that
his strength was being too strongly taxed by the
incessant social demands upon him. He never
could refuse his old Western associates, but I had
some difficulty to persuade him that he had as

REMINISCENCES AND TRIBUTES. 25&

many friends in the Army of the Potomac, and that
he really belonged not to a section of the grand
army, but the whole army. But he almost always
acceded to my request, but at Saratoga Springs In
1887 he gave me a most laughable scoring for my
persistence. I cannot do better than give the
entire extract from his speech at the banquet. He
said : * By the law of our land, which is the only
king we worship, I was turned out to grass and I
was told that I could spend the rest of my days in
peace and retirement I sought refuge in the
city of St Louis, where I have many, many friends
and which city I love very much. I found but
litde peace there. But I read, I think in Dr.
Johnson, that peace and quiet could only be had
in a great city or in the forest — in nature's wilder-
ness. I therefore sought it in New York City. I
then read in " Wilhelm Melster," by Goethe, by
whom is the beautiful poem, *'Mignon," that on the
heights lies repose. I have chosen Cceur de Leon
lake, in Idaho; and you don't know where it is.
But a friend here, your secretary, Horatio C.
King, initiates a new doctrine, that because I
happen to be a survivor, I suppose of the fittest, I

^56 LIFE OF GENERAL WM, T. SHERMAN.

must fulfill all the offices of all my dead comrades:
therefore I must come to the reunion of the Army
of the Potomac ; I must go to West Point ; I must
go to Chicago; I must go to Detroit; I must go
wherever an army band meets, because I am the
only survivor. Where comes the peace? My
friends,'! come with a full heart, God knows. I
love you all because you fought for the common
flag. Some years ago there was a little captain in
the army called Bonneville. He got peace and
quiet. He asked for two years' leave of absence
and got it, and he went out to the mountains where
Salt Lake now is. Nobody knew where it was
then. That was about fifty years ago. Bonne-
ville was a little fellow. God knows when he was
born ; I don't. It was before the age of man. He
was an aide de camp with Lafayette in 1824. He
went off and caught beavers and otter, and fished,
and the crows came and cleaned him out, and he
kept out of the way for two years more. He was
reported dead. He went to the adjutant-general
and reported, but the adjutant says, " Bonneville
is dead." He says, ** I am not dead.' " Oh, yes,"
said the adjutant, "you are dead ; you are as dead

REMINISCENCES AND TRIBUTES. Ifil

as a mackerel. Go away from here and don't
disturb the record." Bonneville insisted that he
was not dead and he insisted upon going baick
on the army register so that he could get his pay.
I fell in with Washington Irving, one of the sweet-
est men that ever lived and one of your citizens.

" He painted the tale of Bonneville so that his
name will pass down to history. God bless him
and his memory — Washington Irving. Now, I
want your secretary, Mr. Horatio C. King, just to
mark me dead and I won't turn up. I won't
bother him as my old friend Bonneville disturbed
Jones. Let me alone and I will have some peace
the rest of my days.'

" On the morning before the banquet and after
the splendid address by Chauncey M. Depew,
Sherman v/as first called out and was equally
happy. He said in his usual easy and witty style :
* The Army of the Potomac has a great deal of
assurance We bummers of the West sometimes
questioned some of their great claims. I never
have and never will. I admire the tenacity, the
courage and perseverance and magnificent hero-
ism of the Army of the Potomac, but I certainly

17

258 LIFE OF GENERAL WM. T. SHERMAN,

claim some share of credit for us of the West,
who began at the beginning and came over thir-
teen hundred miles to help the Army of the Po-
tomac, and they ought to be somewhat grateful
to us for that. I have been very much interested
to-night, chiefly because I can see in this audi-
ence, magnificent in its appearance, ladies and
gentlemen, young and old, who have come here
to do honor to the old soldiers who are passing
away and whom you can almost count by tens.
They remain now on earth simply as specimens
of what once existed, types of a great army, of
the grand old Army of the Potomac. Our West-
ern army is equally thinning out. The best are
gone. God calls those first whom He loves most,
and a few old sticks, of which I am one, remain
and God only knows why. I suppose to be both-
ered by such people as you, who call upon mc for
a speech. I was told if I would come up here I
should not be called upon, but that to-morrow
night I might have to respond to the toast of our
sister societies. In the West we used to call them
brothers, but these Potomac people have their own
language. I saw few sisters during the war, but

REMINISCENCES AND TRIBUTES, 259

I saw a great many very good brothers — strong,
stalwart fellows, men who went up the Tennes-
see river with the intent to overcome all diffi-
culties.

"In concluding he had something to say about
the anarchists who were just then disturbing the
peace of Chicago and it is worth quoting here:
*And now that the war is over,' he said, * we ought
to thank God that we live in a country where free-
dom is universal and where each and every man
who behaves himself and deserves it, can enjoy
all that God gives him. As to these red Republi-
cans, or whatever they call themselves, though I
am past fighting age, I am not afraid of the red
flag; and as we are in Saratoga, this historic
ground beneath the shadow of Mount McGregor,
and with such an audience before me, I see token
that we need not fear these anarchists. I would
turn them over to the guard-house in charge of a
corporal's guard, and if that would not setde it I
would hang them and have done with it. But I
assure you, good friends, that wherever I go, from
here to Oregon, to places you never hear of, I find
an audience — I will not say as intelligent as this,

260 LIFE OF GENERAL WM. T. SHERMAN.

but a very respectable audience. They love
peace, they love order, system, good government,
and they are going to have it, they will have it;
and if any disturbing element comes in from
abroad or within, we will squelch it quicker than
we did the civil war/

"His last appearance at the Army of the Po-
tomac re-unions was in Portland in July last, and
I never saw him in better spirits. I had really ex-
ecuted a flank movement upon him, for I had half
promised him if he would go to the Saratoga re-
union, I wouldn't urge him again. So I had
quietly run on to Portland, explained the situation
to Major Melcher and told them if they wanted to
secure Sherman's presence the best way was to
make him the guest of the city. This the com-
mon council immediately did. The very day the
resolution passed that body I met the General at
the meeting of the Loyal Legion at Delmonico's.
His first greeting to me was 'King, I'm not going;
it's no use, I can't go. I am getting worn out.' I
laughingly replied, *Well, general, I promised you
that I wouldn't ask you again, and I have kept it.
But how in the world are you going to refuse the

REMINISCENCES AND TRIBUTES. 261

unanimous request of 35,ocx) people?' Well, he
went, and everything was provided for his comfort
and convenience. He had a room near to mine,
and I had some glorious hours in private chat with
him that I can never forget, but the details of the
conversation I am sorry I cannot fully recall. He
was interesting on any subject and you may be
sure that I had sense enough not to do much of
the talking. Of course he was the central figure,
and at the great meeting in the City Hall was
called up as soon as General F. A. Walker had
concluded his oration, which was a masterly
recital of the grand review at Washington at the
close of the war. Naturally, as Walker was ad-
dressing the Army of the Potomac he confined his
description to the review of that army with which
he was connected. Sherman noted the omission
of any reference to the review of the second day,
and touched upon it in his customary mixture of
fun and criticism. He said, 'Now, my friends, I
have had a great deal of experience in my life,
and I have learned since I have been upon this
stage, the grand review in Washington terminated
when the Army of the Potomac passed. It re-

262 LIFE OF GENERAL WM. T. SHERMAN,

minds me of a story which General Taylor is said
to have told once to an applicant in Washington
who urged his claims on the ground of having
been a hero of the first water at the battle of
Buena Vista. General Taylor said that he had
heard of so many things that had occurred there,
while he thought he was there himself, he had
come to the conclusion that he was not there at
all. I have heard so much of that review that I
think I was there, and I think that review occupied
two full days. The first day the Army of the
Potomac had the fioor, and I was upon the stage
at the time, as I am now, taking notes and obser-
vations that I might profit by them, for, if you re-
member, my young friends, and old friends too,
the Army of the West did not have a very fair
standing in your eyes for discipline and order.
You got your opinion of us from rebel soldiers,
and we chased them eighteen hundred miles into
your camp. And we found that even the author-
ities in Washington had not a very good opinion
of our armies. They thought we were rather lia-
ble to disorder. Now, I assure you, my friends,
we were a better drilled army than you were. I

REMINISCENCES AND TRIBUTES. 263

ought to know, for I was their commanding gen-
eral. Let me give you a Httle piece of history
which I have only given to my personal friends.
I was on that stand before Meade was and even
before President Johnson and his Cabinet. Meade
first came with his staff, as you have heard very
well described, and as he wheeled into the White
House grounds, up came Custer, and some lady
flung a circular wreath to him, and in trying to
secure it his horse went off like a shot and Cus-
ter was not reviewed at all, and his division of
cavalry, by the way, would not have passed
muster on the Champ de Mars, in Paris,. The
horses were good, the men sublime, but they
were not good looking to review. Now, the
intervals between divisions were too large and I
kept my eye on them and watched them all the
whil'!. But the worst mistake was that your
Army of the Potomac men had two bands right
opposite our reviewing stand, loaned you by
the stay at homes In Washington. They were
those pampered and well-fed bands that are
taught to play the very latest operas. Your men
did not understand it and did not keep step.

264 LIFE OF GENERAL WM. T. SHERMAN.

Now, to keep step and dress right and keep the
eyes to the front is the first duty of a soldier. A
great many of your men turned their eyes around
like country gawks to look at the big people on
the stand. Those are little things. You know
there are tricks in in every trade, my friends,
tricks in war as well as in peace. While I was
on the stand Meade came to me and I said,
"Meade, I'm afraid my poor tatterdemalion corps
will make a poor appearance to-morrow when
contrasted with yours." Meade said, "Sherman,
the people in Washington are now so well dis-
posed to the army they will make all allowances,
you needn't be afraid." That evening I got a
ncte from General Auger, saying that if I wanted
those two magnificent bands I could have them.
I said, "Thank you, but I will stick to my old
bands," and I sent word to my men, "Be careful
about your intervals and your tactics. Don't let
your men be looking back over their shoulders.
I will give you plenty of time to go to the capitol
and see ever)^thing afterward, but let them keep
their eyes fifteen feet to the front and march by
in the old customary way." And they did so.

REMINISCENCES AND TRIBUTES, 265

When the review was over the two constituted a
thing of magnificent proportions. As to the pa-
triotism within our hearts, and the principles that
moved those great masses of men to a common
purpose, we need not speak, for history has done so,
and the most eloquent tongues in the country
have spoken of it, and nothing more can be said
on that point. But on the simple question of tac-
tics, instruction and discipline, we can take lessons
to the very last days of our life.'

'* His comparison of Portland, Ore., with the
Portland in which he then spoke also called out a
good deal of good-natured comment. Sherman
was tremendously loyal to the West and far West,
though his great heart took in the whole country,
which he loved with the highest patriotic fervor
and devotion. His last public appearance at a
soldiers* gathering in Brooklyn was at the presen-
tation by Lafayette Post of flags to the Packer and
Polytechnic Institutes. It was a glorious scene and
he made one of his effective, patriotic addresses
to the great audience, which included several
hundred of the pupils of these schools. Major
D. F. Wright and myself accompanied him home,

2Q6 LIFE OF GENERAL WM. T, SHERMAN,

and in the long ride to Seventy-first street he kept
up a conthiued fire of reminiscences of the early
days of California and also of the rebellion. He
is the last of the great triumvirate of generals —
Grant, Sherman and Sheridan — for in that order
they will always be named, yet, to my thinking,
Sherman possessed the highest military genius,
and as a strategist had not his equal in the war
of the rebellion."

General Sherman was of all things a great lover
and stickler for truth, and he had no use for a liar.
As characteristic of this I will mention an incident
of a conversation with him onlya few months ago.
I called upon him with Col. John Hamilton to invite
and persuade him to attend the exercises at the
Brooklyn Academy of Music on the occasion of
the presentation of flags by the Lafayette Post to
the pupils of the Packer and Polytechnic Institutes.
He spoke of the incessant demands made upon
him, especially in a social way, and he felt that he
must resist them or his health would give way.
" I don't like the idea," he continued, " but I sup-
pose I'll have to do as others do. There are

and and (naming several prominent din-

REMINISCENCES AND TRIBUTES. 267

ers out) ; they tell me that they constantly accept
invitations and make engagements they do not
mean to keep. But I am afraid I can't do it. I
never voluntarily broke an engagement in my life."

BROKE NO ENGAGEMENTS.

Although he had a severe cold, which would
have justified his remaining at home, he neverthe-
less came to Brooklyn, and made a patriotic
address to those young ladies and gendemen, and
the great audience which packed the house, which
they will never forget. His theme was the
American flag. I recall especially one ex-
pression which he subsequently told me was
entirely unpremeditated. He was speaking of the
Confederate flag — the "Stars and Bars" — and
said: "They cutout the blue. They left heaven
out of their flag, and so were destined to
defeat,"

His first attendence at an Army of the Potomac
reunion was at Philadelphia in April, 1870. The
toast assigned him was "The United States
Army," a theme upon which his official position
required him to ring the changes for thirty years

268 LIFE OF GENERAL WM. T. SHERMAN.

or more. He was then commanding the army,
and was very proud of its record. After praising
its long and glorious history, he said : " The little
Regular Army was swallowed up in the war of the
rebellion, but not lost, for it not only preserved its
own organization, but permeated the great mass
of the volunteers and aided in giving them form
and spirit. If, therefore, it lessened the duration of
the war by a single year or a single month, it more
than paid back to our people its entire cost for the
previous half-century. It certainly has a right to
claim its proportion in the glorious result, the
fruits of which we now enjoy, and that is all the
share it asks.**

HE LOVED PEACE.

In May, 1873, he was at the reunion In New
Haven, and there, too, were Grant, then President,
and Vice-President Wilson, Sheridan, Burnslde,
McDowell, Devens, Hartranft and other notable
men. His subject was again the army, coupled
with the navy, concerning which latter he said:
" In truth, Mr. President, to expect a landsman to
glow in praise of the sea, and the dangers and

REMINISCENCES AND TRIBUTES. 269

delights of it, is more than ought to be expected
of me." After a handsome eulogy of the army he
passed to the question of international arbitration,
of which he said, "I, for one, am perfectly willing
to pass all subjects of the controversy to the peace
congress. We of the regular army are essentially
peace men. We love peace — we love it so well
that we will fight for it. That is all you did in the
war. You rose up and buckled on your armor
that you might secure peace in the land you loved
— loved dearer than your lives."

At Hartford, in 1881, at the reunion, he paid his
respects to Jefferson Davis's " Rise and Fall of
Southern Confederacy," then first published. Said
he: 'I confess I have not seen the volume, only
the copious extracts, and hardly know whether to
treat them seriously or jocularly. It was not
expected that he would feel kindly to those who
awakened him so rudely from his dream of
empire ; but surely in stating facts beyond the
reach of his vision or understanding, he ought to
have approximated the truth even as to his
enemies. Assuming the quotations published to
be authentic, I wish to say that it was lucky for Mr.

270 LIFE OF GENERAL WM. T, SHERMAN.

Davis that General Johnston, in May, 1864, did
not obey his orders and assume the offensive from
Dalton to the north side of the Tennessee River.
One would suppose that after the experience of
Johnston and Hood, whose skill and courage no
man disputes, even Mr. Davis would be con-
vinced that the aggressive campaign foreshadowed
in his seven general propositions of April 16,
1864, ^^^ the veriest nonsense. Johnston did
not have at Dalton 7o,cxx) men, and Mr. Davis
ought to have known it, and Johnston on the spot
was better qualified to judge than Mr. Davis at
Richmond."

HIS LAST ARMY SPEECH.

I could fill columns with extracts from his
speeches at these reunions, teeming with personal
reminiscences, historic facts, wit, wisdom and
patriotism. His last appearance before us was at
Portland last summer, and he was never more
happy or more overflowing with that geniality
which ever characterized his grand and yet simple
nature. His place is vacant, and the " boys " in
the East will miss him quite as much as the

REMINISCENCES AND TRIBUTES. 271

'' boys" of the West who followed him unfalteringly
through many glorious campaigns until they
joined their companions at Washington in that
final review of the finest army the world ever saw.
General Sherman's affection for any and all men
who wore the blue was unstinted. In a recent
conversation with Major D. F. Wright and myself
he said he expected to be laid at rest in St. Louis,
and wanted to be buried by his old Post Ransom,
a wish which was fully carried out. It is an ex-
ceptional honor that all old soldiers are justified
in envying.

272 LIFE OF GENERAL WM. T. SHERMAN.

BY GEORGE W. CHILDS.

T RECALL an incident which happened while
we were at Long Branch, just after General
Sherman's Memoirs had been published. Refer-
ring to the work, I asked if General Grant had
read it. He said he had not had time to do so.
One of the persons present observed, "Why,
General, you won't find much in it about yourself.
Sherman doesn't seem to think you were in the
war." The General said, '* I don't know ; I have
seen some adverse criticisms, but I am going to
read it and judge the book for myself."

After he had perused the work carefully and
attentively, I asked him what he thought of it.
*'Well," he said, "it has done me full justice. It
has given me more credit than I deserve. Any
criticism I micrht make would be that I think
Sherman has not done justice to Logan, Blair,
and other volunteer generals, whom he calls poli-
tical generals. These men did their duty faith-
272

RE.\fIXISCENCES AND TRIBUTES. 273

fully, and I never believe in imputing motives to
people."

General Sherman had sent to me the proof-
sheets of that portion of the Memoirs relating to
General Grant before the book was published,
and asked if I had any suggestions to make, and
if I thought he had been just to the General. I
informed General Grant that I had read these
proof-sheets, and that I thought, as he did, that
General Sherman had done him full justice. Gen-
eral Grant had the highest opinion of General
Sherman as a military man, and always enter-
tained a great personal regard for him. He was
always magnanimous, particularly to his army
associates. He was a man who rarely used the
pronoun / in conversation when speaking of his
batdes.

There is an amusing little incident I recall, a
propos of a large painting of General Sherman on
his •• March to the Sea," which hangs in the hall of
my Long Branch house, and which was painted by
Kauffmann. Sherman sits in front of the tent, in
a white shirt, without coat or vest. The picture
shows a camp-fire in front, and the moonlight in

18

274 LIFE OF GENERAL WM. T. SHERMAN.

the rear of the tents. The criticism of General
Grant when he first saw it was, "That is all very
fine; it looks like Sherman; but he never wore a
boiled shirt there, I am sure."

While living at Long Branch few Confederate
ofificers who visited the place failed to call upon
General Grant. He was always glad to see them,
and he invariably talked over with them the Inci-
dents and results of the war. The General held
In high estimation General Joseph E. Johnston,
and always spoke of hIVn as one of the very best
of the Southern generals. At one of my dinners
I had the pleasure of getting Johnston, Grant,
Sherman, and Sheridan together.

General Sherman, who, during all the preced-
ing ceremonies, had sat on the platform with folded
hands and tear-dimmed and downcast eyes. In re-
sponse to many calls, was Introduced. As the
General arose the assemblage broke forth Into
wild cheering.

The applause was persistent as General Sher-
man stood upon his feet, after repeated calls. He
spoke with feeling, and his deeply-lined face,
closely watched by those who never before had

REMINISCENCES AND TRIBUTES. 273

seen him, was moved by intense earnestness,
The Hght of clustered lamps fell upon his silvered
head as he spoke, and his strong face was tremu-
lous with emotion as he referred to the fact that
by a strange accident of nature he was the only
one living now of the three whose portraits were
before his hearers, and there was a sad quality in
his voice when he said, "I was older than either
Grant or Sheridan."

I recall General Sherman's speech at the time
I presented portraits of himself, Grant and Sheri-
dan to the Military Academy at West Point.

GENERAL SHERMAN'S REMARKS.

" ' Ladies and Gendemen and those Cadets
behind: I fear that West Point is losing that good
old reputation for doing and not speaking. I
have done more talking than I should have done,
and I believe I have done some good, though not
such as I thought of doing. It is one of those
strange incidents of my life that I am permitted to
stand before you to-night the sole survivor of the
trio, or trinity, of the Generals of the Army of the
United States. T was old^-r than Grant or Sheri-

276 LIFE OF GENERAL WM. T, SHERMAN. '

dan. No three men ever lived on the earth's sur-
face so diverse in mental and physical attributes
as the three men whose portraits you now look
upon. Different in every respect except one —
we had a guiding star; we had an emblem of
nationality in our minds implanted at West Point,
which made us come together for the common
purpose like the rays of the sun coming together
make them burn. This, my young friends In
gray, I want you to remember, that men may
differ much, but that by coming together in har-
mony and friendship and love they may move
mountains.

"*I knew these men from the soles of their feet
to the tops of their heads. They breathed the
same feelings with me. We were soldiers to obey
the orders of our country's government and carry
them out whatever the peril that threatened us.
Having done so, we laid down our arms, like good
citizens that we hope to have been, giving the
example to all of the world that war is for one
purpose — to produce peace. A just war will pro-
duce peace; an unjust war has ambition or some
other bad motive. Our war was purely patriotic,

REMINISCENCES AND TRIBUTES. 277

to help the Government in its peril. We were
taught to idolize that flag on the flagstaff, obey-
ing the common law, and working to a common
purpose. No jealousies, nothing of the kind;
working together like soldiers, the lieutenant
obeying the captain, the captain his colonel, the
brigadier the general, and all subordinate to the
President of the Unites States — the Commander-
in-Chief. There is no need to prophesy; it is as
plain as mathematics. You can look in the
heavens and rea3 it. It is the lesson of life.
When war comes you can have but one purpose
— your country — and by your country I mean the
whole country, not part of it.'"

HISTORY OF THE PORTRAITS.

Major John M. Carson, chief of the Philadel-
phia Ledger Bureau at Washington, has furnished
the following account of the painting of the por-
traits of Generals Grant, Sherman and Sheridan
for the Military Academy: —

"The creation of portraits of Generals Grant,
Sherman, and Sheridan now hung in the Cadet
Mess Hall — to be hereafter known as Grant

278 LIFE OF GENERAL WM. T. SHERMAN,

Hall — at the United States Military Academy,
West Point, was begun about three years ago.
The original purpose was confined to a portrait
of Grant. The portraits of Sherman and Sheri-
dan sprang from this purpose, and considering
the relations of Mr. George W. Childs, to whose
patriotism and liberality the Military Academy is
indebted for the portraits, with those three military
chieftains, the Sherman and Sheridan paintings
were an easy and logical outgrowth. The scheme
from which these three large valuable paintings
emanated was evolved from a comparatively un-
important incident. About four years ago, with
that skill and ingenuity which have made him
famous in the management of the Cadet Mess,
Captain William F. Spurgin, Treasurer, Quarter-
master and Commlrsary of Cadets, succeeded in
giving the Mess Hall a new floor and having its
walls brightened.

"Captain Spurgin next conceived the Idea of
making the Hall still more attractive by hanging
pictures and portraits upon the walls. This v\'as
approved by General Wesley Merritt, then Super-
intendent of the Academy, v;ho authorized the

REMINISCENCES AND TRIBUTES. 279

transfer from the library of several portraits for
this purpose. When these were hung in the
Mess Hall a new idea was suggested to Captain
Spurgin, and he concluded that it would be most
appropriate to collect for the Hall portraits and
photographs of the distinguished graduates of the
Academy. It was naturally thought that the
daily presence with the cadets of these exemplars
of the Academy could not fail to exercise a whole-
some influence upon the corps. They would fur-
nish cadets when at meals suggestions for thought
and conversation, and those who occupied seats
at tables once occupied by Grant, Sherman, Sheri-
dan, Meade, Thomas, Hancock, and other emi-
nent graduates, as they looked upon the portraits,
would be encouraged to emulate the lives of those
great chieftains. In addition to this, it was
thought that such a gallery might be collected
through relatives and friends, without expense to
the Government or the Academy.

"During one of my periodical visits to the
Academy Captain Spurgin ou dined his scheme,
and said he would like to obtain a good picture of
General Grant. It was suggested tliat Mr.

280 LIFE OF GENERAL WM. T. SHERMAN,

George W. Chllds had several good large size
photographs of Grant, and would doubtless be
glad to contribute one of them for this use.
Captain Spurgin wrote to Mr. Childs, who agreed
to comply with the request made. Shortly there-
after Mr. Childs mentioned this matter to Mrs. U.
S. Grant, who said that she would like, above all
things, to have a good likeness of her 'husband
at the Military Academy, for which he always
entertained a feeling of admiration and love.
Some years prior to this Mr. Childs had Leutze,
who painted 'Westward the Course of Empire'
upon the wall of the west stairway to the gallery
of the House of Representatives, at Washington,
paint a portrait of General Grant, and suggested
that the Leutze painting be transferred from the
library to the Cadet Mess Hall. The Leutze
portrait was not liked by Mrs. Grant, and she did
not, therefore, care to have It used for this pur-
pose. Mr. Childs then said he would have a
portrait of the General made for West Point
from any picture Mrs. Grant might select. The
photograph made by Gutekunst, of Philadelphia,
in 1865, was selected by Mrs. Grant, and Mrs.

REMINISCENCES AND TRIBUTES, 281

Darragh, of Philadelphia, was commissioned to
paint a portrait from it. The General stood for
this photograph. It is regarded by his family, and
those who were his associates, as a correct like-
ness of the General as he appeared at the close
of the war. When the photograph was taken
General Grant wore upon his left arm a badge of
mourninof for President Lincoln. This emblem of
mourning does not appear in the painting. To
many of those who knew General Grant after he
became President, the Darragh portrait is not
considered good, but by the family of the General,
and by those who were intimate with him during
and immediately after the war, it is regarded as a
faithful likeness and an excellent portrait. It was
sent to the Academy in May, 1887, ^^^ hung on
the north wall of the Cadet Mess Hall. General
Merritt, *in honor of the great graduate of the
Academy, whose portrait, a present to the
Academy from Mr. George W. Childs, sanctifies
the hall as a gallery for the portraits of graduates,'
issued an order directing that thereafter the cadet
dining-hall should be known officially as Grant
Hall.

282 LIFE OF GENERAL WM. T. SHERMAN.

**In June, 1887, a few days after the Grant
portrait had been hung, Mr. Childs visited the
Military Academy as a member of the Board of
Visitors, upon which occasion I accompanied him.
General Sheridan also visited the Academy at
that time in his official capacity as Lieutenant-
General commanding the army, and it proved to
be his last visit to the institution. In company
with Mr. Childs General Sheridan visited the
dining-hall to inspect the Grant portrait, and dur-
ing this inspection Mr. Childs said to the General,
in his quick but cheerful manner in conversation:
'General, if I outlive you I will have your portrait
painted and hung there beside that of Grant.*

'* Sheridan responded: 'Mr. Childs, if you
intend to have painted a portrait of me I would
like to see it before it is hung in this hall.'

"'All right,' said Mr. Childs; *you shall see it.
I would prefer to have you painted while living.'

"After further conversation about the Grant
portrait, the two gentlemen left the hall and
walked to the house of the superintendent. Gen-
eral Merritt, at which General Sheridan was a
guest. Mr. Childs proceeded to the West Point

REMINISCENCES AND TRIBUTES. 283

Hotel. Sheridan arrived at die Point that morn-
ing, and was to review the corps of cadets in the
afternoon, and, as it was near the hour fixed for
the parade when General Merritt's house was
reached, he went directly to his room to don his
uniform. While thus enea^ed he sent a messen-
ger to Mr. Childs, asking that gentleman to join
him before * parade,' and, at the same time, in-
vited the Board of Visitors, through Mr. Childs,
who was President of the Board,, to attend him
during the ceremonies of parade and review.

"When Mr. Childs joined the General on the
porch of the superintendent's house, the latter
said: *Mr. Childs, while putting on my uniform, I
could not help musing about our conversation in
the Mess Hall. If you are in earnest about
painting my portrait for the Academy, I want to
be painted from life.'

"*I am in earnest,' replied Mr. Childs. 'The
portrait shall be painted, upon one condition — It
must please Mrs. Sheridan. I think it would be
a good idea to paint Sherman also, and to hang
him on th.e one side of Grant and you on the
other.*

284 LIFE OF GENERAL WM, T. SHERMAN.

"*That certainly would be a generous act upon
your part,' said Sheridan, *and one which would
be appreciated by Sherman and myself. I would
rather have you do this service than any other
man, because no one could do it with so much
propriety. The relations between Grant and
you were bound by strong ties of mutual affec-
tion. Those between you, Sherman, and myself
have been most intimate. We have all been
guests at the same time, and many times, at your
house. You have come to know us better than
other men know us. Grant, Sherman, and my-
self were closely connected with the suppression
of the rebellion. United thus in our lives, we
should be placed together here, returned as it
were to the Academy from which we started
out in the morning of life as second lieutenants.
Associated as you have been with us, you are the
very man to keep us united after death.'

'"All right, GeneraV said Mr. Childs. 'The
portraits shall be painted and hung in the Mess
Hall. Now select your artist/

"When Mr. Childs spoke to General Sheridan
in the Mess Hall about painting his portrait, the

REMINISCENCES AND TRIBUTES. 285

latter did not think that Mr. Childs was serious.
I happen to know that Mr. Childs formed the
determination to add the portraits of Sherman
and Sheridan to his contribution prior to his visit
to the Academy, and informed General Sheridan
of this fact upon his return to Washington from
West Point during a conversation in which he re-
lated to me what I have stated touching the con-
versation with Mr. Childs at West Point, and also
the conversation between Childs, Sheridan, and
Sherman in relation to painting a portrait of the
General last named.

"Shortly after the conversation between Childs
and Sheridan, on the porch of the superintend-
ent's house, the battalion was formed on the
parade-ground. General Sheridan, accompanied
by the superintendent and staff and the board of
visitors, had passed down the front and up the rear
of the battalion, and had taken his place at the
point designated for the reviewing officer, when
General Sherman rode up from Cranston's Hotel,
located about a mile south of the reservation.
'Sherman remained in his carriage, which was
drawn up in front of the parade-ground and di-

286 LIFE OF GENERAL JVM. T. SHERMAN,

rectly in rear of the reviewing officer. As tlie corps
passed in common, and subsequendy in double
time, Sherman stood up and watched, with old time
eagerness and pride, the columns of gray and white
until they wheeled into a faultless line, tendered
the final salute to the reviewing officer, heard the
cadet adjutant announce 'parade is dismissed,'
and saw the companies move, to lively music, from
the parade-ground to the cadet barracks. Then
he alighted from the carriage, pushed through the
crowd that always fringes the parade-ground
upon occasions of parade and review, and joined
Sheridan and the other officials who still lingered
on the ground. When the usual salutations and
introductions had been concluded, Sheridan drew
Sherman and Childs apart from the crowd and
said: 'Sherman, Mr. Childs informs me that he
intends to have portraits of you and me painted,
to hang beside that of General Grant in the Mess
Hall. He proposes to wait until we die, but I
insisted that the paintings be made before we die,
so we may see how that artist executes us. He
has agreed to do this, and I told him he is the one
man who can and should do it' "

REMINISCENCES AND TRIBUTES. 287

BY GENERAL O. O. HOWARD,

WHO LED THE RIGHT WING ON THE MARCH TO THE SEA.

^y O MAN is better able to give an accurate es-
timate of General Sherman as a soldier and
a citizen than Major-General O. O. Howard, now
in command of the Division of the Atlantic. He
was not only General Sherman's right-hand com-
mander during the historical march to the sea,
but he served with him in many other campaigns,
saw him under fire as a resourceful leader extri-
cating his command from many a perilous situa-
tion and in every other position that could test
his qualities as a general. Besides, General
Howard had been his warm and close friend be-
fore the war and continued in that relation until
General Sherman's death. They started out in
their military careers almost together, and it so
happened that in their services during the civil
war they were more often thrown together than
any other two commanders of note in the army :

288 LIFE OF GENERAL WM. T. SHERMAN.

" My intimate associations with General Sher-
man for so many years in so many situations of
danger and hardship made me look upon him
as much more than a friend.

"I had a feeling of tenderness toward him
almost filial. He was my adviser and support
in a good many anxious hours. I never found
him other than a wise counselor and true, kind-
hearted friend.

" He was twelve years older than I when we
went west together, and he got his brigade before
I did, which was right and proper; but we were
together during almost the whole course of the
war. He had been in the South, thoroughly
understood the plans of the Confederate States,
and, having a capacious mind, took In the whole
situation at the beginning. His long military
experience, with these advantages, made him of
invaluable service to his country from the begin-
ning of hostilities.

HIS EARLIER vSERVICES.

" His career becran as the Colonel of the Thir-
teenth Infantry in the Army of the Potomac

GENERAL OLIVKR O. HOWARD.

REMINISCENCES AND TRIBUTES. 289

under McDowell. When he was sent west after
the first campaign, it was really to take com-
mand of our forces there, and his rise in prom-
inence being very rapid by reason of his admira-
ble work did not beget in early days the confi-
dence in him that was felt later. His prophecies,
though abundantly justified and always sustained
by the event, did not accord exactly with the
views of the situation then held by others, and it
was not until the correctness of his judgment had
been proved many times that the full measure of
his sagacity and foresight began to be realized.

" My own associated service with him may be
said to have begun with the Chattanooga campaign.
I was with him at Chattanooga, Knoxville and the
rest of the hard-fought battles in that region. I
went with him to Atlanta, and returned to-
ward the North when we detached a division to
chase Hood. I was with him again when he
started from Atlanta to the sea, and had com-
mand of the right wing, as General Slocum had
of the left wing, of his army on the whole of that
celebrated march. And so on to Bentonville and

the end of the war and to Washington.
19

290 LIFE OF GENERAL WM. T. SHERMAN.

" Not only was I closely associated with him
in the field during his great achievement, meet-
ing him every day at his quarters and seeing him
under every variety of vicissitude that can befall
a soldier, but after the war he maintained a warm
interest in my welfare. When I was at the head
of the Freedman's Bank he continually advised
and supported me, and made me feel his friend-
ship in more ways than I can tell. I served
under him again when I was in command in the
Northwest, and he was General of the Army
during the years when the Indian wars were
going on in my division. So you may imagine
the strength of the feeling of obligation and
affection I entertained for him, as well as my
opportunities to judge of his personal character.

HIS MILITARY GENIUS.

"As a military leader he was, in my judgment,
one of the greatest that ever lived, and the only
General in the war who was a genius. Genius
generally has abnormal development in some
direction or another, and being stronger here is
not so strong there. While, taken all in all. Grant

REMINISCENCES AND TRIBUTES. 291

was the greatest leader of the war, Sherman
was a General of more extraordinary abilities
in some directions. He was not only quick in
forming his designs, but his mind seemed to take
in the whole field with wonderful grasp. It was
as if the whole country was mapped out on his
capacious brain.

" Sherman's knowledge of military history,
comprising the whole record of war and sur-
passing in minuteness that of almost any other
man alive, was a great source of strength to
him. But his naturally resourceful mind would
have made him a memorable strategist in any
event. He had not only the power of arranging
his troops in the way to give them the greatest
advantage, but of so manoeuvering them as to
force the enemy into just the position in which
he wanted them — obviously a great test of
strategic ability, He was quick to see and take
advantage of his enemy's errors, which is another
test of the same sort. While, like Napoleon, he
managed to mass larger forces in front of his
enemy than was opposed to him, this merely de-
monstrates his superior tactics.

292 LIFE OF GENERAL WM. T. SHERMAN.

" Strategy was his strongest point. Take him
in battle and he did not seem to me to be the
equal of Thomas or Grant.

HIS FRIENDSHIP FOR GRANT.

"Grant and Sherman were, in fact, co-ordi-
nate. One was necessary to the other. The
friendship between them, by the way, was one of
the most interesting incidents of the war. They
were like David and Jonathan. Their relations
continued to be close and tender until General
Grant's death.

*'As a commander no man could wish to
serve under a better or more considerate gen-
eral than Sherman. He was kind, consider-
ate, appreciative and quick to commend.
Hardship was a pleasure to any one who
served under him. I have $een commanders
under whom hardship was plain hardship. But
Sherman had that largeness of soul and freedom
from small motives characteristic of Thomas and
other really great leaders. He differed much
from Thomas, however, in that he was much
more excitable. He was of the sort that would

REMINISCENCES AND TRIBUTES. 293

throw his hat in the air at a great triumph, sus-
ceptible to emotions and for that reason open to
more intense feehngs of resentment against
wrong.

FATHER TO HIS GENERALS.

" Of the generals who served under him he
often spoke in the kindest way during and after
the war. He had for them the affection of a
father for his children. General Slocum he con-
sidered one of the best soldiers and best men
that ever lived. He would not hear a word
against him. General Schofield, now in com-
mand of the army, he considered another admir-
able leader. These sub-generals were in fact
just what Sherman needed. He inspired them
with his own splendid animation and energy and
lifted them up by his very presence. There was
something about him so magnetic that they said
they could feel his influence before they could see
him.

" Take him all in all, General Sherman was
not only one of the greatest military geniuses in
history, but a model of a kindly, generous and
faithful man in every position in life.

294 LIFE OF GENERAL WM. T. SHERMAN.

"Perhaps the most remarkable quaUty of Sher-
man's mental make-up was his marvelous mem-
ory; probably at the close of the war he could call
5,000 officers by name. He had learned rapidly
from youth to manhood, and he appeared to have
forgotten nothing that he had ever learned. His
Quartermaster, Easton, went to him for the solu-
tion of transportation problems as to a written
authority. In ten minutes he would demonstrate
to his chief commissary the number of rations that
would support his different armies for a week or
a month. He was apparently abreast of the great
engineer, Granville M. Dodge, in train-running,
bridge-building, and railroad construction. He
was a little ahead of the Confederate Hood in all
his quick correspondence, involving the laws of
war and of nations, and whenever General Blair
and myself came to him to decide between us on
some historical point, awakened by our proximity
in the Carolinas to an old Revolutionary battle-
field, Sherman had it at his tongue's end, and
whatever the difference, we happily bowed to his
decision. This Indicates fundamental acquire-
ment and extraordinary memory."

REMINISCENCES AND TRIBUTES. 295

BY MR. HIRAM HITCHCOCK.

FIFTH AVENUE HOTEI., NEW YORK.

r^ ENERAL SHERMAN was a guest of this
house off and on for many years, and as
such he naturally became very much beloved
by our whole household. After General
Grant's funeral was over, I spent the evening
with General Sherman, and he told me of his
plans for the future, that he wanted to move
quietly from St. Louis and locate in New York.
He said that he thought he should enjoy New
York very much, and his youngest son was
then finishing his course at Yale, and the change
would bring him near to New Haven. After
that the General arranged by correspondence for
his rooms on the parlor floor, Twenty-fifth street
side. He came here with Mrs. Sherman and the
daughters, and the youngest son used to come in
frequently from Yale. At his first after-dinner
speech in New York — that at the New England

296 LIFE OF GENERAL WM. T. SHERMAN.

Society dinner — General Sherman referred to
having moved to New York, and said that he had
gone into winter-quarters down at the Fifth Ave-
nue Hotel, where there was good grass and
water.

"The General was very particular to have every-
thing arranged to suit Mrs. Sherman. He said that
as to himself it did not make much difference. He
was used to roughing it, and he could take anything,
but he wanted Mrs. Sherman to be very nicely fixed
and to have things to her own mind. On the other
hand, Mrs. Sherman said to me; 'It doesn't make
so very much difference about me, but I wish to
have the General comfortable. Dear old fellow,
he has seen a great deal of roughing it, and I
want him to be entirely at ease.' They were very
happy and comfortable here during their two
years' stay, which began on September i, 1886,
and General Sherman's idea of having a house
was mainly to make it pleasanter and more agree-
able, if possible, for Mrs. Sherman and the daugh-
ters ; to give Mrs. Sherman a little more quiet
than she could have at a hotel, although she lived
very quietly here.

REMINISCENCES AND TRIBUTES. 297

" During the General's residence here he was,
of course, a conspicuous figure. He was always
genial and affable to every one, very easily ap-
proached, and he received and entertained a great
•nany of his old Army companions and aided
a vast number of them. In fact, no one knows
how many Army men Gen. Sherman has first and
last assisted pecuniarily and in various ways, help-
ing them to get positions and giving them advice
and encouragement. He used to meet hosts of
friends and acquaintances in the hotel. I remem-
ber his saying once that he would have to stop
shaking hands, for he had lost one nail, and if he
didn't quit soon he would lose them all. If he
went to the dining-room, people from different
parts of the country who knew him would get up
and go over to his table and talk to him.

" It was a sort of a reception with him all the
time — one continuous reception. He was very
democratic in all his movements, and he always
dined in the public room.

"The General kept one room for a regular work-
ing-room for himself There he had his desk, a
large library, scrap-baskets, letter-files, etc., and

298 LIFE OF GENERAL WM. T. SHERMAN.

that is where he was in the habit of receiving his
friends.

" As for the society side of his life here, Miss
Sherman and her father had regular weekly recep-
tions during the season in the large drawing-room.

" General Sherman was exceedingly particular
with reference to financial affairs. There never
was a more honest man born than General Sher-
man. He was particular to pay his bills of every
sort in full and to pay them promptly. He could
not bear to be in debt. It actually worried him
to have a matter stand over for a day. He knew
just exacdy how his affairs stood every day, and
he could not bear to owe a man anything for
twenty-four hours. And he was just as honest
and frank and faithful in speech and in every
other element of his character. He carried his
character right on the outside, and it was true blue.

"When he went to his house at No. 75 West
Seventy-first street, we kept up our relations
with him, and we would occasionally send up some
little thing to him. Soon after he moved we sent
him a couple of packages, and in acknowledg-
ment he sent us this letter:

REMINISCENCES AND TRIBUTES. 299

"75 West Seventy-first street, Sept. 28, 1888.

Messrs. Hitchcock, Darling & Co.,

Fifth Avenue Hotel, N. Y.

''Dear sirs: \ am this moment In receipt of two
boxes, the contents of which will, I am sure, be
most acceptable to self and guests. With pro-
found thanks for past favors, many and heavy,
and a hearty wish for your continued prosperity,
I am and always shall be, your grateful debtor,

'^W. T. Sherman."

"Whenever the old General would come to this
part of the city he would drop in. If he was
going to the theatre he would call in before or
after the performance — at all hours, in fact, he
Would come, and between his engagements. He
used to sit in this office and chat. He was in
this office just after Secretary Windom's death,
and was asking about that sad occurrence. The
last time he was here was only a night or two before
he was taken sick with the fatal cold which wa^
the beginning of his last illness. I went to the
door with him and bade him good-night, and he
turned and said cheerily, 'Come up, Hitchcock,
come up.' I said, 'I'll be up in a few days,' and
off he moved in his quick way.

300 LIFE OF GENERAL WM. T. SHERMAN.

"The General was, as everybody knows, a splen-
did conversationalist. He had a w^onderful fund
of anecdote, story and reminiscence, and was a
capital story-teller. He was never at a loss for a
ready reply.

" This was one of his comments on a story that
he was not quite ready to believe. *Oh, well, you
can tell that to the marines, but don't tell it to an
old soldier like me.'

" I think there was one very striking peculiarity,
about General Sherman. Of course we have
seen it in different public men, but I think it may
be said of Sherman fully as strongly as of any
other public man either in military or civil life,
that he was as brave as a lion and as gentle as
a woman. When anything touched him it revealed
the sympathy of his nature. He was wonder-
fully kind-hearted.

"If there was an uncompromising patriot any-
where in the country it was General Sherman, and
he manifested that in every walk of life, every
expression, every look. He was a true hero.
He was not only one of the great men, but one of
the purest men of his time.'*

ADMIRAL DAVID D. PORTER.

REMINISCENCES AND TRIBUTES. 301

BY ADMIRAL PORTER.

A DMIRAL PORTER, in one of his books, gives
a racy account of the meeting and a good
portrait of Sherman. They had never before met.
"Thinking," says the admiral, "that Sherman
would be dressed in full feather, 1 put on my
uniform coat, the splendor of which rivaled that
of a drum major. Sherman, hearing that I was
indifferent to appearances and generally dressed
in working clothes, thought he would not annoy
me by fixing up and so kept on his blue flannel
suit, and we met, both a little surprised at the
appearance of the other.

" ' Halloo, Porter,' said the General. * I am
glad to see you ; you got here sooner than I
expected, but we'll get off to-night. (They were
preparing for the second attack on Vicksburg.)
Devilish cold, isn't it ? Sit down and warm up.'
And he stirred up the coal in the grate. * Here,
Captain,* to one of his aides, * tell General Blair to

302 LIFE OF GENERAL WM. T. SHERMAN.

get his men on board at once. Tell the Quarter-
master to report as soon as he has 600,000 rations
embarked. Here Dick,' to his servant, * put me
up some shirts and underclothes in a bag, and
don't bother me with a trunk and traps enough for
a regiment. Here, Captain,' another aide, * tell
the steamboat captain to have steam up at 6
o'clock, and to lay in plenty of fuel, for I'm not
going to stop every few hours to cut wood. Tell
the officer in charge of embarkation to allow no
picking and choosing of boats — the Generals in
command must take what is given them — there,
that will do. Glad to see you, Porter; how's
Grant?'"

REMINISCENCES AND TRIBUTES. 303

BY GENERAL HORACE PORTER.

" T FIRST saw General Sherman a few weeks
after he had entered Adanta, when the lau-
rels of its capture were fresh upon his brow. Af-
ter he and General Grant had corresponded for
more than a month as to the project of Sherman's
cutting loose from his base and striking for some
point on the coast, General Grant, after discussing
with me his plans in great detail, designated me as
the staff officer who was to visit General Sherman,
communicate to him the contemplated movements
of the armies in front of Richmond, the intended
operations upon the sea-coast, including the prob-
abihty of an expedition for the capture of Wilming-
ton, etc., and ascertain his views as to his move-
ments beyond Adanta under the various contingen-
cies which might arise. Starting from City Point, I
reached Atlanta on the morning of September i8,
1864, and found the captor of that stronghold
seated on the porch of a liouse which he was

304 LIFE OF GENERAL WM. T. SHERMAN.

occupying as headquarters on Peach-tree
Street.

" My mind was naturally wrought up to a high
pitch of curiosity to see this famous soldier of the
West. He sat tilted back In alarore chair readincr

o o

a newspaper, his coat was unbuttoned, his hat
slouched over his brow, and on his feet were a
pair of slippers very much down at the heel. He
was the perfection of physical health, in the prime
of life, being just forty-four years of age, and
almost at the summit of his military fame. With
his wiry frame, tall gaunt form, restless hazel
eyes, and crisp beard, he looked the picture of
* grim-vlsaged war.' After he had read a letter
with which General Grant had provided me, he
entered at once upon an animated discussion of
the military situation East and West, and as he
waxed more Intense In his manner the nervous
energy of his nature soon began to manifest itself.
He twisted the newspaper which he held into
every possible geometrical shape, and from time
to time he drew first one foot and then the other
out of its slipper, and followed up the movement
by shoving out Its leg so that his foot could

REMINISCENCES AND TRIBUTES. 305

recapture the slipper and thrust itself into it
again.

" What Hood, who commanded the enemy,
would do in case Sherman started from Atlanta
for the sea was of course a blind surmise. His
view was that if he could move without a large
army to confront him at all points he could easily
live off the country, go where it was deemed best,
and inflict irreparable damage upon the Confed-
eracy; but if Hood confronted him, he (Sherman)
would exhaust his provisions while fighting, and
probably have to strike for the nearest point on
the seaboard, and it would be highly important
to have an abundant supply of provisions to meet
him at the coast. He discussed the possibilities
of the capturing of Savannah meanwhile, to serve
as a base from which supplies could be sent
up the Savannah River to meet him.

" No one could help being profoundly impress-
ed with the comprehensiveness of his grasp and
the clearness of his views. His active and well-
disciplined brain seemed to consider and provide
in advance for every possible contingency that

could arise in the doubtful fortunes of so vast a
20

806 LIFE OF GENERAL WM, T, SHERMAN.

campaign. I was authorized to assure him that
General Grant would spare no effort to co-oper-
ate with him to the fullest extent from the East,
in the way of sending a fleet of commissary sup-
plies, etc., to meet him as soon as it was known
at what point he would be likely to reach the
coast. His expressions as to his confidence in
the certainty of his chief to make provision for
him were as emphatic as the words written to
that chief after the Vicksburg campaign: *I
knew wherever I was that you thought of me, and
if I got in a tight plafce, you would help me out if
alive.'

" It was agreed that the publications in South-
ern newspapers — which we always received
through the lines — the information obtained from
scouts, prisoners, deserters, and the * reliable
contraband,' would give ample news of his where-
abouts and his progress through the country.
After a full discussion of the subject in all its
bearings, he gave me just before leaving a letter
addressed to General Grant to carry back to him,
which closed as follows : * I admire your dogged
perseverance and pluck more than ever. If you

REMINISCENCES AND TRIBUTES. 307

can whip Lee and I can march to the Atlantic, I
think Uncle Abe will give us a twenty days' leave
of absence to see the young folks.' The record
of the success of that march to the sea has since
become one of'the most brilliant pages of Ameri-
can history.

" ' Not many years ago, while sitting beside the
General at a banquet, the band struck up the air
with which he was invariably greeted upon public
occasions, * As Sherman goes marching through
Georgia.' He said : * It seems that I am always
to be known best as the commander of the march
to the sea. I have never considered it by any
means the most meritorious part of the work I
was permitted to take a hand in during the war.
I am to be sure deeply sensible of the value our
people set upon it, but the battles and campaigns
it fell to my lot to conduct previously were, I
think, better tests of a soldier's abilities.' "

" When he had reached Goldsborough, North
Carolina, in the spring of 1865, It was thought
advisable for him to visit General Grant's head-
quarters at City Point, Virginia, for the purpose
of a consultation. On the afternoon of March

308 LIFE OF GENERAL WM. T. SHERMAN.

27th the -Steamer which brought him was seen
coming up the James River, and when it ap-
proached the wharf General Grant started from
his log hut on the bluff to greet his illustrious com-
panion in arms. They met at the foot of the long
flight of wooden steps which led down to the
river. It was, 'Why, how d'ye do, Sherman?'
' How are you. Grant ?' And then a cordial
grasping of hands and more familiar terms of
greeting, their manner being more like that of two
school-boys encountering after a vacation than the
meeting of the chief actors in the great tragedy
of war.

" To make the occasion still more Interesting,
President Lincoln and Admiral Porter were both
at City Point. It was soon arranged that Grant,
Sherman and Porter should call upon the Presi-
dent, who was aboard the " River Queen," the
steamer which had brought him down from Wash-
ington. In the after-cabin of that vessel was held
the conference between these magnates, the scene
of which has been ,so faithfully transferred to
canvas by the artist Healy. Sherman there gave
a most graphic description of the stirring events

REMINISCENCES AND TRIBUTES. 309

of the march to the sea ; and afterward, in answer
to eager inquiries from our staff-officers who
collected about him around the camp-fire, he
related much of the story again. Never were
listeners more enthusiastic ; never was a speaker
more eloquent.

"The story as he alone could tell it, was a grand
epic related with Homeric power. Mr. Lincoln
seemed very nervous and anxious lest something
adverse might happen to Sherman's command in
his absence, and as the General was as desirous
as any one to return and push his operations in
the field, he was given a swifter boat than the one
which brought him, and started the next evening
on his return.

"A novel feature of Sherman's command was
his * bummers.' They were not mere stragglers
and self-constituted foragers, as many suppose,
but were organized for a very useful purpose
from the adventurous spirits which are always
found in the ranks. They served as the * feelers,'
who kept in advance of the main columns, spied
out the land, discovered the well-filled granaries
and tempting barn-yards on either flank of the

310 LIFE OF GENERAL WM. T. SHERMAN.

main columns. They were indispensable in sup-
plying the troops, all of whom were compelled to
live off the country, and in destroying the enemy's
means of transportation and communication. The
bummer was in fact a regular institution.

^'As Sherman's army approached Goldsborough,
a bummer who was a little more enterprising than
the rest was found up a telegraph pole cutting the
wires of one of our military telegraph lines run-
ning out from Wilmington. A Union officer
yelled at him : " What are you doing there ?
You're cutting one of our own wires.' The man
cast an indignant look at the questioner, and said,
as he continued his work, ' I'm one o' Sherman's
bummers, and the last thing he said to us was,
" Be sure and cut all the telegraph wires you
come across, and don't go to foolin' away time
askin' who they belong to." '

'^ General Sherman, as a subordinate, gave his
chiefs no trouble in the field that could be avoided.
He accepted what troops and supplies the
government was able to furnish him, and did the
best he could with them without grumbling. He
cheerfully employed the tools placed in his

REMINISCENCES AND TRIBUTES. 311

hands, and was satisfied. He never demanded
what could not be given him. He was too much
of a philosopher to expect impossiblHties. The
General was always fond of talking with his men
as they filed by him on the march. As Napoleon
enjoyed chatting with the old moustaches of his
guard, so Sherman loved to have a familiar word
with his veterans. One day a soldier had taken
off his shoes and stockings, and rolled up his
trousers to wade across a creek. As the General
rode by he was attracted by the magnificent speci-
men of nether limbs exposed to view, which
might have served as models for a classic sculp-
tor.

" * A good, stout pair of legs you've got there,
my man,' cried Sherman.

" ' Yes, General, they're not bad underpinning/
replied the soldier.

" ' I wouldn't mind changing mine for them, if
you don't object,' added Sherman.

The man looked at his commander's legs,
which appeared rather thin in comparison, then
at his own, and finally said, * General, I guess we
can't make a swap.'

312 LIFE OF GENERAL WM. T. SHERMAN.

"If General Sherman manifested at times
something of the irritability of a Hotspur, and,
like the soldier in the * Seven Ages,' was 'jeal-
ous in honor, sudden and quick in quarrel,' it
was because he possessed a sensitive nature, was
conscious of the honesty of his purposes, and
could not brook misrepresentation and affront.
When he was given a command in Kentucky, he
saw with his keen military foresight that the pro-
visions made for troops were grossly inadequate
for the w^ork before them, and declared that Ken-
tucky ought to have at once 60,000 men, and that
it would require 200,000 to suppress the rebellion
in that region. He urged his views with such
persistency, and resented the harsh criticisms
made upon him with such vigor, that he was called
a crank, and charged with being insane, and finally
deprived of his command. Subsequent events
proved him to be a true prophet.

"Immediately after the surrender of Lee, Sher-
man entered into a correspondence in perfect
good faith with General J*oseph E. Johnston, the
commander of the forces confronting him, for the
purpose of bringing aboufimmediate peace, and

REMINISCENCES AND TRIBUTES. 313

made a memorandum of agreement, which in-
cluded in the terms of capitulation all the Con-
federate troops remaining in the field. It an-
nounced in general terms that the war was to
cease, a general amnesty was to be granted, as
far as the Executive of the United States could
command it, on condition of the disbandment of
the Confederate army, and provided for the dis-
tribution of arms and the resumption of peaceful,
pursuits by the officers and men heretofore com-
posing said armies ; but it was distinctly stipulated
that as the two Generals who signed the agree-
ment were not empowered by their principals to
fulfill the terms, they could only pledge them-^
selves to promptly obtain authority, and to en-
deavor to carry out the programme as arranged.
With Sherman it was an honest effort on the part
of a humane commander to try and put an end
to the war at once.

" When this paper was forwarded to Washing-
ton, it reached there just after the assassination
of Mr. Lincoln, when public feeling was every-
where intensely excited.

" The Secretary of War at once repudiated the

314 LIFE OF GENERAL WM. T. SHERMAN.

terms, rebuked and censured Sherman in a pub-
lished communication, charging him with exceed-
ing his authority, impeaching his motives, and
putting forth' insinuations which were calculated
to incense any one who had a proper regard for
his reputation.

"Sherman felt that his feelings had been out-
raged, not because his agreement had been dis-
approved, but on account of the offensive nature
of the public rebuke.

" He soon after entered Washington at the head
of his army, receiving a greeting from the popu-
lace which might have ranked with the triumph
of a Roman conqueror. There he met Secre-
tary Stanton, but smarting under a sense of in-
sult, he refused to give him his hand, and turned
his back upon him. But notwithstanding the bit-
terness of his resentment at the time, he and Mr.
Stanton became fully reconciled before the latter's
death.

" His writings were as graphic as Caesar's Com-
mentaries. There was in his compositions an el-
gance of diction seldom found except in the
works of professional authors. He has contrib-

REMINISCENCES AND TRIBUTES. 315

uted some of the finest specimens of rhetoric to
be found in modern books. In his description of
the departure of the troops from Atlanta, given
in his memoirs, his style rises to the sublime.

''As a speaker the same qualities of style may
be observed in his more serious efforts. For
instance, his reference to the flag in an address
made at a banquet to the veterans :

" 'The prayer that every soldier ought to breathe
is that yonder flag should be above him in life,
around him in death. What is that flag ? A bit of
bunting, a bauble, a toy. You can buy it for a
few shillings in the nearest store. But once raise
it as your standard, and millions will follow it and
die under it. Insult it, and a whole nation of
patriots will rise up in its defence, and you will
find behind it all the power that can be wielded by
the republic'

" The General often fell into a jocose strain.
Then there was a relaxing of the stern features,
a merry twinkle of the eye, and a display of wit
and humor that ' set the table in a roar.'

" At a meeting in support of the Actors' Fund of
America, held in Palmer's Theatre in June last,

316 LIFE OF GENERAL WM. T. SHERMAN,

the General being called out, stepped to the
front of the stage, and began by saying : * I con-
fess I feel strange up here in such a presence. If
the gentleman who has my favorite seat in the
orchestra will kindly give it up and come up here
and take my place, I will cheerfully go to the box
office and pay $1.50 for my old seat.' Afterward
he astonished the audience by the statement that
the theatrical profession ought to feel indebted to
him because he had once saved Joe Jefferson's
life ; and then went on to say : ' Joe Jefferson
called on me at the Fifth Avenue Hotel, and after
he had left I saw a roll of paper under the chair
he had occupied. I ran after him and cried,
** Joe, did you drop this roll of paper ? " He
turned to me with a look full of joy. " My God,
Sherman, you have saved my life ! '' "What do
you mean ? How have I saved your life ? " " Why,"
replied Jefferson, with that familiar twinkle in his
eye, " I am publishing my life, and that is the first
chapter.' "

" After having listened to nearly all of General
Sherman's speeches during the last six years, I
have no hesitation in ranking him second to no one

REMINISCENCES AND TRIBUTES, 817

as an after-dinner speaker. While the prestige of
his illustrious name intensified the interest felt in
what he said, yet I believe that if he had appeared
at any banquet unheralded and unknown, and
delivered one of his characteristic addresses, it
would have been conceded that his speech was
the hit of the evening. He had the art of begin-
ning with some epigrammatic sentence or humor-
ous allusion to some current topic, spoken in a way
which at once secured the attention of the
audience. He mingled wit and pathos in a happy
blending which appealed to all minds and touched
all hearts. As eloquence is only another name
for earnestness, his seriotis utterances had all the
power of the finest oratory. He leaned forward,
gesticulated forcibly with his long right arm,
looked his hearers full in the eyes, and seemed to
be speaking into the particular ears of each indi-
vidual before him. As a talker he deserved to be
ranked among the great conversers of history,
and, unlike many gifted conversationalists, he
possessed the rare faculty of being a good listener.
Even in the midst of one of his most animated
recitals, if some one interrupted him to add a

318 LIFE OF GENERAL WM. T. SHERMAN.

remark, he would stop, look at him good-naturedly,
and nod approval. His lips, too, would often
move in unison with the speaker's, as if * marking
time' to the music of his words.

"The General's education at WestPoint, which
taught drawing and painting, gave him a knowl-
edge of proportion and coloring, and cultivated a
taste for art which created in him a great fondness
for pictures and sculpture. This was largely
increased by the opportunities he enjoyed in after
years in his visit to the art centres of foreign
lands. His criticisms on art were very positive
and decided. I was much amused one day, when
talking to General Grafit while a sculptor was
modeling his bust in clay, to see General Sher-
man come into the room and begin a vigorous
discussion with the artist as to the truthfulness of
the resemblance. In his nervous, off-hand, ratding
* manner, he criticised one feature after another,
insisting on a litde more prominence'here and a
little less there, and running his fingers over por-
tions of the moist clay to put his suggestions into
effect. Finally, in his enthusiasm, he actually
seized a tool out of the ardst's hand, and was

REMINISCENCES AND TRIBUTES. 319

about to scrape off what he deemed a too prom-
inent projection of the cheek, when the terrified
artist, upon whose face the cold perspiration had
broken out, stayed the hand of the ruthless
amateur, and brought him to such a realizing
sense of the comicality of the scene that he joined
heartily in the laugh which followed.

"The last farewells have now been spoken, the
laurel which crowned the hero's brow is inter-
twined with the cypress, the flag he had so
often upheld has dropped to half-mast, the boom-
ing of his guns has given place to the tolling of
cathedral bells, and American hearts are op-
pressed with a sense of sadness which is akin to
the sorrow of a personal bereavement."

320 LIFE OF GENERAL WM. T, SHERMAN.

SHERMAN AND THE EDITORS.*

IWTR. H. L. PRIDDY, an old time Memphis
journalist, is one of the men who regret
the death of General Sherman. He and D. A.
Brower, now editor of the Little Rock Gazette,
were publishing the Argus in Memphis during
the time that General Sherman was in command
there, and they had several rather exciting expe-
riences with him.

Mr. Priddy says of him : " He was a sure
enough soldier and a gentleman ; knew how to
treat the people, what favors to extend, and where
to draw the line. The Argus was the only paper
published in Memphis then. The Appeal was
scurrying over the country in a box car avoiding
the Yankees. Brower and I had to simulate a
degree of loyalty, but whenever we got a* chance
we cheered the stars and bars.

"General Sherman gave us considerable lati-

* From the New Orleans Times- Union.

REMINISCEXCES AND TRIBUTES. 321

tude, but we finally went too far, and he called
us down. He did it in a gentlemanly, sociable
way, however, that didn't wound our feelings. He
galloped up to the office one day at noon, threw
the bridle rein of his big black stallion to an
orderly, and strode into the editorial room. A
crowd of citizens orathered on the other side of the
street and mourned for the fate of the newspaper
and the editors. I think they had an idea that
Sherman was going to amputate our heads and
all the forms, but he didn't. He sat down and rest-
ing his feet on the table, said : ' Boys [we were
both youngsters], I have been ordered to suppress
your paper, but I don't like to do that. I just
dropped in to warn you not to be so free with
your pencils. If you don't ease up, you'll get in
trouble.'

" We promised to reform, and as the General
seemed so pleasant and friendly, I asked him if he
couldn't do something to increase the circulation
of currency. There was no small change, and we
had to use soda water checks issued by a confec-
tioner named Lane. We dropped soda-water

checks in the contribution box at church, paid for
21

322 LIFE OF GENERAL WM. T. SHERMAN.

Straight whiskey with them, and received them for
money. If Lane had closed his shop the checks
would have been worthless.

" General Sherman comprehended the situation
and quick as a flash said : ' You need a medium
of exchange that has an intrinsic value. Cotton
is king here. Make cotton your currency. It is
worth j^i a pound. Make packages containing eight
ounces represent 50cents, four ounces 25 cents,and
so on. Cotton is the wealth of the South right now.
Turn it into money.' * But the money-drawers
would not hold such bulky currency,' said I.
'Make *em larger,' said the General, and with that
he strode off. As he mounted his horse and
galloped away he shook his whip at Brower and
me and shouted : * You boys had better be care-
ful what you write or I will be down on you.'"

REMINISCENCES AND TRIBUTES. 823

BY HON. CHAUNCEY M. DEPEW.

"/^ENERAL SHERMAN, after he came to
New York, was at once the most distin-
guished and delightful figure in our metropolitan
society. He seemed to have a most elastic
constitution, and endured an amount of social
obligation which would have tired out and used
up many a younger and stronger man. He
loved to be in the company of men and women.
I think he dined out every night of his life, and
very often he would be found at late suppers,
especially theatrical suppers.

" He is, easily, at any table, at the head where-
ever he sits, and has a wonderful faculty for
entertaining conversation. No person ever heard
him say a disagreeable thing. With the most
positive, pronounced and aggressive opinions on
all questions, and never concealing them, he so
states them as never to offend an adversary.
His attention to ladies is a most delightful

324 LIFE OF GENERAL WM. T. SHERMAN.

exhibition of knightly and soldierly courtesy.
There is in his manner and speech something
of deference, respect and admiration, which
conveys a more signal compliment than can be
wrought in phrase or flattery. At a" night sup-
per where the guests were mostly theatrical
people he was in his joyous hilarity like a boy.
In the speech which he Invariably made there
was much of the fatherly feeling of an old man
rejoicing in the artistic success of his auditors,
and to those who deserved it, whether actors or
actresses, a neatly turned compliment which
expressed all that a trained dramatic critic could
say, and became in the recollection of the happy
recipient the best memory of his or her life.

"I have been with him at hundreds of public
dinners, and in studying close his mental methods
and habits of speech, have come to regard
him as the readiest and most original talker in
the United States. I don't believe that he ever
made the slightest preparation, but he absorbed,
apparently while thinking and while carrying on a
miscellaneous conversation with those about him,
the spirit of the occasion, and his speech, when he

I

REMINISCENCES AND TRIBUTES. .325

finished, seemed to be as much of a surprise to
himself as It was to the audience, and the work
of a superior and exceedingly active intelligence
which included him as well as the rest among its
auditors.

" Most men, and I have met several, who had
this faculty, were cans of dynamite, whose ex-
plosion was- almost certain ' to produce most
disastrous results. But General Sherman rarely
failed in striking out a line of thought different
from and ftiore original than any other speaker,
and in sometimes giving utterance' to the boldest
thought, yet always in harmony with the oc-
casion.

*' I recall the last two times that I met him as
especially significant of his conversational talent
and power of public speech on a sudden call. I
sat near him at the dinner given in his honor by
ex-Chief Justice Daley about one month ago.
General Sherman rarely talked about himself, but
on this occasion he became reminiscent and
entertained us for more than an hour with free-
hand sketches of his adventures on the plains in
early years, and of the original people whom he

326 LIFE OF GENERAL WM. T. SHERMAN.

met among the early settlers. These recol-
lections, if taken down at the moment, would
have proved an invaluable contribution to the
history of the period covering the growth of
transportation on the plains, from the wagon to
the railroad, and the story of the bold and ad-
venturous spirits who were the pioneers of West-
ern civilization, many of whom he knew per-
sonally.

" The last time I met him he promised, after
a dinner to which he was engaged, to do me the
favor, though he said it was asking a good deal at
his time of life, to come to the Yale Alumni
Association dinner and say a wor^ to the guests.
His appearance'there about half-past eleven was an
event which the Alumni of Yale who were pres-
ent, most of whom were young men who had
never seen him before, will remember as long as
they live.

" I have felt for many years that in the interests
of the period during which he was one of the
most conspicuous actors, and with one exception
the most conspicuous, that he always ought to
have been accompanied by a stenographer.

REMINISCENCES AND TRIBUTES. 327

" I have known most of the men who have
been famous in the country, in every walk in Hfe,
in the last twenty-five years sufficiently well to
hear them frequently talk in a free and confiden-
tial way. General Sherman was one of the few
who never bore you, whose conversation is
always interesting, and no matter how long he
talked, he leaves you hungry and eager for more.
I was with him at the time I delivered the oration
before the Army of the Potomac at Saratoga. I
was with him from ten o'clock in the morning
until six in the afternoon, and he talked without
cessation for the whole period. It was a test few
ihen could have stood, and the three others who
were with him in the carriage only regretted that
the day was limited by the light.

"General Sherman lived so much in the full
blaze of publicity that there is little which can be
added to the story of his life except the personal
incidents he was accustomed to narrate in con-
versations with his friends, which shed a strong
light upon the history of the times in which he
was such a prominent actor. He was the only
man I ever met who I thought could have not

328 LIFE OF GENERAL IVM, T. SHERMAN.

only survived but had his fame Increased by the
constant attendance of a Boswell.

"A story he told me in reference to the famous
campaign from Atlanta to the sea would seem by
indirect evidence to setde the vexed question as
to who planned that great campaign. Sherman's
loyalty to his superior officers and to the Presi-
dent was such that he never publicly made any
claims in regard to any of his movements for him-
self. He said that he had been fairly importuning
the President, the Secretary of War and General
Grant to permit him to swing loose from his base
of operations, and march across the country to
the Atlantic. He believed that there was no
enemy before him strong enough to resist an
army as large and perfectly disciplined as that
which he commanded. He also felt assured that
by sweeping through that country he would cut
off the food and forage which supported the
armies of Johnston and of Lee. Mr. Lincoln
was afraid he would lose his army. Stanton had
lltde or no faith in the movement, and while Grant
believed that Sherman was right, the staff in-
fluences about him were hostile to General Sher-

REMINISCENCES AND TRIBUTES. 32'J

man. One day, however, Sherman received a
telegram from Mr. Lincoln and one from Secre-
tary Stanton which substantially gave him discre-
tion. He instantly sent an officer and a detach-
ment of cavalry with orders to tear down the
wires for fifty miles between Atlanta and Wash-
ington. He said that long after the war he
discovered that an effort was made to countermand
the march, but the officer reported that the rebels
had cut the communications.

"He told me an interesting story about a prom-
inent citizen of Savannah who came to his head-
quarters after he had captured that city. The
gentleman was in great trepidation and informed
the General that he had some valuable pictures in
his house. The General said they were entirely
safe. He said he also had a collection of family
plate of great intrinsic value, and, on account of
its associations, very precious to him and his
family. The General told him he would put a
guard about his house if necessary. Then, in a
burst of frank confidence, produced by this gener-
ous response to his fears, he revealed to General
Sherman that he had buried in his back-yard a

330 LIFE OF GENERAL WM. T. SHERMAN.

large quantity of priceless Madeira, of the oldest
and rarest vintages, and estimated to be worth
over $40,000 before the war. The General re-
sponded at once, *That is medicine, and confis-
cated to the hospital.' What the hospital did not
need he distributed among the troops. But much
marching and fighting had produced in the boys
an appetite more vigorous than that which recog-
nizes the bouquet of 181 5 Madeira at a New-
York club or dinner-table, and they wilHngly
exchanged a bottle of Madeira for a gill of
whiskey.

"General Sherman was fully informed of the
movements of Jefferson Davis, and in a position
to put his hand upon and arrest him at almost
any time after Davis left Richmond. He consulted
Mr. Lincoln as to what he would better do, saying
to the President that he did not know but what
he, the President, would be relieved by not having
the President of the Southern Confederacy on
his hands, and asking for instructions. President
Lincoln's instructions were given in this form:
'Sherman, many years ago, up in Illinois, I knew a
temperance lecturer who had been an habitual

REMINISCENCES AND TRIBUTES, 331

drunkard. He met on an anniversary occasion a
number of his old boon companions. They were
urging him to celebrate it with them in the usual
way, and he finally said: 'Boys, I must stick to my
principles, but if you could get some whiskey into
my water unbeknownst to me I might join you!'

"The General after that made no effort to cap-
ture Jefferson Davis, and regretted that he did
not reach the schooner in which he was intending
an escape to Cuba, because once out of the coun-
try' he never could have returned, and when
arrested the difficulty which Mr. Lincoln had antic-
ipated arose, and the situation was only solved
by Horace Greeley becoming his bondsman.

"The General told me another interesting story
of Mr. Lincoln, which brings out in a very clear
light the humanity which was the dominating ele-
ment of his character. After Sherman had
reached the boundary line between North Caro-
lina and Virginia his army was spread out over
the railway and roads leading from Richmond
south. The General said to the President that
there were two ways open for his army — one to
remain where it was and compel the surrender of

332 LIFE OF GENERAL WM. T. SHERMAN.

Lee's forces, after Grant had driven them out of
Richmond, by cutting off their supplies and means
of escape; the other to join General Grant and
crush the Confederate forces at once. Lincoln's
answer was decisive and peremptory: *Take the
course which will shed the least blood.'

"I heard General Sherman once narrate a very
striking battle incident. He had rallied his troops
and led them to a charge which was everywhere
successful. As he rode into the enemy's camp, he
saw a soldier lying on a barrow and an officer
standing over him with an uplifted knife. He
shouted to the officer not to strike, and spurred
up to the group to discover that the men were
both dead ; the only solution being that the offi-
cer, who was a surgeon, was in the act of per-
forming an operation for the extraction of a bullet
upon the soldier when the concussion of a cannon-
ball passing near them had killed them both, and
they had stiffened in the atdtude they occupied at
the moment when their lives went out.

"As General Sherman was riding one day with
his staff on the march through Georgia, they came
upon an old planter sitting upon his front piazza,

REMINISCENCES AND TRIBUTES. 333

and they rode in for a drink of water. The old
gentleman said: 'General, I saw on one of the
regimental flags, the looth Iowa. The last I
heard of Iowa it was an uninhabited territory.
Has that got a hundred regiments of i,ooq men
each in your army now?'

"'Yes.'

'"Well, said the old planter, 'if Iowa has got
lOO regiments in your army and the rest of your
States have sent regiments in proportion, you
must have more than a million. We better give
up at once.' "

334 LIFE OF GENERAL WM. T. SHERMAN.

BY PRESIDENT HARRISON.*

" I "HE death of William Tecumseh Sherman, is
an event that will bring sorrow to the heart
of every patriotic citizen. No living American
was so loved and venerated as he. To look upon
his face, to hear his name, was to have one's love
of country intensified. He served his country not
for fame, not out of a sense of professional duty,
but for love of the flag and of the beneficent civil
institutions of which it was the emblem.

" He was an ideal soldier, and shared to the
fullest the esprit du corps of the army, but he
cherished the civil institutions organized under the
Constitution, and was only a soldier that these
might be perpetuated in undiminished usefulness
and honor. He was in nothing an Imitator. A

* In response to our letter to President Harrison to furnish a
contribution for this book, he writes that it would be a labor of love
for him to do so, but on account of pressing public duties it would
be impossible. But he sends us the tribute above.

REMINISCENCES AND TRIBUTES, 335

profound student of military science and pre-
cedent, he drew from them principles and sugges-
tions and so adapted them to novel conditions
that his campaigns will continue to be the
profitable study of the military profession through-
out the world. His genial nature made him
comrade to every soldier of the great Union
Army. No presence was so welcome and inspir-
ing at the camp fire or commandery as his. His
career was complete ; his honors were full.
He had received from the Government the
highest rank known to our military establishment,
and from the people unstinted gratitude and
love."

336 LIFE OF GENERAL WM. T. SHERMAN.

BY REV. T. DEWITT TALMAGE, D.D.

*' nPHE century had no grander soul to surrender
into the eternities than the one who yester-
day sped away from us, Frank, honest, briUiant^
gallant, patriotic William T. Sherman !

" I thank God that I ever knew him, that I ever
felt the hearty grip of his right hand and had the
friendship of his great big heart. I have no
interest in the question being agitated as to
whether he was Protestant or Catholic. I heard
his profession of faith on a memorable occasion
and under peculiar circumstances. In New York,
at the New England Society dinner three years
ago, I sat with him four hours. He on one side
and the immortal and lamented Henry W. Grady,
of Georgia, on the other. We were all to make
addresses, but there was time for a conversation
that will be precious while memory lasts. There
and then, while the merriment of the occasion
filled the air, he expressed to me his respect for

REMINISCENCES AND TRIBUTES. 337

the reliorlon which his now ascended wife had
embraced, and his own faith in God and his confi-
dence for the future.

" Simple as a child, brave as a lion, sympathetic
as a woman, firm as a rock, wrathful as a tempest
when- aroused against wrong, lovely as a June
morning among his friends — how can we give him
up ? But God knows best."

22

338 LIFE OF GENERAL WM, T. SHERMAN,

BY COLONEI. GEORGE A. KNIGHT.

"XJOT many days ago our drooping banner sor-
rowfully reminded us that the king was dead.
Within a few hundred feet of this spot royalty
was stricken by the hand of death. It was some-
thing uncommon in a country like ours, founded
upon principles that hardly knew what royalty
meant, and yet within the education of our people
we found the spirit of community and that fealty
to the law of nations that told us intuitively that
we should deal with the dead monarch in a spirit
that became us as a people, and the swift-keeled
messenger from our navy carried to the Inviting
clime all that was left of the sovereign, all that was
left of royalty. We hardly understood what it
meant, because we were not educated to believe
in a divine right of kings, and w^ere not educated
up to the historical eminence that such a fact
would have in other countries. Here the sovereign
never dies ; tlje sovereignty is with the people, and

REMINISCENCES AND TRIBUTES. 339

no matter how great, no matter how common the
man may be, he belongs to that Government of
the people, for the people and by the people *
which creates a sovereignty that shall never perish
from the earth.

'* In times like these, when we are met to com-
memorate, to calmly deliberate upon, met to think
over the services of one who might have been a
king had he lived elsewhere, it is only then that
we comprehend how great, how pure, how
broad are the principles of this Government, in
which men like Lincoln, men like Grant, men like
Sheridan and men like Sherman may pass
from this stage of action and not be credited
with having within their veins the blood of royalty,
and be deemed by their people sovereigns. The
Government of this country is founded upon prin-
ciples which teach and promulgate that all men
are created equal ; that they are endowed by their
Creator with inalienable rights. And where do we
get those principles ? And from what source do
we receive that teaching? Over 1800 years ago
there stood by the sea of Galilee a poor, wayfaring
Nazarene, with his humanity and divinity ever

340 LIFE OF GENERAL WM. T. SHERMAN.

pointing to the diamond of a pure faith, not seek-
ing the titled nobility for his constant companions,
but the honest, sun-tanned fisherman, and with
these men he taught the lesson to the world that
all men were created equal and had to be equal
before the blessings of his Father would come
upon them. Thus it is that we have kings among
us, and show to the civilized world the perfection
and high standard of our American institutions.
With us a sovereign never dies.

" To day we are met to think over, as individuals,
the services of one who has done much to help
forward the civilization of our present day. I
don't believe in dealing with the individualities of
the time. I don't believe that we can comprehend
what pur present and what our past has been and
the wonderful effect that it will have in years to
come upon the people who may follow us. I look
upon the Grand Army of the Republic of this
Nation, not as an organization where individual
members are known and can be called by name,
because in a few years they will be gone; their
names will be forgotten. But the great fact that
such an organization existed will never be obliter-

REMINISCENCES AND TRIBUTES. 841

ated from the history of mankind. While we may
view those who were high in mlHtary circles, and
while we may be mindful of their services, the
time will come when the services they rendered
will overcome their individuality and they will be
known only in their works.

"When we think of the great subjects, when we
think of the great problems and the great prin-
ciples that were submitted to those in charge ot
this Nation in the days of Grant, Sherman,
Sheridan and Lincoln, we are almost overcome
with the ponderous thoughts that arise in their
consideration. To-day, can you imagine Presi-
dent Lincoln in the White House at Washington
in the days of 1861 looking over the Potomac and
wondering if this Nation was to live or not? Can
you see him, solitary and alone, almost unsupport-
ed, with his eyes streaming over the river, and
the only hope he had was in the patriotism of
Grant, the dash of Sherman and the fighting pro-
pensities of Hooker and Sheridan ? How could
he have given us peace without those great factors
who helped him to success ? It is, therefore, not
with men that we propose to deal, but with those

342 LIFE OF GENERAL WM. T, SHERMAN.

facts and principles which have brought us
here.

" Of General Sherman much can be said. No
living man has had more written of him ; no living
man has come so to the fireside of every family in
the land ; no living General has been so before
the people ; no one has inspired by his example
more than this man, whose successes and achieve-
ments we to-day reverence and admire. I speak
of him as a Californian. We must remember that
he was educated at West Point. By his early
education he was trained as a strict disciplinarian,
in a school where decorum and ever^^thing that
goes to make up a true soldier were rigidly
required ; and yet we find him here in California
as a pioneer. Many of you, no doubt, remember
him — many of you remember him as a successful
business man, a banker and a true civilian. It
might seem impossible that he could ever forget his
discipline and mingle with the people in a genial
way, but he showed that he had another side to
his character beside that of the mere soldier. He
was in Louisiana when the flag was assailed, when
the mutterings of treason were abroad in the land

REMINISCENCES AND TRIBUTES. 343

He did not stop to consider whether he himself
should be benefited by remaining where he was,
but he gave himself at once to the cause of the
Union and the cause of right.

" Those who in that day questioned his- judg-
ment lived to know that he was calm in his pro-
cedure, sound in his conclusions; not only a
civilian, but the ideal type of a soldier. When
he planned that march from Atlanta to the sea,
that shall live as long as time shall be and the
history of this Government shall be written, he
was not surrounded by circumstances that would
lead to ease and quietude.

" ' Our bugle sang truce, for the night cloud had lowered,
And the sentinel stars set their watch in the sky,

And thousands had sunk on the ground overpowered.
The weary to sleep and the wounded to die.

*' ' And reposing that night on his pallet of straw,
By the dim campfire that guarded the slain.

In the dead of the night a sweet vision he saw.
And thrice ere the morning he dreamed it again.'

"That grand victorious march so closely associ-
ated with the rebellion was conceived by him on
the tented battle-field.

344 LIFE OF GENERAL WM. T. SHERMAN.

" He was never jealous of Intelligence; he had
no fight to make with his equals; he was modest
in the extreme. The world never presented a
picture where three men like Grant, Sheridan and
Sherman might be seen, each trying to put laurels
on the other's brow. Speak to Grant, and he
would tell you of the successes of Sheridan and
the wonders done by Sherman. Speak to Sheri-
dan, and he would tell you of the hero of Shiloh
and the wonderful man of Atlanta. Speak to
Sherman, and he would tell of Sheridan and
Grant and fighting Joe Hooker. Where can you
find such people on the face of the earth? Where
can be found men with intelligence so great,
ideas so broad and natures so generous that each
wanted to place upon the other the wreath that he
himself was justly entitled to from the hands and
hearts of a generous people.

"Sherman is dead. His body and his presence
will never be seen among us again. He was a
factor, together with his comrades, in American
civilization; he had opportunities that never will
come again to any man; he was associated with
those who were great in their respective capac-

REMINISCENCES AND TRIBUTES. 345

ities, and he was born, lived, acted in an oppor-
tune time for the benefit of the whole world. He
was as great as his opportunities; he was modest,
as all great men are, and the fitting tributes to
his memory are the criticisms of the whole world.
No soldier ever dreaded his presence ; no one
with a just cause ever flinched from presenting it
to him; in fact, he was a man — such a one as we
have a right to iriiitate as a civilian, and such a
one as we have a right to be proud of as a mili-
tary hero. Peace to the just man's memory!
Let it grow greener with the years! Let the
mimic canvas show his benevolent features to
posterity, and in the book of time the glorious
record of his efforts write ! Hold them up to men,
and bid them claim a palm like his, and catch
from him the hallowed flame."

316 LIFE OF GENERAL WM. T. SHERMAN,

BY GEN. HENRY W. SLOCUM.

T JOINED General Sherman's expedition from
Atlanta, and was with it from that time until
the close of the war. Every other day General
Sherman rode with me.

" On these occasions, being a great talker, he
was as entertaining a companion as could well be
imagined. His conversation covered a wide
range of subjects, but touched lightly on the one
subject which at that time possessed the greatest
interest for the whole country — the march it-
self and what was expected of it.

" General Sherman's appearance at the time
was about the same as it was in later years. He
was angular, nervous, but giving every one the
impression of being a man of great determina-
tion. At the same time he was of a sanguine
temperament.

" From the time he started on the expedition,
he never seemed for a moment to doubt that it

GENERAL HENRY VV. SLOCUM.

REMINISCENCES AND TRIBUTES. 847

would ultimately prove successful. Nothing
seemed to shake his faith in this respect. He
never discussed his plans with me to any extent.
It was not his habit to discuss them with his sub-
ordinates. He preferred saying little about
what he intended to do until it became necessary.
His self-reliance was remarkable.

*' With his troops, General Sherman was exceed-
ingly popular. This was perhaps but natural, as
he had led them to success, and a commander in
such a position generally is popular. While pos-
sibly he was not generous with his men, he was
always just, and this fact they recognized and
honored him for. His sense of justice caused him
to be severe in his treatment of those who failed
to do their duty. He always looked well after
the welfare of those under his command, and was
never above having a pleasant word for his men.

"The feeling of the Southern people against
General Sherman was probably stronger than
that felt against any other Northern General. It
had never been General Sherman's wish or in-
tention to cause any unnecessary suffering to the
people in the country through which he was

348 LIFE OF GENERAL WM. T. SHERMAN,

marching. For the burning of Columbia he was
in no way responsible. Yet he was charged with
it, with much bitterness, by the Southern people.
As a matter of fact, the inhabitants of the place
were themselves to blame for its burning. They
had filled the streets with cotton, and when
Sherman's army marched in, thinking to propiti-
ate the soldiers, they had waylaid them with
whiskey, which they gave to them in tin cups, as
much as they would take, until every ugly fellow
in the ranks was still uglier and half drunk.

" General Sherman always expressed great
regret at the suffering caused by the burning of
Columbia. He talked with me about it at the
time, and frequently spoke of it after the war.
Nothing was further from his intentions than that
the city should be burned. He strove to burn
everything useful to the Confederates ; nothing
else. When we first crossed into South Carolina
we found we were walking on torpedoes planted
in the road, and the troops did some burning on
their own account, but General Sherman put a
stop to it as soon as possible.

" One of the most astonishing things about

REMINISCENCES AND TRIBUTES. 349

General Sherman was his memory. He never
seemed to forget anything which he met with and
which he thought might at any future time be of
use to him. Having been stationed at Charles-
ton before the war, he seemed to have the whole
topography of the State at command. Frequently
he was able to give information which was not
found on the map.

"The subject of religion was seldom mentioned
by General Sherman. He was not, however, a
bigoted man, and the disappointment he felt at his
son's entering the priesthood, he believed, was
due not to the fact that he had become a priest,
but to the fact that he had deserted the profession
which was his father's choice, and in which he was
already gaining an enviable reputation.

" On politics he was not as reticent, but fre-
quendy declared he wanted nothing to do with
them and that he would not even become a can-
didate for the Presidency. General Grant, he
also declared, had made a mistake in accepting
the Presidency, as his reputation as a soldier was
worth more than any civil distinction he could at-
tain."

350 LIFE OF GENERAL WM. T. SHERMAN.

BY SENATOR MORGAN.

"/^N this occasion of national solemnity I would
lead the thoughts and sympathies of the
American Senate back to those days in our his-
tory when Gen. Sherman was, by a choice greatly
honorable to his nature, a citizen of the State of
Louisiana, and presided over a college for the
instruction of Southern youths in the arts of war
and the arts of peace. Those were not worse
days than some we have seen during the last half
of this century. In those days, notwithstanding
the conditions of the South, in view of its institu-
tions inherited from the older States of the East,
every American was as welcome in Louisiana and
the South as he was elsewhere in the Union. We
are gradually and surely returning to that cordial
state of feeling which was unhappily interrupted
by the civil war.

"Our fathers taught us that it was the hiehest
patriotism to defend the Constitution of the coun-

REMINISCENCES AND TRIBUTES, 351

try. But they had left within its body guarantees
of an institution that the will of the majority,
finally determined, should no longer exist and
which put the conscience of the people to the
severest test. Looking back now to the begin-
ning of this century, and to the conflict of opinion
and of material interests engendered by those
guarantees, we can see that they never could have
been stricken out of the organic law except by a
conflict of arms. The conflict came, as it was
bound to come, and Americans became enemies
as they were bound to be in the settlement of
issues that involved so much money, such radical
political results, and the pride of a great and
illustrious race of people. The power rested with
the victors at the close of the conflict, but not all
the honors of the desperate warfare. Indeed, the
survivors are now winning honors, enriched with
justice and magnanimity, not less worthy than
those who won the battles, in their labors to
restore the country to its former feeling of frater-
nal regard and to unity of sentiment and action
and to promote its welfare.

"The fidelity of the great General who has

352 LIFE OF GENERAL WM. T. SHERMAN.

just departed in the ripeness of age, and with a
history marked by devotion to his flag, was the
true and simple faith of an American to his con-
victions of duty. We differed with him, and cort-
tested campaigns and batde-fields with him, but we
welcome the history of the great soldier as the
proud inheritance of our country. We do this as
cordially and as sincerely as we gave him welcome
in the South as one of our people, when our sons
were confided to his care, in a relation that (next
to paternity) had its influence upon the young men
of the country.

*^The great military leaders on both sides of
our civil war are rapidly marching across the
border to a land where history and truth and jus-
tice must decide upon every man's career. When
they meet there they will be happy to find that
the honor of human actions is not always meas-
ured by their vision, but by the motives in which
they had their origin. I cherish the proud belief
that the heroes of the civil war will find that,
measured by this standard, none of them, on
either side, were delinquent, and they will be
happy in an association that will never end and

REMINISCENCES AND TRIBUTES. 353

will never be disturbed by an evil thought
jealousy, or distrust When a line so narrow
divides us from those high courts in which our
actions are to be judged by their motives, and
when so many millions now living, and increasing
millions to follow, are to be affected by the wisdom
of our enactments, we will do well to give up this
day to reflection upon our duties and (in sym-
pathy with this great country) to dedicate the day
to his memory. In such a retrospect we shall
find an admonition that an American Senate
should meet, on this side of the fatal line of
death, as the American Generals meet on the
other side, to render justice to each other and to
make our beloved country as happy, comparative-
ly, as we should wish the great beyond to be to
those great spirits."

23

354 LIFE OF GENERAL WM. T. SHERMAN,

BY SENATOR HAWLBY.

" T T E was a great soldier by the judgment of the
greatsoldiers of the world. In timeof peace
he had been a great citizen, glowing and abound-
ing with love of country and of all humanity.
His glorious soul appeared in every look, gesture,
and word.

"The history of our country is rich in soldiers
who have set examples of simple soldierly obe-
dience to the civil law and of self-abnegation.
Washington, Grant, Sheridan and Sherman lead
the list. Sherman was the last of the illustrious
trio who were by universal consent the foremost
figures in the armies of the Union in the late
war. Among the precious traditions (to pass
into our history for the admiration of the old and
the instruction of the young) was their friendship,
their most harmonious co-operation without a
shadow of ambition or pride. When Gen. Grant
was called to Washington to take command of
the armies of the Union his great heart did not
forget the men who stood by him."

REMINISCENCES AND TRIBUTES, 356

BY HON. CARI. SCHURZ.

"TTISTORY will not fail to record that this
great General was, as a victorious soldier,
a model of republican citizenship. When he had
done his illustrious deeds, he rose step by step to
the highest rank in the army, arid then, grown
old, he retired. The Republic made provision for
him in modest republican style. He was satis-
fied. He asked for no higher reward. Although
the splendor of his achievements, and the personal
affection for him which every one of his soldiers
carried home, made him the most popular Ameri-
can of his day, and although the most glittering
prizes were not seldom held up before his eyes,
he remained untroubled by ulterior ambition. No
thought that the Republic- owed him more ever
darkened his mind. No man could have spoken
to him of the 'ingratitude of republics' without
meeting from him a stern rebuke. And so, con-
tent with the consciousness of a great duty nobly
done, he was happy in the love of his fellow-
citizens."

356 LIFE OF GENERAL WM. T, SHERMAN,

BY EX-PRESIDENT HAYES.

" TV/fY intimate acquaintance with General
Sherman dates only since the war. I
had been on friendly terms with him for about
twenty-five years. He was so well-known to the
whole people, and especially to the Union soldiers,
that there is hardly any reason for off-hand talk
about him. There are probably few men who
ever lived in any country who were known and
loved as General Sherman was. He was the
idol of the soldiers of the Union Army. His
presence at soldiers' meetings and with soldiers'
societies and organizations was always hailed with
the utmost delight. When the General was pres-
ent the enthusiasm created by his inspiring pres-
ence was such as to make him the chief attrac-
tion at all important gatherings. He was always
cordial and very happy in his greetings of his
comrades. He was full of the comrade spirit, and
all, from the humblest soldier to the corps com-

REMINISCENCES AND TRIBUTES. 357

mander, were equally gratified by the way in
which they were met and greeted by General
Sherman.

" He will be greatly missed and greatly
mourned by the whole body of men who served
with and under him, and, indeed, by all the
soldiers of all the armies. He was generally re-
garded by them as the military genius of the war.
He was a voluminous writer, and a ready, prompt
and capital talker. Probably no man who was
connected with the war said as many things
which will be remembered and quoted hereafter
as did General Sherman.

" In figure. In face and in bearing he was the
ideal soldier. I think that it can be said of him
as he once said of another, that ' with him gone,
the world seems less bright and less cheerful
than it was before.' The soldiers in looking
around for consolation for his death will find much
in the fact that he lived so long — almost twenty-
six years after the final victory. There is also
some consolation In the fact that he has gone be-
fore age and disease had impaired his wonderful
powers and attractions. He was, in short, the

868 LIFE OF GENERAL WM. T. SHERMAN,

most picturesque, magnetic and original character
in the great conflict. He was occasionally in his
writings and talk wonderfully pathetic. I recall
nothing connected with the war that was finer in
that way than a letter which he wrote, probably
during the second year of the war, when his son,
about ten years old, who was named after the
General, died in camp. The boy fancied that he
belonged to a regiment in his father s command,
and the members of the regiment were very at-
tentive to him during his sickness, and at the time
of his death General Sherman wrote a letter to
men of the regiment, thanking them for what
they had done. I cannot now recall the terms of
that letter, but I doubt not that if it were now
published many an eye would moisten as it was
read.

" A very noble trait in the character of General
Sherman was the fidelity of his friendships. His
loyal support of Grant under all the circum-
stances cannot be surpassed in all the history of
the relations between eminent men engaged in a
common cause/'

REMINISCENCES AND TRIBUTES, 359

BY HON. CHARLES F MANDERSON.

" United States Senate,
"Washington, D. C, March 9, 1891.

'*R. H. Woodward & Co.,

220 North Charles Street, Baltimore, Md.

" Dear Sirs: — Your favor of the 4th instant is
received. I really have not the time to comply
with your request that I should write an article
for publication on General Sherman, of such char-
acter as the man and the object you seek to
accomplish, would naturally require. I send you
herewith enclosed a clipping from the Congres-
sional Record which contains an unprepared
tribute that I paid to his memory when the news
of his death came to the United States Senate. I
met, and came to know General Sherman at an
early period in the war. I served under him
during the great Atlanta Campaign, in command
of my regiment and part of the time in command
of a demi-brigade. Since the war it has been my

360 LIFE OF GENERAL WM. T. SHERMAN.

good fortune and great pleasure to have seen
much of him, and with all others who came in
contact with him, I not only had the highest re-
spect for his great abilit}^, but a strong affection that
naturally resulted from his many delightful traits
of mind and heart. He is enshrined in the hearts
of the American people and there will always be
among those who served with and knew him, a
greater degree of affection than would be extend-
ed toward any other of the great leaders of the
Union cause in the War of the Rebellion. On
his 70th birthday, Senator Squire, of Washington,
General Anson G. McCook, Secretary of the Sen-
ate, and I, joined in a telegram to him congratu-
lating him upon his good health and wishing that
he might live long to enjoy the love of his coun-
trymen. February 9th, 1890, I received a letter
from him of which I will quote a part, because it
shows the kindliness of his nature and the affection
that he bore for those who had served with him.
He says:

'''My dear and good friends : — Such a kind and
gracious message as you sent me yesterday, my
70th birthday, fell like the dew of Heaven on the

REMINISCENCES AND TRIBUTES, 361

head of your old commander, and may revive his
vital energy that he may yet dance at some of
your funerals. One thing is certain : spite of the
voracious newspaper correspondents, his hair is not
silvered over, but remains the same old chestnut
sorrel it was the days we played soldier. Yesterday,
letters, telegrams, presents and flowers showered
in on him till he was bewildered, and now
asks McCook to come to his relief on the
theory that grave and reverend Senators
cannot stoop to such trifles. Did you jointly
or severally send, or order to be sent, a
composite bouquet showing the glory of our
national coat of arms with the stars and stripes all
proper? If so, I beg to thank you and compli-
ment your florist on his skill. If not, I must seek
for the donor elsewhere, because yesterday my
household became a little mixed, but now the
dishes are all washed, the house got in order, and
I am now left to guess who sent this or that and
the why and wherefore. If an ordinary birthday
occasions such a commotion, don't expect an invi-
tation until my centennial in 1920. With a love
and affection for my comrades of the War — once

362 LIFE OF GENERAL WM.^T. SHERMAN.

young, now in prime manhood or old age — which
grows in intensity with each receding year, I
am sincerely. Your friend,

"'W. T. Sherman;

" I think that nothing could show the warmth of
General Sherman's nature better than this letter.

" I hope that some one may give to the world
before a great while, so that his old comrades in
arms can enjoy reading the work, a carefully
edited book, giving his letters and speeches since
the war. They breathe a kindliness of spirit, a
soundness of sense and patriotism so exalted that
they would result in great good to coming gener-
ations of the Republic.

"Truly Yours,

"Charles F. Manderson."

" Mr. Manderson. Mr. President, as the wait-
ing hours of the last two or three expectant days
have passed away I have not had the heart to
make that preparation for the sad event, by all
feared and dreaded, that would seem to be meet
and appropriate. An effort to prepare anything
during the life of the great one that might be in

REMINISCENCES AND TRIBUTES. 363

the nature of a post mortem tribute seemed to me
like a surrender to an enemy.

" This death comes to us, although we might
have been prepared for it, as the unexpected, for
hope has been with us all. This is a day, Mr.
President, as is suggested in the message which
we have received from the Chief Executive, of
national mourning and of widespread grief.
Here at the capital of the nation lies ready for
interment the body of the great Admiral, the chief
of the Navy, and in New York, being prepared
for the last sad rites, is the corpse of the greatest
military genius this nation has produced.

" Mr. President, he was not only great as a
military leader, but, as suggested by the Senator
from Connecticut [Mr. Hawley], he was equally
great as a civiHan. Who is there that has stood
by General Sherman and heard him tell in vivid
words of the events and observations of his won-
derful career but has felt an admiration for the
man and a respect for his ability such as he could
feel for no other with whom he came in contact?
How eventful that career ! How varied his exper-
ience ! We have heard him speak of his Hfe in

364 LIFE OF GENERAL WM. T. SHERMAN.

the early days In California, of that brave struggle
he, with others, made to carve out the great
empires of the Pacific Slope. We have heard the
story of his going to the South and of his passing
into seml-obscurlty, to emerge from it when the
nation called her sons to arms for her defence, and
become the brightest and most brilliant of all her
military leaders.

" General Sherman, Mr. President, was perhaps
the only man, in the North at least, who in the early
days of the war seemed to appreciate to the full
what this terrible conflict meant. His life in the
South, that broad and extended observation that
had been his to make over all this broad land,
and his knowledge of men, had taught him that
the crushing of the rebellion would be no 'break-
fast job.'

" We well remember how it was said in the days
of 1861 that he must be insane to make the
suggestions that he did, We recall how, when,
in Kentucky, he was at the head of a body of
troops numbering less than 20,000, in conversation
with General Halleck, I think it was, who was
sent to consult with him, he said that to hold the

REMINISCENCES AND TRIBUTES. 365

lines of defence merely in Kentucky would take
60,000 men, and that before the Union troops
were through with the task in the centre and be
able to make aggressive attack 200,000 men must
be called to arms for duty there. This sugges-
tion was one so startling to the country that it is
not to be wondered at that men doubted his
sanity.

" He seemed, Mr. President, to live, as men of
great genius are said to live, in that debatable
ground which is sometimes referred to as existing
between the line of perfect sanity and insanity.

" Great wits are sure to madness near alliecj."

" His military career really opened at Shiloh. It
was not my fortune to serve under him at Shiloli.
I was with the column of Buell that marched down
from Nashville to Savannah and crossed the river
on the evening of the first day. There can be no
question about it, and there is no man who
witnessed that scene who does not know that
that first day of Shiloh was one of disaster and
great danger to the Union arms. But there
were two men on that battle-field, however, who
did not know that they were whipped. One was

366 LIFE OF GENERAL WM. T. SHERMAN

Ulysses S. Grant, the captain, and the other was
William Tecumseh Sherman, the lieutenant. They
* wrested victory from the jaws of defeat.'

" We follow, in thought, his career from Shiloh
to Vicksburg. In that wonderful campaign and
memorable siege there was a renewal of that
affinity, that brotherhood in thought and action,
that seemed to exist between Grant and Sherman.
There was never aught of jealousy between those
great men. The Senator from Connecticut [Mr.
Hawley] has read the glowing tributes of the
one to the other. They acted in unison, and were
an impelling force before which everything gave
way.

" What an exultant feeling of victory went over
the country when, on that memorable day in July,
Vicksburg fell ! It was the ray of hope piercing
the gloom. It seemed to the patriotic North,
weary with much waiting, as the prophecy of
ultimate success.

" He came east with the Army of the Tennessee.
We, who were of the Army of the Cumberland
under Thomas, joined forces with Sherman's men
of the far West at Chattanooga. That great

REMINISCENCES AND TRIBUTES, 367

victory, conceived by Grant, achieved under
Sherman and Thomas, and where the entering
wedge of battle was driven by Sherman at Tunnel
Hill, has been sung in song and written in story.
It was the fitting overture of that wonderful
Adanta campaign. There will be to the student
of warfare no recital more interesting, no lesson
more instructive, than that which comes from that
over one hundred days of fighting from Catoosa
Springs to Lovejoy Stadon, which ended in the
capture of Atlanta. There was the steady unfal-
tering pressure of tremendous military power
and a master hand guiding the resistless force.

"There was in front of the Union soldier a
foeman worthy of his steel. The conduct of the
Confederate Army under its skillful leader in its
masterly retreat during that campaign is one that
is unequaled in the history of war, and had there
not been at the head of the Union forces a soldier
so admirably equipped as Sherman, I do not
believe that Atlanta, that Gate City of the Souths
would have been ours. The capture of that city,
the opening of that gate, permitted the 'march to
the sea,' over which orators grew eloquent, and

368 LIFE OF GENERAL WM, T. SHERMAN.

which produced the familiar song which will live
forever in the poetry of nations, and be the tune
of inspiration to the daring of soldiers while war
shall be.

*^ General Sherman not only knew what this
war was to be, but he knew what war meant
beyond any man who fought on eidier side. I
have sent to the Library and procured his Mem-
oirs, desiring to refer for a moment to a letter
written by him to the Mayor of the city when his
army had occupied Atlanta after it had been
evacuated by the Confederate troops. I sent for
it that I might refresh my memory and be able to
give here and now what Sherman's idea of war
was, and what he believed were the duties of
peace.

*' I know there is a common conception that
Sherman waged war cruelly, and that he was not
actuated by those finer motives which sometimes
prompt men who see their duty differently. This
was not so, and in this letter to the Mayor and
City Council of Adanta, when they were pleading
that their women and children might be allowed
to remain within the fortifications of this captured

REMINISCENCES AND TRIBUTES. 369

city, he showed not only full appreciation of war's
horrors, but displayed his knowledge of how its
terrors could be best ended to those who were
sufferinof from it. He wrote:

*• ' We must have peace, not only at Atlanta,
but in all America. To secure this we must stop
the war that now desolates our once happy and
favored country. To stop the war we must
defeat the rebel armies which are arrayed against
the laws and Constitution that all must respect
and obey. To defeat those armies we must pre-
pare the way to reach them in their recesses, pro-
vided with the arms and instruments which enable
us to accomplish our purpose.

"*You cannot qualify war in harsher terms
than I will. War is cruelty, and you cannot
refine it; and those who brought war into our
country deserve all the curses and maledictions a
people can pour out. I know I had no hand in
making this war, and I know I will make more
sacrifices to-day than any of you to secure peace.
But you cannot have peace and a division of our
country.
24

370 LIFE OF GENERAL WM. T. SHERMAN.

iti ^ Hn ^ ^ ^

** * Once admit the Union, once more acknowl-
edge the authority of the National Government,
and, instead of devoting your houses and streets
and roads to the dread uses of war. I and this army
become at once your protectors and supporters,
shielding you from danger, let it come from what
quarter it may.

9{S . 9|C JJC Ip ^ l|6

" ' I want peace, and believe it can only be
reached through union and war, and I will ever
conduct war with a view to perfect and early
success.'

"The unfortunate thing was that this important
lesson was not taught earlier in the days of our
civil strife. Had it been it would have saved
many thousands of lives and untold suffering to
this country.

" General Sherman never trifled with his duty.
He appreciated the duty of peace as well ; and I
believe the sentence came from the inmost re-
cesses of his heart when he wrote in this same
letter these words :

"'But, my dear sirs, when peace does come,

REMINISCENCES AND TRIBUTES. 371

you may call on me for anything. Then will I
share with you tlie last cracker, and watch with
you to shield your homes and families against
danger from every quarter.*

*' He did full duty in peace or war. Estimable
as a citizen, and as fully appreciating the duties
of a civilian as he was admirable as a soldier.

" But, Mr. President, the strife that we have
watched with such intense interest for the past
few days has ceased. The conflict has ended. A
nation has witnessed it. Sixty millions of people
have stood in silence watching for the supreme
result Death, ever victorious, is again a vic-
tor. A great conqueror is himself conquered.
Our captain lies dead !

" The pale lip saith to the sunken eye,

• Where is thy kindling glance ? '
* And where thy winning smile/
It makes reply."

APPENDIX.

APPENDIX.

OLD TIMES IN CALIFORNIA.

npHE rise and development of California and
of the Pacific States and Territories seem
to have more interest to the present generation
than the slower, steadier growth of Missouri,
Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, Dakota, Colorado, etc.
The Southeastern States of the Union, though
making large progress, have seemingly with-
drawn from competition with the Great West.

There are plenty of histories of California, and all
I now propose is to supply from my own memory
some episodes illustrating the American method
for a State or group of States to pass from a lower
to a higher grade of civilization. In 1846 there
Were two distinct Californias — Upper and Lower.

♦ By special permission and kindness of the Editor of North
American Review, we are enabled to give extracts from
several very mtercsting and valuable articles by General Sherman.

876

376 LIFE OF GENERAL WM. T. SHERMAN.

The name of California is generally supposed to
come from the two Latin words, calor (heat),
fornax (oven). This name might properly apply
to Lower, but not to Upper California. Upper
California has a temperate climate, and was first
colonized by pious people from Mexico, who
solely aimed to Christianize the native Indians.
When our ancestors were fighting the French in
Canada (1756), and afterwards fighting for the
Independence of the Colonies from the Dominion
of Great Britain (1775-83), these pious people
were emplo3^ed in founding the missions of San
Diego, San Louis /Rey, St. Juan Capistrano, San
Gabriel, Maria de los Angeles, San Fernando,
Buenaventura, Santa Barbara, Santa Inez, San
Luis Obispo, San Miguel, Soledad, Monterey,
San Juan Bautista, Santa Clara, San Francisco
de Asiz, San Rafael and Sonoma. The Indians
of the Pacific Coast were a most submissive race,
were taught agriculture and some of the ruder
arts, and the period from 1756 to 1830 is, or was,
described as a sort of Elysium.

In 1821 the Republic of Mexico fought for
and gained her independence from Spain, thereby

APPENDIX. 377

becoming sovereign of both the Califomias. The
missions named were soon after "secularized" —
that is, were reduced to civil instead of religious
rule. The authority of the priests thereby becam e
limited to their churches, schools, gardens, orch-
ards, etc. , and Mexico granted their other or surplus
lands and privileges to outsiders and immigrants.
Old soldiers w^ere thus compensated for services
to Mexico, and as a rule these new settlers, or
rancheros, devoted their time to the rearing of
horses, cattle and sheep. There never was or
can be a better description of California in that
epoch (1830-35) than is contained in Dana^s "Two
Years Before the Mast," accessible to every
reader.

In 1846 the United States declared war to
exist with Mexico, and I, as a Lieutenant of
Captain C. Q. Tompkins* company of the Third
Artillery, was sent in the U. S. store-ship " Lex-
ington" to California, around Cape Horn, 198
days buffeting with the winds and waves, yet
arriving, January 29, 1847, at Monterey, the
most speedy and convenient route possible at
that day. There was no city of San Francisco

878 LIFE OF GENERAL WM. T. SHERMAN,

then. Our orders were to occupy and hold Mon-
terey, the capital of Alta, or Upper California.
We found there a lieutenant of U. S. Marines
(Maddox), and a midshipman (Baldwin), who
transferred the public property to us most grace-
fully, and our Company F, Third Artillery, Cap-
tain C. Q. Tompkins, became masters of the
situation.

The frigate "Independence" lay in the harbor,
commanded by Commodore William Bransford
Shubrick, a native of South Carolina, one of the
most accomplished gentlemen I have ever met. A

I happened to be on board that frigate dining
with the ward-room * officers when the sloop-of-
war "Cyane," Captain Du Pont, was reported off
the harbor coming in from San Diego. In that
sloop was General S. W. Kearney, of the regular
army of the United States, who, with a smart
escort, had come across the continent with orders
to command the land forces, leaving the navy
equal control at sea.

Thus wisely and properly the division of
power was adjusted, order and system resulted,
and from that day to this Upper California has

APPENDIX. 379

grown by the natural law of American develop-
ment, whilst Lower California yet remains in
statu quo^ a province of Mexico.

In 1847, only forty-two years ago, there was
no such thing as a mail in California. Letters
came straggling by chance ships from China,
Valparaiso, Callao, and the Sandwich Islands.

The Adjutant-General of the army, afterwards
from Washington, sent across land, by Kit Car-
son, F. X. Aubrey and Roubideaux, a few offi-
cial letters once a year by way of Fort Leaven-
worth, Santa F6, Los Angeles, etc., starting
usually in September of each year, and reaching
our headquarters at Monterey in May of the fol-
lowing year. That was the surest and most
expeditious way we in California could receive
letters from our Eastern friends in 1847, ^^4^
and part of 1849.

As soon as General S. W. Kearney had estab-
lished his headquarters in Monterey (March,
1847), ^^ ordered the quartermaster. Captain
Folsom, at Verba Buena (now San Francisco),
to establish a semi-monthly mail from San Fran-
cisco to San Diego, a distance of 500 miles.

380 LIFE OF GENERAL WM, T. SHERMAN.

Captain Folsom divided the route into four parts
— San Francisco to Monterey, Monterey to
^'Dana's " (Nepoma), Dana^s to Los Angeles, and
Los Angeles to San Diego. This was the first
regular mail route ever established on the Pacific
Coast. General Kearney, in May, 1847, returned
to what was then called the United States, leav-
ing Colonel R. B. Mason, First Dragoons, in his
place, and me as his Adjutant-General. All
reports, messages, etc., came to me, and I had a
small adobe house, with a negro boy, *^ Jim," who
was supposed t6 take care of me. The mail-rider
from Monterey to Dana's was an old trapper,
Jim B^ck worth, a counterpart of Jim Bridger,
except that Beckworth was a cross between a
voyageur of Canada and a Crow Indian, and was,
in my estimate, one of the best chroniclers of
events on the plains that I have ever encoun-
tered, though his reputation for veracity was not
good.

< Some time in the fall of 1848 I was seated in
my room at Monterey when Jim Beckworth came
in with his saddle-bags of mail and exclaimed :
*%eftenant, they killed them all, not even spar-

APPENDIX, 381

ing the baby." "Jim," said I, " what the devil
are you talking about ? None of your lies, now ! "
" I tell you, Leftenant," repeated Jim, " that they
killed them all, not even sparing the baby."

After overhauling the mail of letters from San
Diego, Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, etc., most of
which it was my duty to forward by another ex-
press messenger to Yerba Buena, I naturally
turned to Jim Beckworth. " What is this you
report ? " With an earnestness not to be mis-
taken, he reiterated : " Leftenant, I tell you that
Reed at San Miguel is killed, all his family and
servants, not excepting the baby." He then told
me, with a vividness of detail not exceeded by
Dickens, how he had received his mail at Dana's,
had ridden to San Luis Obispo, and so on to
San Miguel. Approaching this mission at night,
he observed the absence of the usual lights. Still
he drove his two spare horses into the interior
corral, hitched his own to a post, went as usual
into the kitchen for his supper, and saw the In-
dian cook, as he supposed, on the floor asleep.
Trying to arouse him, he found his own hand
covered with warm blood. Then, fully alarmed,

382 LIFE OF GENERAL WM. T. SHERMAN.

lie regained His horse and went on to tlie nearest
ranche, some five miles off, gathered a few-
friends, and returned to the mission. Hiding
their horses in the orchard, they crept up to the
Mission of San Miguel and gained the kitchen ;
the body of the cook was gone, but it had left a
trace which they followed to a back building,
where were piled, along with old beams and raft-
ers, the dead bodies of Reed, his wife, children,
and servants, all murdered, and meant to be
consumed, along with the mission itself, by the
murderers. The whole scene was so horrid that
Jim Beckworth, though he had spent his whole
life with Indians and hunters, confessed that he
was scared^ that he regained his horse down in
the orchard, and did not stop till he reached me,
ninety miles away at Monterey. Satisfied that
he was telling me as near the truth as Jim
Beckworth could, I took him to the quarters of
Colonel R. B. Mason, commanding the Depart-
ment, where he repeated the same story. Col-
onel Mason instructed me to go up to the fort on
the hill and order Lieutenant Ord to take a
detachment of soldiers, to proceed with all pos-

APPENDIX. 883

sible dispatch to San Miguel, to ascertain the
facts, and pursue the murderers to the death.
This event occurred during the Mexican war,
when the military power in California was su-
perior to the civil, though we tolerated judges of
the First Instance, Alcaldes, etc., to administer
civil justice among the people, who universally
spoke the Spanish language and respected the old
Mexican laws. Also, at that date, everybody
traveled on horseback, usually with three horses
to one rider, two driven ahead and one under
saddle. Thus our habit was to make ten leagues
or thirty miles a day, and, if necessity required, as
much as a hundred miles a day, always at a gallop,
without baggage or food, except "jerked beef" and
" pinole " (parched com), tied to the saddle. Lieu-
tenant Ord, with his detachment, was off before
midnight, reached San Miguel (ninety miles) the
next day, found Jim Beckworth's story true, got
the trail of the murderers, which led south by
Santa Inez, back of Santa Barbara, and at the
Rinconada, twenty-fivemiles south, he overtook
the party, who proved to be four deserters from
the sloop-of-war " Warren," lying in the harbor

884 LIFE OF GENERAL WM. T. SHERMAN.

of Monterey. They had a running fight, in
which Ord lost one of his men, killed the ring-
leader, and captured the other three men. These
three confessed everything, and, as usual, threw
off the crime on their dead comrade, their " name-
less leader.'^

Gold was discovered at Sutter's Sawmill, Co-
loma, early in 1848. In the autumn of that
year, no story was too big to be swallowed. Sol-
diers and sailors believed that men at the mines
were shoveling gold in bags by the ton, and
they deserted their posts and their ships to share
in this '^ bonanza.'' Four men deserted from the
United States sloop-of-war " Warren," at Mon-
terey, with little or no knowledge of geography,
but impelled by the universal greed for gold. By
some means they got horses, only worth from $5
to $8 apiece, and on an evening of October,
1 848, found themselves near the old mission of
San Miguel. This mission had been leased
from the padre, or priest, by an Irishman named
Reed, with a native wife, half a dozen children
and servants, a few horses, cattle and sheep. He
had been to the mines with a flock of sheep,

APPENDIX. 385

which he sold at a gold ounce — $i6 — apiece,
when a few months before they were only worth
$1.25 apiece.

These deserters unsaddled and picketed their
horses in the valley, where the grass was good,
walked up to the mission, and were received by
Reed, as always, most hospitably. The mission
was, like all others in California, built in a
quadrangle, enclosing a space used as a corral
for cattle, horses, or sheep. The front included
the church, the residence of the priest, and of
Xh^gente de razon^ the quality or better class.
The sides of the quadrangle sheltered the neo-
phytes, the workmen and women of the mission,
and the rear building, facing inwards, generally
served as work-shops, store-rooms, etc., etc.
About the middle of the main front was a gate
closed at night, making the whole defensible.
All the buildings were habitually of one story,
except the church, were of adobes (sun-dried
bricks), with the tile roofs, dirt floors, and barred
windows, projecting or porch roofs inside. Such
was the mission of San Miguel in the fall of

1848.

25

386 LIFE OF GENERAL WM. T, SHERMAN,

When these four men came, Reed received
them in his accustomed manner, gave them sup-
per, and invited them to share his hospitality.
In one corner of his room was a fireplace with
chimney, not usual at that date, and behind in
the same room was a pile of wood with an axe.
In that same room was an ordinary seamaji s
chest. Sitting by this fire smoking their pipes,
Reed naturally inquired : " Boys, where are you
going ? " Their leader answered : " We are de-
serters from the sloop-of-war * Warren,* anchored
at Monterey, and we are bound for the gold
mines." Reed said: "You are on the wrong
road ; you should have gone by St. Juan Bau-
tista, Cacheco^s, etc., to the Stanislaus.' The
leader said they had taken this the longer road
to avoid the chances of capture.

Then a general conversation ensued about the
gold mines. Reed said he had been there, and
the miners were making piles of gold. He had
sold sheep for $i6 not worth more than a dollar
and a quarter a few months before, and intimated
that the seaman s chest contained the results of
his speculation. The leader of these deserters

APPENDIX, 887

went back to the wood-pile, seemingly to replen-
ish the fire, but took the axe, approached Reed
from behind, and clove his skull. Then ensued
pandemonium. The mother and her babe in the
next room, the children begging for their lives,
and, finally, the servants, including the cook,
all — all — were murdered. Then came the sound
of Jim Beckworth, with his two extra mail
horses. The deserters naturally hid themselves,
but when Jim had found the cook with fresh
blood, and had departed, they searched the mis-
sion for gold. The seaman's chest contained
little or no gold; only some presents of calico
which Reed had bought for his children. They
then dragged the bodies to the rear building,
piled them up with old rafters, intending to
bum the mission, and thereby efface all traces
of their guilt. The opportune return of Jim
Beckworth, with his posse of rancheros, again
disturbed them. They regained their horses,
and fled south.

As before stated, Lieutenant Ord (afterwards
Brigadier-General E. O. C. Ord, of the regular
army) overtook them at the Angustura Pass,

388 . LIFE OF GENERAL WM. T. SHERMAN,

below Santa Barbara, killed tbe leader, took the
other three back to Santa Barbara, and delivered
them to the Alcalde, Lewis Dent, brother of
Mrs. General Grant.

They all made full confessions, had a fair
trial, and were sentenced to be shot. They
were shot. Lieutenant Ord and his detachment
present, but not assisting ; and no men ever
better deserved death than these three. When
Lieutenant Ord returned to Monterey and re-
ported what he had done. Colonel R. B. Mason,
a strict constructionist, doubted Ord's right to
assist in what he construed as an unlawful act ;
but I always contended that my orders to Ord
to follow the murde'rers "to the death" were
Colonel Mason's orders, and were absolute and
final. At all events, time has settled this ques-
tion forever.

California, from 1848 to 1888, passed through
all the phases of civilization which England did
in the past thousand years. In 1846 it was an
outlying Mexican Province. At that time there
was not a shod horse in California, not a tavern,
hotel, or even a common wagon road. We trav-

APPENDIX. 389

elled by trails, on horseback, sleeping b}^ tlie
road-side, eating jerked meat or game shot with
OUT rifles. And now California has better hotels,
better markets, more convenient appurtenances
for travel than London, Paris or Vienna, and as
good stores, factories and machine-shops.

When I first rode into Yerba Buena (now San
Francisco), in 1847, ^ could not command a
roof, a common meal, or even buy oats, barley
or hay for my tired horse. Noiv^ anybody can
obtain a good carriage, hotel, and room as luxu-
rious as can be found in the world. By the law
of virtual velocities this transition has been sud-
den, violent and necessary. The existence of
San Francisco on the Pacific coast was de-
manded by the civilization of the whole world,
— a necessary link between Europe, America,
Japan, China, etc. Mexico was not equal to
accomplish this task, and we of the United
States have the right to claim the perfect fulfill-
ment of a noble task in the grand march of
civilization which must encompass the globe.

But it is not of this problem that I now want
to treat, but of episodes which have marked its

390 LIFE OF GENERAL WM. T. SHERMAN,

progress up to the present moment, leaving to
otliers to fulfill Burns' prophecy that " man to
man, the world o'er, shall brothers be.''

The fecent death of Admiral Baldwin in this
city recalls to my memory a most interesting
incident, and one illustrative of the development
of civilization on the Pacific coast.

As soon as the United States had become
possessed of California, arrangements for a more
perfect communication with it were begun, even
before the discovery of gold had attracted world-
wide attention. A contract was made for a
monthly steamship line from New York and
New Orleans to California by way of Panama.
The first of these steamers, the " California,"
reached Monterey February 23, 1849; ^^ next,
the ^' Oregon,'' in March, and the *' Panama " in
April. Thereafter we had a monthly mail to
the " United States." Of this line Wm. H. As-
pinwall & Co. became the owners. Subsequently
a rival line was established by way of Nicara-
gua, of which Mr. Vanderbilt was the chief
owner. Being in San Francisco in the autumn
of 1853, and having business in St. Louis and

APPENDIX. 391

New York, I took passage by way of Nicaragua
in the side-wheeler ** Brother Jonathan," of
which Lieutenant Baldwin, U. S. Navy, was
the captain. He may have resigned from the
navy before that date; but he was every inch
a sailor, a gentleman, a type of the school in
which he had been reared, and the same who,
when a midshipman, had been relieved by us of
the command of that block-house at Monterey
in 1847.

Our voyage down the coast was uneventful,
with about one hundred and fifty first-class pas-
sengers going home from California, and about
four hundred and fifty steerage passengers.
When off the coast of Lower California, one
morning, Baldwin and I were standing on the
hurricane deck near the pilot-house, when we
noticed some commotion and unusual noise
among the steerage passengers on the deck be-
low— the spar deck, — and presently a strong,
stout man, who had a rope around his neck, was
shoved forward by a crowd of angry men, and
one of the steerage passengers had shinned up
the jack-staflF at the very bow, where was a

392 LIFE OF GENERAL WM. T. SHERMAN.

cross-jack, over which the rope was passed, and
five minutes more that man would have been
struggling as from a gallows. Baldwin called
out : ** What are you men about ? " But not
the least attention was paid to him. He was
then at his prime, about thirty-one years of age.
He jumped to the lower deck, seized a hand-
spike from the rail, and felled three or* four of
the ringleaders, all the time calling on the steer-
age passengers to desist, and for his mates and
crew to come to his help. At last there was a
pause, and one of the steerage passengers spoke
to him : *' Captain, this man is a gambler, a ras-
cal, a thief duly convicted, and we mean to hang
him." Baldwin replied : ^' This is a United
States ship. I am captain, and you are pas-
sengers. That flag which is at the peak is sa-
cred. No violence shall be done one of my pas-
sengers without my consent. Take off that
rope, and leave me to be the judge.'' "No!
Captain, we respect you ; but we intend to hang
this man." Through this delay the mates, crew
and cabin passengers had come to the relief of
the captain ; the noose was taken from the neck

APPENDIX, 393

of the trembling man, and lie was safely es-
corted to a lower state-room, and there securely
guarded. Then the angry men told Captain
Baldwin that the man he had rescued from cer-
tain death was a well-known gambler of San
Francisco; that 'he was the owner of a nugget
of gold nominally worth about five hundred dol-
lars ; that, being " short," he had offered it for
sale to his fellow-passengers, and had finally put
it up to raffle, — fifty chances at ten dollars a
chance ; that it had been won by a young lad
from Illinois, who was returning home as poor
as he went, and who was so overjoyed at win-
ning this prize, which he could take home to his
grandmother, that he went around to show it to
his fellow-passengers. I remember his coming
to me, his face beaming with satisfaction ; but
he afterwards showed it to a doctor, who was
more suspicious, and who, with his knife-blade,
detached some pieces of quartz, and developed
the fact that the "nugget of gold" was only
lead coated with gold by electricity. The boy
was correspondingly indignant at this palpable
swindle, aroused the passions of his fellow-steer-

394 LIFE OF GENERAL WM. T. SHERMAN.

age passengers, and these would have hung that
man in another five minutes had not Captain
Baldwin interposed. The gambler claimed that
he had bought the nugget in San Francisco,
had, himself, been imposed on, and showed a
bill of sale. After some negotiation, Baldwin
consented to an investigation, which resulted in
a regular " miners' court," on the hurricane
deck of the " Brother Jonathan." An old gen-
tleman named Kelly — the same who owned
Kelly's Island in Lake Erie, famous for its
grapes — was chosen as judge; a good jury of
twelve men was impaneled ; a prosecuting attor-
ney was appointed, and the prisoner was allowed
to choose his own counsel. Baldwin had the
awning spread, and chairs and benches for the
court, witnesses and spectators, of whom I was
one ; and I have rarely seen a more dignified
court. The testimony was full and complete;
the arguments of counsel were really brilliant ;
the charge of the judge dignified, and the jury
retired. In due time the foreman sent word
that the jury had come to a verdict. All again
assembled on that hurricane deck, and the ver-

APPENDIX. 895

diet was rendered : '' Guilty ; the worthless nug-
get to be cast into the sea ; the money the gam-
bler had actually received to be given to the
Illinois boy (about $350), and the gambler to be
punished with hickory withes as soon as he got
ashore in Nicaragua.'* The result was that
Captain Baldwin maintained the honor and dis-
cipline of his ship, the boy got the net proceeds
of the lottery, and as there is not a "hickory
withe" within a thousand miles of Nicaragua,
I infer that that gambler got off without a
beating.

It is a matter of history that I, individually
and officially, opposed the Vigilance Committee
of San Francisco in 1856, because I believed
the time had passed for such extreme meas-
ures ; that the courts, especially Judge Norton's,
were better qualified to try the cases which
caused so much feeling than any which could
be devised by the Vigilance Committee; and I
knew that the Governor of the State, J. Neely
Johnson, was resolved to execute the lawful
sentences of the courts.

Absolute and perfect obedience to the Consti-

396 LIFE OF GENERAL WM. T. SHERMAN,

tution of the United States is, and should be,
the duty and pride of every good citizen. The
fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth amendments
guarantee to the vilest criminal protection till
duly convicted, and to no single man or com-
munity is given the right to set aside these
fundamental principles of eternal justice.

In due time the "Brother Jonathan" reached
San Juan del Sur, and we all scrambled to get
across to Greytown and home. I have seen none
of these people since ; but with Baldwin as Mid-
shipman, Lieutenant, Captain, Commodore, and
Admiral, I have been associated ever since ; and
but a few weeks ago I saw the casket inclos-
ing his body lowered into an honored tomb.

If our Government will continue to encourage
such men, no American need entertain a doubt
of the future of his country.

Wholesale murders, mobs, miners' courts, and
vigilance committees have long ceased in Cali-
fornia. We go there to-day in palace cars, with
every luxury and comfort, in less than one
week, knowing that for a reasonable considera-
tion the Palace, Baldwin, Cosmopolitan and Lick

APPENDIX, 897

liotels will receive us, and give better enter-
tainment than the Grand of Paris or Langhani
of London. Justice and law are as well en-
forced there as here in New York, and all the
manufactures, trade and business are conducted
on a scale which fully measures the demand.

Such transformations have not occurred in
the same time since the creation of the earth,
and seem more like the fables of the Arabian
Nights than a reality ; yet these things are
the creations of American energy. Nothing
but the folly of man can check this progress,
and the modern Ku-Klux and White Caps
should take warning, and join in this general
advance by honest, persistent, methods rather
than by spasmodic attempts. Let them reform
themselves and take the beam cut of their own
eyes before seeking the mote in others — a
measure sanctioned by high authority.

W. T. Sherman.

398 LIFE OF GENERAL WM. T. SHERMAN.

GRANT, THOMAS, LEE.

TN Macmillan's Magazine for March, 18S7,
published in London and New York, appears
a most interesting article of ten pages, from the
pen of General Lord Wolseley, in which, review-
ing the recent Memoirs of Robert E. Lee, his Mili-
tary and Personal History, by General A. L.
Long and General Marcus J. Wright, General
Wolseley describes his personal acquaintance in
1862 with that famous man, the great impression
made by his graceful manner and profound intel-
ligence, and concludes with the following para-
graph : '^ When all the angry feelings roused
by secession are buried with those which existed
when the Declaration of Independence was writ-
ten, when Americans can review the history of
their last great rebellion with calm impartiality,
I believe that all will admit that General Lee
towered far above all men on either side in that
struggle. I believe he will be regarded, not onl}'

APPENDIX, 899

as the most prominent figure of tlie Confederacy,
but as the great American of the nineteenth cen-
tury, whose statue is well worthy to stand on an
equal pedestal with that of Washington, and
whose memory is equally worthy to be enshrined
in the hearts of all his countrymen."

As I happen to be one of the very few sur-
vivors of the great Civil War in America who
had a personal and professional acquaintance
with the chief actors in that grand drama, I am
compelled to join issue with General Wolseley
in his conclusion, while willing to admit nearly
all his premises. Though he is much my junior
in years, I entertain for him the highest respect
and admiration ; he has deserv^edly gained fame
by deeds here in America, in South Africa,
Egypt, and in Great Britain. His estimate of
the men whom he has met in life will command
large attention, but I trust his judgment in this
case will not be accepted by the military world
as conclusive and final. In all wars, in all con-
troversies, there are two sides, and the old
Roman maxim applies, ^^ Atidi altercm partemy

England has so long been accustomed to shape

400 LIFE OF GENERAL WM, T. SHERMAN,

and mould tlie public opinion of our race, tHat
lier authors, critics, and officials seem to forget
that times are changing, have changed. The
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
contained in 1880 only thirty-six millions of
inhabitants, with an area of 121,571 square miles ;
whereas the United States of America had fifty
millions of people, with 3,602,990 square miles
of territory. Great Britain is crowded, whereas
in our vast interior there still remains land
enough for three hundred millions of inhabitants.
All of these are taught the English language,
believe in the Bible, Shakespeare, Milton, Wal-
ter Scott, Dickens, Thackeray and Tennyson ;
all read English magazines, periodicals, and
newspapers, and have a way of thinking for
themselves. They have had twenty-one years
for thought and reflection since the smoke and
confusion of battle obscured the horizon, and
have settled down to the conclusion that Abra-
ham Lincoln was the great civil hero of the war,
and that Ulysses S. Grant was the chief military
hero.

We all admit that General Robert E. Lee was,

APPENDIX, 401

in the higliest acceptation of the term, " a gentle-
man and a soldier." He did not graduate at the
head of his class at West Point, as stated by
General Wolseley, for Holhwi^s Register shows
that Charles Mason, of New York, afterwards of
Iowa, was ^o. i of the date of 1829 5 that Rob-
ert E. Lee, of Virginia, was No. 2, and that
Joseph E. Johnston, also of Virginia, was No. 13
in that class of forty-six members. Lee was
very handsome in person, gentle and dignified in
manner, cool and self-possessed in the midst of
confusion and battle, not seeking strife, but equal
to it when it came, and the very type of man-
hood which would impress itself on the young
enthusiast. General Wolseley. That special
phase of his character which General Wolseley
thinks a " weakness," his invariable submission
to the President of the Southern Confederacy, is
probably better understood on this than the
other side of the Atlantic, where from childhood
to manhood is impressed on us the old funda-
mental doctrine that the pen is mightier than
the sword, and that the military musi be subor-
dinate to the civil authority. A coup d^elat in
26

402 LIFE OF GENERAL WM. T. SHERMAN,

this country wonld excite a general laugh, and I
confess to a feeling of pride that at no period of
dur history has the idea of a military dictator
found permanent lodgment in the brain of an
American soldier or statesman. Mr. Lincoln, in
assigning General Hooker to the command of
the Army of the Potomac, wrote him, under date
of January 26th, 1863, " I have heard in such a
way as to believe it, of your recently saying that
both the army and the Government needs a dic-
tator. Of course it was not for this, but in spite
of it, that I have given you the command. Only
those generals who gain successes can set up
dictators. What I ask of you is military suc-
cess, and I will risk the dictatorship."
• General Lee was a typical American, and
knew that the Southern States could only suc-
ceed in forming an independent nation by
united action under a President armed with
both military and civil functions, and he was
unquestionably right in subordinating his con-
duct to the head of the government which he had
chosen and undertaken to support and defend.
Before entering upon the analysis of his mil-

APPENDIX, 403

itary character and deeds, permit me to digress
somewhat. General Wolseley constantly refers
to the Revolutionary War of 1776 as similar
to that of our Rebellion of 1861. They were
as diflferent as two things could possibly be.
In the first our fathers most humbly and per-
sistently petitioned the Parliament of Great
Britain for the simple and common rights con-
ceded to every Englishman; they were denied
and repelled with a harshness and contumely
which no British community of to-day would
tolerate. They rebelled because they were de-
nied the common inheritance of their race,
and when they had achieved independence they
first undertook for themselves a government
which was a " Confederacy of States," and which
proved impracticable. Then, after years of hard
experience, in 1789 they adopted the present
Constitution of the United States, which in its
preamble, sets forth clearl}": "We, the people
of the United States, in order to form a more
perfect Union^ do ordain this Constitution, etc.'*
This was not a contract between "Sovereign
States," but a decree of the aggregate people

404 LIFE OF GENERAL WM. T. SHERMAN.

of the whole United States. Now, on the other
hand, there was a fair election in November,
i860, for a President under that Constitution.
The Southern people freely participated in that
election. After they were fairly beaten, and
Abraham Lincoln, of Illinois, was duly elected,
some of the Southern leaders, delving back into
the old abstractions of 1 776-1 789, revived this
doctrine of State Allegiance: that a man hap-
pening to be born in a State (an accident he
could not control) his allegiance became due
thereby to that State, and not to the aggrega-
tion of States, the Union. I have too high an
opinion of General Robert E. Lee to believe
that he could have been . humbugged by such
shallow doctrine. No ! many of us believe that
Lee, in 1861, saw and felt the approaching hor-
rors and tortures of a civil war, resigned his
commission in the army, hoped to hide away;
first declined ser\dce in the so-called Confeder-
acy, and accepted temporary service to defend
Virginia, his native State; but, being possessed
of large qualities, he was importuned, dragooned
and forced to "go in," to drift over the Niagara

APPENDIX, 406

which was inevitable, and which he must have
foreseen. His letter of April 20th, 1861, ad-
dressed to Lieutenant-General Scott, is in that
direction: "Since my interview with you on the
i8th instant, I have felt that I ought no longer
to retain my commission in the army. I there-
fore tender my resignation, which I request you
will recommend for acceptance. It would have
been presented at once but for the struggle it
has cost me to separate myself from the serv-
ice to which I have devoted all the best years
of my life, and all ,the ability I possessed.
During the whole of that time — more than a
quarter of a century — I have experienced noth-
ing but kindness from my superiors, and the
most cordial friendship from my comrades. To
no one. General, have I been so much indebted
as to yourself for umform kindness and con-
sideration, and it has always been my ardent
desire to merit your approbation. I shall carry
to the grave the most grateful recollections of
your kind consideration, and your name and
fame will always be dear to me. Save in de-
fense of my State, I never desire to draw my

406

LIFE OF GENERAL WM. T. SHERMAN.

sword. Be pleased to accept my most earnest
wishes for the continuance of your happiness
and prosperity." His resignation was not ac-
cepted until April 25th, 1861 (Townsend, p. 31).

Yet, on the 23d day of the same April, he
issued his general orders No. i from his head-
quarters in Richmond, Virginia:

"In obedience to orders from his Excellency
John Letcher, Governor of the State, Major-
General Robert E. Lee assumes command of
the military and naval forces of Virginia."

To us in the United States of America this
seems a sudden descent from the sublime to
the ridiculous. Virginia had neither an army
or navy, and such were forbidden to States by
the Constitution which Lee had often sworn to
maintain. (Article i. Section 10.)

I have before me, in print, another letter, dated
Arlington, Va., April 20th, 1861, addressed "My
dear Sister," and signed " R. E. Lee," reciting
that "the whole South is in a state of revolution,
into which Virginia, after a long struggle, has
been drawn, and though I recognize no neces-
sity for this state of things, and would have

APPENDIX, 407

foreborn and pleaded to the end for redress of
grievances, real or supposed, yet in my own
person I liad to meet the question whether I
would take part against my native State. With
all my devotion to the Union, and the feeling
of loyalty and duty of an American citizen, I
have not been able to make up my mind to
raise my hand against my relatives, my chil-
dren, my home. I have therefore resigned my
commission in the army, and, save in defence
of my native State^ with the hope that my poor
services will never be needed, I hope I never
may be called on to draw my sword. I know
you will blame me, but you must think as
kindly of me as you can, and believe that
I have endeavored to do what I thought
right." . . .

Now, at these dates, April 20th and 23d, 1861,
the State of Virginia had not yet concluded
"secession." According to McPherson, page 7,
the convention in secret session adopted, April
17th, an ordinance of secession, but on April
25th that same convention adopted and ratified
the Constitution of the Provisional Government

408 LIFE OF GENERAL WM. T. SHERMAN.

of the Confederate States of America, "this or-
dinance to cease to have legal effect if the peo-
ple voting on the ordinance of secession should
reject it." The actual vote did not take place
till June 25th, — 128,884 for secession and 32,134
against it. How far Lee's defection had aided
to create this majority is still the question.
(See "Twenty Years in Congress," Blaine, Vol.
I, page 302.)

We all sympathize with the struggles of a
strong man in the toils of other ambitious men,
of less principle, who had use for Lee in their
contemplated conspiracy. At that date there
was a Virginia claiming sovereignty and the
constitutional right to secede; but there was
also a Confederacy embracing many States
already in rebellion. Lee unquestionably took
the oath to Virginia and the command of her
** army and navy," then a myth, but it is a
popular belief that he never took the oath of
allegiance to the "Confederacy," although when
General Johnston was wounded and disabled at
"Fair Oaks," June ist, 1862, General Lee did
succeed him, and did command the Army of

APPENDIX, 409

Northern Virginia under the Confederate Gov-
ernment till the end at Appomattox.

His sphere of action was, however, local. He
never rose to the grand problem which involved
a continent and future generations. His Vir-
ginia was to him the world. Though familiar
with the geography of the interior of this great
continent, he stood like a stone wall to defend
Virginia against the "Huns and Goths" of the
North, and he did it like a valiant knight, as
he was. He stood at the front porch battling
with the flames whilst the kitchen and house
were burning, sure in the end to consume the
whole. Only twice — at Antietam and Gettys-
burg— did he venture outside on the " offensive
defensive." In the first instance he knew per-
sonally his antagonist, and that a large fraction
of his force would be held in reserve; in the
last he assumed the bold "offensive," was badly
beaten by Meade, and forced to retreat back to
Virginia. As an aggressive soldier Lee was
not a success, aild in war that is the true and
proper test. "Nothing succeeds like success."
In defending Virginia and Richmond he did

410 LIFE OF GENERAL WM. T. SHERMAN.

all a man could, but to him Virginia seemed
tlie "Confederacy," and lie stayed there whilst
the Northern armies at the West were gaining
the Mississippi, the Tennessee, the Cumberland,
Georgia, South and North Carolina — yea, the
Roanoke, after which his militar}^ acumen taught
him that further tarrying in Richmond was ab-
solute suicide.

Such is the military hero which General
Wolseley would place in monument side by side
with Washington, "the father of his country —
First in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts
of his countrymen." All that is good in the
character of Gen. Robert E. Lee is ours, and we
will cherish it, and will be charitable to his weak-
nesses, but so long as the public record tells of
U. S. Grant and George H. Thomas, we cannot
be at a loss for heroes for whom to erect monu-
ments like those of Nelson and Wellington in
London, well worthy to stand side by side with
the one which now graces our capitol city of
'^George Washington."

In 1 86 1 General Lee was a colonel of cavalry
on leave of absence at his home at Arlington,

APPENDIX, 411

and U. S. Grant was an humble citizen of Ga-
lena, Illinois, toiling to support liis family. He
at first gave little heed to the political murmurs
creeping over the land by reason of the election
of Mr. Lincoln, and the talk of secession at the
South ; but when the telegraph announced that
the United States flag had been fired on in
Charleston Harbor, he roused up, presided at a
public meeting of his fellow-citizens, instructed
them how to organize themselves into a com-
pany of soldiers, and went along with them to
Springfield. In due time he was made colonel
of a regiment of volunteers, conducted it to Mis-
souri, and in December, 1861, reached Cairo,
Illinois. His career from that day to this is
familiar to every school-boy in the land. He
moved, in co-operation with the gun-boat fleet,
up tlie Tennessee to Fort Henry, which was
captured; to Fort Donelson, where a fortified
place, with its entire garrison of 17,000 men,
surrendered without conditions ; then on to Shi-
loh, where one of the bloodiest and most suc-
cessful battles of the war was fought, which first
convinced our Southern brethren, who had been

412 LTFE OF GENERAL WM, T. SHERMAN,

taught that one Southern man was equal to five
Yankees, that man to man was all they wanted ;
then Vicksburg, Chattanooga, — everywhere vic-
torious, everywhere successful, fulfilling the wise
conclusion of Mr. Lincoln, that he wanted "mil-
itary success." Then he was called, for the first
time in his life, to Washington, to command an
army of perfect strangers, under new conditions
and in a strange country. Casting his thoughts
over a continent, giving minute instructions for
several distinct armies from the Potomac to the
Rio Grande, himself assuming the hardest share,
he began a campaign equal in strategy, in logis-
tics and in tactics to any of Napoleon, and
grander than any ever contemplated by Eng-
land. His personal action in crossing the Rapi-
dan in the face of Lee^s army, fighting him in
the Wilderness, " forward by the left flank " to
Spottsylvania, to Richmond and Petersburg, was
the sublimity of heroism. Of course, he had a
superiority of numbers and resources, but noth-
ing like the disproportion stated by General
Wolseley. At Vicksburg he began in May,
1863, the movement with less numbers than

APPENDIX, 413

Pemberton surrendered to him along with Vicks-
bu'rg in July. At Chattanooga he attacked his
enemy in the strongest position possible; so
strong, indeed, that Bragg, a most thorough and
intelligent soldier, regarded it as unassailable,
and had detached Longstreet's corps to Knox-
ville, of which mistake Grant took prompt ad-
vantage, and I never heard before that Bragg
thought the pursuit after his defeat was not
quick and good enough to suit him; and, finally,
when Lee was forced to flee from his intrench-
ments at Richmond and Petersburg by Sheri-
dan's bold and skillful action at Five Forks, I
believe it is conceded that the pursuit by Sheri-
dan and Grant was so rapid that Lee was com-
pelled to surrender his whole army. Grant's
"strategy" embraced a continent; Lee's, a small
State. Grant's '' logistics " were to supply and
transport armies thousands of miles, where Lee
was limited to hundreds. Grant had to conquer
natural obstacles as well as hostile armies, and
a hostile people; his "tactics" were to fight
wherever and whenever he could capture or crip-
ple his adversary and his resources ; and when

414 LIFE OF GENERAL WM. T. SHERMAN.

lyce laid down his arms and surrendered, Grant,
by the stroke of his pen, on the instant gave
him and his men terms so liberal as to disarm
all criticism. Between these two men as gene-
rals I will not institute a comparison ; for the
mere statement of the case establishes a con-
trast.

I offer another name more nearly resembling
General Lee in personal characteristics, — Gen-
eral George H. Thomas, probably less known in
England, but who has a larger following and
holds a higher place in the hearts and affections
of the American people than General Lee. He,
too, was a Virginian, and . when Lee resigned
from the army in 1861, Thomas succeeded him
as colonel of the Second Regular Cavalry. A
graduate of West Point of the Class of 1840,
who had served his country in the Florida War,
in the Mexican War, and in campaigns against
hostile Indians, rising with honor and credit
through all the grades, at each stage taking the
usual oath to defend the United States against
all her enemies whatsoever, foreign and domes-
tic. When the storm of civil war burst on our

^ APPENDIX, 415

country, unlike Lee, lie resolved to stand by his
oath and to fight against his native State, to
maintain the common union of our fathers. In
personal appearance he resembled George Wash-
ington, the father of our country, and in all the
attributes of manhood he was the peer of Gen-
eral Lee, — as good, if not a better soldier, of
equal intelligence, the same kind heart, beloved
to idolatry by his Army of the Cumberland,
exercising a gentle, but strict discipline, never
disturbed by false rumors or reai danger, not
naturally aggressive, but magnificent on the de-
fensive ; almost the very counterpart of his
friend. General Lee, but far excelling him in the
moral and patriotic line of action at the begin-
ning of the war. Lee resigned his commission
when civil war was certain; but Thomas re-
mained tnie to his oath and his duty, always,
to the very last minute of his life.

During the whole war his services were 'tran-
scendent, winning the first substantial victory at
Mill Springs in Kentucky, January 20th, 1862,
participating in all the campaigns of the west in
1862-3-4, and finally, December i6th, 1864,

416 LIFE OF GENERAL WM. T. SHERMAN.

anniHilatiug tHe army of Hood, whicli in mid-
winter had advanced to Nashville to besiege him.
In none of these battles will General Wolseley
pretend there was such inequality of numbers as
he refers to in the East.

I now quote from General Garfield's eloquent
tribute of respect to his comrade and commander,
General George H. Thomas, addressed to the
Army of the Cumberland at Cleveland, Ohio, on
the 25th of November, 1870, shortly after the
General's death, which tribute has gone into
recorded history, never to be effaced :

" When men shall read the history of battles
they will never fail to study and admire the work
of Thomas during that afternoon at Cliicka-
mauga, September 20th, 1863. With but twenty-
five thousand men, formed in a semi-circle, of
which he, himself, was the centre and soul, he
successfully resisted for more than five hours the
repeated assaults of an army of sixty-five thou-
sand men, flushed with victory and bent on his
annihilation.

" Towards the close of the day his ammuni-
tion began to fail. One by one of his division

APPENDIX, 417

commanders reported but ten rounds, five rounds,
and two rounds left. The calm quiet answer was
returned, * Save your fire for close quarters, and
when your last shot is fired give them the bay-
onet.' On a portion of this line the last assault
was repelled by the bayonet, and several hundred
rebels were captured. When night had closed
over the combatants, the last sound of battle was
the booming of Thomas' shells bursting among
his baffled and retreating assailants.

" He was indeed the Rock of Chickamauga,
against which the wild waves of battle dashed in
vain. It will stand forever in the annals of his
country that there he saved from destruction the
Aryny of the Cumberland, He held the road to
Chattanooga. The campaign was successful.
The gate of the mountains was ours."

Nashville, on the 15th and i6th of December,
1864, was General Thomas' most important bat-
tle, where he was in supreme command — of
which General Garfield says :

" Nashville was the only battle of our war

which annihilated an army. Hood crossed the

Tennessee late in November, and moved north-
27

418 LIFE OF GENERAL WM. T. SHERMAN.

ward witli an army of fifty-seven thousand vet-
erans. Before the end of December twenty-five
thousand of that number were killed, wounded,
or captured. Thousands more had deserted, and
the rabble that followed him back to the South
was no longer an army.

" In summing up the qualities of General
Thomas it is difiicult to find his exact parallel in
history. His character as a man and a soldier
was unique. In some respects he resembled
Zachary Taylor, and many of his solid qualities
as a soldier were developed by his long service
under that honest and sturdy soldier.

" In patient attention to all the details of duty,
in the thoroughness of organization, equipment,
and discipline of his troops, and in the powerful
grasp by which he held and wielded his army, he
was not unlike, and fully equaled Wellington.

" The language applied to the Iron Duke by
the historian of the Peninsular War might al-
most be for a description of Thomas. Napier
says : * He had his army in hand, keeping it with
unmitigated labor, always in a fit state to march
or to fight. Sometimes he was indebted to for-

APPENDIX, 419

tune, sometimes to his natural genius, always to
his untiring industry ; for he was emphatically
a painstaking man.'

" The language of Lord Brougham addressed
to Wellington is a fitting description of Thomas:

" * Mighty Captain I who never advanced ex-
cept to cover his arms with glory ; mightier Cap-
tain I who never retreated except to eclipse the
glory of his advance.'

" If I remember correctly, no enemy was ever
able to fight Thomas out of any position he ever
undertook to hold.

" On the whole, I cannot doubt that the most
fitting parallel to General Thomas is found in
our greatest American, the man who was * first
in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of
his countrymen.' The personal resemblance of
General Thomas to Washington was often tlie
subject of remark. Even at West Point, Rose-
crans was accustomed to call him General
Washington.

"He resembled Washington in the g^vity
and dignity of his character, in the solidity of
his judgment, in the careful accuracy of all his

420 LIFE OF GENERAL WM, T. SHERMAN.

transactions, in the incorruptible integrity, in
his extreme but unaffected modesty.

" Though his death was most sudden and un-
expected, all his official papers and his accounts
with Government were in perfect order and ready
for instant settlement. His reports and official
correspondence were models of pure style and
full of valuable details. Even during the ex-
citing and rapid campaign from Chattanooga to
Atlanta, he recorded each month the number of
rounds his men had fired, and other similar facts
concerning the equipment and condition of his
army.

" His modesty was as real as his courage.
When he was in Washington, in 1861, his friends
with great difficulty persuaded him to allow him-
self to be introduced to the House of Repre-
sentatives. He was escorted to the Speaker's
stand, while the great Assembly of Representa-
tives and citizens arose and greeted him with the
most enthusiastic marks of affection and rever-
ence. Mr. Speaker Colfax, in speaking of it
afterwards said:

" ^ I noticed, as he stood beside me, that his

APPENDIX, 421

hand trembled like an aspen leaf. He could
bear the shock of battle, but he shrank from the
storm of applause.'

" He was not insensible to praise ; and he was
quick to feel any wrong or injustice. While
grateful to his country for. the honor it conferred
on him, and while cherishing all expressions of
aflfection on the part of his friends, he would not
accept the smallest token of regard in the form
of a gift.

" So frank and guileless was his life, so free
from anything that approached intrigue, that
when, after his death, his private letters and
papers were examined, there was not a scrap
among them that his most confidential friends
thought best to destroy.

"When Phidias was asked why he took so
much pains to finish up the parts of his statue
that would not be in sight, he said, * These I am
finishing for the gods to look at.* In the life
and character of General Thomas there were no
secret places of which his friends will ever be
ashamed.

" But his career is ended. Struck dead at his

422 LIFE OF GENERAL IVM. T. S//ERMA.V.

post of duty, a bereaved nation bore bis bonored
dust across tbe continent and laid it at rest on
the banks of tbe Hudson amidst tbe grief
and tears of millions. Tbe nation stood at bis
grave as a mourner. No one knew till be was
dead bow strong was bis bold on tbe bearts of
tbe American people. Every citizen felt tbat a
pillar of state bad fallen, tbat a great and true
and pure man bad passed from eartli.

*^Tbere are no fitting words in wbicb I may
speak of tbe loss wbicb every member of tbis
society bas sustained in bis deatb.

"Tbe General of tbe army bas beautifully
said in bis order announcing tbe deatb of Gen-
eral Tbomas :

" Tbougb be leaves no cbild to bear bis name,
tbe old Army of tbe Cumberland, numbered by
tens of tbousands, called bim fatber, and will
weep for bim in tears of manly grief.

" To us, bis comrades, be bas left tbe ricb
legacy of bis friendsbip. To bis country and to
mankind be bas left bis character and bis fame
as a priceless and everlasting possession.

APPENDIX. 423

" O iron nerve, to true occasion true !
O fallen at length that tower of strength.
Which stood four-square to all the winds that blew !

His work is done,
But while the races of mankind endure,
Let his great example stand,
Colossal sun of every land,
And keep the soldier firm, the statesman pure,
Till in all lands, and thro' all human story.
The path of duty be the way to Glory."

Such was the testimony of Garfield, who stood
by his side amidst carnage and slaughter, the
same Gen. James A. Garfield who aften^^ards was
elected by an overwhelming majority of the
American people to be their Chief Magistrate and
President.

Let me now quote from another equally dis-
tinguished soldier and statesman, U. S. Grant, of
world-wide fame. General Grant always mani-
fested the greatest affection, love and respect for
his senior in years and service. General Thomas,
but just before the really great battle of Nash-
ville, as critical and important to America as was
that of Waterloo to Europe, General Grant, in Vir-
ginia, having absolute command of all the armies
of the Union, became impatient with what he

424

LIFE OF GENERAL JVM. T. SHERMAN,

thouglit "slowness" on the part of Thomas.
After several telegrams pro and con, lie made a
conditional order to supersede him, which never
went into effect, because events fully justified
Thomas. But on pages 295 and 296, Volume 2,
of John Russell Young's "Around the World
with General Grant" will be found:

"This led to some talk about Thomas. The
General (Grant) said: I yield to no man in my
admiration of Thomas. He was a fine character,
all things considered — his relations with the
South, his actual sympathies and his fervent
loyalty-^ne of the finest characters of the war.
I was fond of him, and it was a severe trial for
me even to think of removing him. I mention
that fact to show the extent of my own anxiety
about Sherman and Hood. But Thomas was an
inert man. It was this slowness that led to the
stories that he meant to go with the South.
When the war was coming Thomas felt like a
Virginian, and talked like one, and had all the
sentiment then so prevalent about the rights of
slavery and sovereign States, and so on. But
the more Thomas thought it over, the more he

APPENDIX. 426

saw the crime of treason behind it all, and to a
mind as honest as that of Thomas, the crime of
treason would soon appear So by the time
Thomas thought it all out, he was as passionate
and angry in his love for the Union as any one.
So he continued during the war. As a com-
mander he was slow. We used to say, laugh-
ingly, ' Thomas is too slow to move and too brave
to run away.' The success of his campaign
(Nashville) will be his vindication, even against
my criticisms.

"That success and all the fame that came with
it belong to Thomas. When I wrote my final
report at the close of the war I wrote fourteen or
fifteen pages criticising Thomas, and my reasons
for removing so distinguished a commander. But
I suppressed that part. I have it among my pa-
pers and mean to destroy it. I do not want to
write anything that might even be construed into
a reflection upon Thomas. We differed about the
Nashville campaign, but there could be no differ-
ence as to the effects of the battle. Thomas died
suddenly, very suddenly. He was sitting in his
office, I think, at Headquarters (San Francisco),

426 LIFE OF GENERAL WM. T. SHERMAN.

when lie fell back unconscious. He never rallied.
I remember Sherman coming to the White House
in a state of deep emotion with a dispatch, say-
ing, ^1 am afraid old Tom is gone.' The news
was a shock and a grief to us both. In an hour
we learned of his death. The cause was fatty de-
generation of the heart, I if remember. I have
often thought that this disease, with him long-
seated, may have led to the inertness which af-
fected him as a commander.

*'. . . I have no doubt, if the truth were
known, the disease from which Thomas died de-
manded from him constant fortitude, and affected
his actions in the field. Nothing would be more
probable. Thomas is one of the great names of
our history, one of the greatest heroes of our war,
a rare and noble character in every way worthy
of his fame.'*

In this same volume, pages 458-460, will be
found General Grant's estimate of General Lee,
told in the same informal, conversational style :

"I never ranked Lee as high as some others of
the army — that is to say, I never had as much
anxiety when he was in my front as when Joe

APPENDIX, 427

Jolinston was in front. Lee was a good man, a
fair commander, who had everj^thing in his favor.
He was a man who needed sunshine. He was
supported by the unanimous voice of the South,
he was supported by a large party in the North.
He had the support and sympathy of the outside
world. All this is of immense advantage to a
general. Lee had this in a remarkable degree.
Every^thing he did was right. He was treated
like a demi-god. Our generals had a hostile
press, lukewarm friends and a public opinion
outside. The cry was in the air that the North
only won by brute force, that the generalship
and valor were with the South. This has gone
into history with so many other illusions that
are historical. Lee was of a slow, conservative,
cautious nature, without imagination or humor,
always the same, with grave dignity. I never
could see in his achievements what justifies his
reputation. The illusion that nothing but heavy
odds beat him will not stand the ultimate light
of history. I know it is not true. Lee was a
good deal of a headquarters general, a desk gen-
eral from what I can hear, and ^from what his

428

LIFE OF GENERAL WM. T. SHERMAN.

officers say. He was almost too old for active
service — the best service in the field. At the
time of the surrender he was fifty-eight or fifty-
nine, and I was forty-three. His officers used to
say that he posed himself, that he was retiring
and exclusive, and that his headquarters were
difficult of access."

Many of us believe that, had Lee stood firm
in 1 86 1, and used his personal influence, he
could have stayed the Civil War, and thereby
saved the lives of hundreds of thousands of the
fairest youth of the land, and thousands of mil-
lions of dollars in cost and destruction ; but
since the public mind has settled to the conclu-
sion that the institution of slavery was so inter-
woven in our system that nothing but the inter-
position of Providence and horrid war could have
eradicated it, and now that it is in the distant
past, and that we as a nation. North and South,
East and West, are the better for it, we believe
that the war was worth to us all it cost in life
and treasure. We who fought on the right side
are perfectly willing to let this conclusion re-
main ; but wl\en the question of honor to the

APPENDIX, ' 429

memory of our dead heroes is raised at home or
abroad, we will fight with pen and speech to se-
cure for our Grant, Thomas, Meade, McPherson,
Hancock, Mower, Logan, Blair and a hundred
others who were true and faithful, brave and
competent, every honor a nation can afford to
bestow.

I know full well that it w^as the fashion in
England, during the dark days of our Rebellion,
to consider the leaders at the South as heroes
contending for freedom, for home and fireside,
whereas we of the North were invaders, barba-
rians, " Huns and Goths," rude and unlettered.
This was not true ; and every American may,
with pride and satisfaction, turn to Mr. Lincoln's
first inaugural address ; to the glorious uprising
of our whole people, who had been engaged in
peaceful pursuits, to assume the novel character
of soldier; whose leaders emerged from the great
mass by the process of nature ; who gradually,
from books and actual experience, learned the
science of war, and so applied its rules as to sub-
due a rebellion against the national authority
by one-third of our people, — a feat never before

4S0 LIFE OF GENERAL WM. T. SHERMAN

accomplislied on earth; who, at the conclusion
of hostilities, granted terms to the vanquished
so generous and magnanimous as to command
the admiration of mankind, and then quietly
returned to their homes to resume their old oc-
cupations of peace. England, and even some of
our Eastern States, seem not to realize that the
strength of our country lies west of the Alle-
ghenies. They still see only the war in Vir-
ginia, and, at furthest, Gettysburg. The Civil
War was concluded when Vicksburg, Chatta-
nooga and Atlanta fell. After these it only re-
mained to dispose of Lee's army, which was
promptly and scientifically done. Had General
Wolseley met General Thomas at Chattanooga
in 1864, liis quick, discerning mind would have
reached another conclusion. He would have
doubted whether a single corps of English
troops, with the best staff which Aldershot turns
out, could have turned the scale after the year
1862.

Of all governments on earth, England is the
last to encourage rebellion against lawful au-
thority, and, of all men in England, General

APPENDIX, 431

Lord Wolseley is the last who should justify
and uphold treason. Ireland, to-day, has many
times the cause to rebel against England which
the South had in 1861 ; and when some future
Emmet manifests the transcendent qualities
which scintillate and sparkle in the Irish char-
racter, and some enthusiastic American applauds
him, and awards him national honors, then will
General Wolseley, or his successor in office, un-
derstand the feelings of us in America, who,
though silent, watch the world^s progress toward
the conclusion in which truth and justice must
stand triumphant over treachery and wrong.

When the time comes to award monuments
for service in the Civil War, the American peo-
ple will be fully prepared to select the subjects
without hint or advice from abroad.

W. T. Sherman.

432 LIFE OF GENERAL JVM. T. SHERMAN,

OUR ARMY AND MILITIA.

"PIFTY years ago, when I was a cadet at West
Point, a bright young lad came from his
fond parents, as fresh and innocent as a lamb,
duly appointed to dedicate his life to the glorious
cause of his country, and to receive the necessary
instruction at that national school. He passed
through the usual ordeal of admission, and at a
suitable moment applied to the commandant of
the new cadets with the question, "What must I
do to excel in my profession?" He received the
blunt answer, "Obey orders." The sequel was
that he graduated in the following January, went
back to his home, studied law, rose in his profes-
sion, and became a judge in one of the United
States courts in a western territory.

There is no doubt that to " obey orders" is a
large factor in the problem of military life, because
subordination to lawful authority is the bond which

APPENDIX, 433

holds together the parts which compose all armies,
and makes them powerful instruments for good
deeds; but something more is required. There
must be some to give orders; and it is for these
that instruction is chiefly needed.

In every profession is found an epitome of the
knowledge requisite for success. Every religious
denomination furnishes a ''vade meaim'* which
teaches the believer what he must do to be saved ;
but the military profession offers only the articles
of war, which amount to "You'll be damned if you
do, and you'll be damned if you don't" — nothing
to answer my friend's inquiry what he should do
to excel in his profession. The task is a difficult
one ; yet it must be undertaken, and military men
should undertake it, because it is their exclusive
business.

There can be no question that recorded history
illustrates the science of war better than any ab-
stract treatise, because what men have done in the
past they may do again, and every army contem-
plates the use of physical force to achieve some
result at the least cost of life and treasure and
with the largest promise of success ; but the study
28

434

LIFE OF GENERAL WM. T. SHERMAN.

of recorded history is too long, too complicated
and massive, to be undertaken by the common
officer or soldier ; therefore condensation is nec-
essary, if not imperative.

Say what you may of the immortal part, man is
at best an intellectual and combative animal, and
the history of the world is chiefly made up of
wars — conflicts of self-interest or opinion. The
Bible on which is founded modern religion —
— "Peace on earth and good-will to men" — re-
cords the deeds of military heroes, of bloody bat-
tles and fearful slaughter ; and subsequent histo-
ries are full of war, its deeds and alarms. Yet
philosophy and experience teach that each century
has brought about an amelioration. Statesmen,
lawyers and doctors of all degrees find germs of
the modern professions in the examples of Greece
and Rome; while many good soldiers believe that
brave men and skillful generals " lived before
Agamemnon," and find in the Greek phalanx and
Roman legion the counterparts of the modern
battalion and corps d'armee.

My own reading and experience, however, con-
vince me that modern governments and modern

APPENDIX, 435

armies have their origin in the so-called dark or
middle ages, between the downfall of the Roman
Empire and the discovery of America — a period
of a thousand years of fermentation, resulting in
great good to the masses of mankind. Students
of the military profession may therefore safely
begin with the chronicles of the middle ages,
"England, France, Spain, and Adjoining Coun-
tries," 1 320-1 461, by Sir John Froissart — a book
of world-wide renown, which is filled with graphic
accounts of the deeds of the knights-errrant, and
from which Walter Scott has drawn largely in his
"Ivanhoe"and "Quentin Durward." Froissart's
"Chronicles" are more valuable to the military
student by reason of the faithful description of the
habits, customs, and thoughts of that period than
for the records of individual feats of arms ; and
from them can be traced many of the usages and
customs which now prevail in all armies.

Gunpowder was known to the Chinese as early
as the year 80 of the Christian era, and the know-
ledge of its destructive powers passed to India,
Persia, and Africa, whence the Moors carried it
into Spain and used it in sieges as early as 1 238,

436 LIFE OF GENERAL WM. T. SHERMAN.

though the world generally gives to Berthold
Schwartz, of Germany, the credit of its discovery
about 1330.

The batde of Cr^cy, August, 1346, between the
English and French, marks the first recorded use
of gunpowder In a field batde; it enabled a few
thousand English to rout and destroy four- fold
their own number of valiant knights, and absolute-
ly revolutionized the whole art of war as then
pracdced. Among the first instruments used
were cannon, smooth-bores and breech-loaders,
soon followed by the arquebus and rampart gun
with a tripod, or "rest," fired from the shoulder,
with a pad to distribute the shock. The bullets,
or projectiles, were of stone, iron, lead, or some
other metal, samples of which are common in
the arsenals of Europe and America.

At all events, in that century the knight in steel
armor, with bow, lance, and spear, gave place to
the musketeer, and the barons with their retainers
made way for the regular captains, lieutenants,
sergeants, corporals, and privates, all bound by
oath to serve their sovereign for specific periods,
and with regular pay and allowances.

APPENDIX. 437

In that epoch of transition there lived in
Europe great men, great statesmen, great
scholars, great soldiers. I need recall no name
other than that of Shakespeare, who lived in
England from 1564 to 161 6, whose knowledge of
the human heart and brain, and whose compre-
hension of the motives which impel human action,
have never been equaled in these modern times,
with all their inventions and all their professions
of superior knowledge. Shakespeare referred to
gunpowder in his "Henry IV.," wherein he makes
Harry Percy say (Part I., Act I., Scene 3):

" It was great pity, so it was,
That villanous saltpetre should be digg'd
Out of the bowels of the harmless earth.
Which many a good tall fellow had destroy'd
So cowardly ; and but for these vile guns,
He would himself have been a soldier."

If any of the present generation flatter themselves
that they are better and wiser than their ances-
tors, let them read Shakespeare; also the second
chapter of Dr. Draper's "Intellectual Develop-
ment of Europe," Volume II., wherein it is de-
monstrated that learned Moors brought algebra

43S LIFE OF GENERAL JVM. T. SHERMAN.

and the mathematical sciences into Spain centur-
ies before Columbus was born, had measured on
the shores of the Red Sea the exact length of a
degree of the earth's meridan and the obliquity
of the ecliptic, and knew enough of astronomy
to prove the rotundity of the earth. While the
professors of England, France, Italy and Germany
were teaching that the earth's surface was flat,
the Spanish Moors were teaching geography in
their common schools from globes. Nevertheless,
the modern world was not yet ready for the
refined, superior civilization of the Asiatics.

In the fifteenth century occurred three great
events — the application of gunpowder to the uses
of war; the invention of printing; and the prac-
tical discovery of America. Gunpowder gave
rise to the modern science of war; printing to
the universal dissemination of knowledge; and
America gave room for the then overcrowded,
discontented, and adventurous population of
Europe. Out of that chaotic period the present
states of Europe crystallized, resulting in clearly-
defined boundaries of territory, the population of
each state similar in language, manners and cus-

APPENDIX. 439

toms, and each governed by a sovereign, a parlia-
ment and a judiciary.

The reign of Louis XIV. of France, ''le grand
monarque^' 1638-1715, was rich in brilliant men
and great events. Two famous soldiers, the
Prince of Cond6 and Turenne, graced this period.
The former has left us some wise advice, which
may well be pondered by every young officer and
soldier:

"There are some things which a young man is
absolutely obliged to know when first he goes to
the wars, and some others which he may be
ignorant of without any reflection upon his honor.
He must know he is bound to respect all his
superiors, to be civil to his equals, to be courteous
to all officers, and to have charity for all those
under his command. But this charity must not
extend so far as to slacken in obliging them to
perform their duty to the full, for he can never be
too severe on that point. The knowledge of
these matters will prevent his falling into many
errors. He cannot fail in point of respect to his
superiors without being reprimanded, and perhaps
punished, because all generals take care that

440 LIFE OF GENERAL IVM. T. SHERMAN.

1

every man have his due, not according to his own
birth, but to his post. Therefore a young gende-
man must not think that because he is of great
quahty he can pay the less respect to a soldier of
fortune; he will never be in the wrong in giving
him all manner of honor, and should he fail in
that particular, he will be compelled to it. In the
next place, if he is civil to his equals, all men will
value him, for civility wins the heart, whereas
everybody hates pride. Thirdly, if he is courtly
to all the officers, they will all speak well of him,
and he may hope to advance his fortune that way,
as well as by his brave action ; reputation in war
being as necessary as any other thing. Lastly, if
he has charity for all under his command, he must
certainly be beloved, which will be no small ad-
vantage to him, for soldiers never forsake an
officer they love upon action ; and he gains much
honor by their sticking close to him ; whereas
those who are hated by their men are often
abandoned by them, and thus shamefully dis-
graced, soldiers sometimes preferring their re-
venge before their honor.

" As for the lieutenant, he ought to know full as

APPENDIX, 441

much as a captain, his duty being ahnost the same.
He is often detached to command a party in chief,
or a guard that might be a captain's, and, having
nobody there to advise with, he must have exper-
ience ; for, wanting it, the consequences may be
fatal. I have seen lieutenants committed to the
provost for having behaved themselves like mere
novices in the fight. Therefore I would never
advise a yonng man to be a lieutenant at first,
because, being a lieutenant, there will not be so
much connivance towards him as if he was a
cornet. Besides, all the troops depend on him
and the quartermaster; so that if the troopers
once discover his weakness, which certainly they
will, they will neither value nor respect him ; and
it were better for him to be no officer than to be
so contemned. Besides, his ill name will soon
spread throughout the whole army, the common
discourse of troopers being about their officers,
whom they extol to the very skies if they value
them, and run them down as fast if they under-
value them. In short, if a man would have an
accountof any officer, he need only set his troopers*
tongues a running upon that subject, and they will

442 LIFE OF GENERAL WM. T. SHERMAN.

tell him all the good or harm they know with
unspeakable ingenuity."

In 1779 was published in America the volume
of Baron Steuben's tactics, which contains the
manual of arms for our Revolutionary Army.
The musket was then a flint-lock muzzle-loader,
with single ball or ball and buckshot, effective at
about one hundred yards, with a recoil as danger-
ous to the soldier as the object aimed at. For
firing and loading the commands were, the musket
being loaded and at a shoulder : " Poise fire-lock :
Cock fire-lock : Take aim : Fire." " Half cock
fire-lock : Handle cartridge : Prime : Shut pan :
Charge with cartridge : Draw rammer : Ram
down cartridge : Return rammer : Shoulder fire-
lock."

Up to 1840 we had the same old flint-lock,
smooth-bore musket with paper certridges, and
loaded by twelve commands : " Load : Open pan :
Handle cartridge : Tear cartridge : Prime : Shut
pan : Cast about : Charge cartridge : Draw ram-
rod : Ram cartridofe : Return ramrod : Shoulder
arms."

About 1845 ^^ percussion cap, previously

APPENDIX. 443

used by sportsmen, was adapted to the smooth-
bore muzzle-loader, and it was loaded in *' left
times " or motions ; gradually reduced to four
motions, and finally to one : " Load at will."

Now, in 1890, every recruit knows that he can
load his rifle and fire it from ^\^ to twenty times
a minute, thereby exhausting his supply of sixty
rounds in a few minutes, whereas as late as our
Civil War forty rounds in the cartridge-box and
twenty in the haversack were a full allowance for
a day's fighting. To supply an army engaged in
batde will henceforth tax the supply train, for it is
well known that recruits measure a batde by its
noise, whereas the veteran measures it by the
effect; hence the increased value of experience.
There are hundreds of most valuable patents for
modern rifles; and in this connection I will only
venture the statement that the invention of the
metallic cartridge was the parent of all, and that
the mechanism of the breech is of less importance
than the accurate preparation of the barrel.

Meantime, corresponding changes have oc-
curred in caimon from the original bars of iron
held in place by rings, to the mortar, howitzer,

444 LIFE OF GENERAL WM. T. SHERMAN.

field and siege guns, sea-coast and naval guns, all
of them rifled and some of them so heavy that
steam or hydraulic power is required to load and
fire them Armor plates of steel twenty inches
thick are used to protect the vital parts of ships,
and even the gunners. .It seems to me that, no
matter how powerful naval ,guns may be fabri-
cated, our land guns, resting on the solid earth,
can be built stronger, while steam and hydraulic
power may raise the gun, fire with precision, and
lower away behind the invulnerable earth ; so that
the old ratio is not changed, that five guns on land
are equal to a hundred afloat.

Anything which attempts to limit danger to per-
son in war is a mistake. In my judgment, the
engine of a man-of-war should be protected as
far as possible by armor, but the fighting decks
and bulwarks should be thin, so as to encourage
the shot to go through as quickly as possible. The
same of our sea-coast forts. A few twelve-inch
rifles at the salients bearing on sea-channels, with
steel casemates, an abundance of cheaper ten or
fifteen-inch barbette or embrasure guns, with
spherical cast-iron shot well handled, supple-

APPENDIX. 445

mented by entanglements and torpedoes, will
make our chief seaports comparatively safe against
any modern fleet.

The progress made in naval and seacoast guns
in the last twenty-five years has been very great,
and the establishments for their manufacture have
kept pace with the demand. These guns and
this ammunition are very costly and will add
largely to the expenditures of the next war.
They also demand much time in their fabrication,
and dierefore a supply should be obtained and
stored where needed. In like manner, field
guns should be provided in advance and stored
in the usual arsenals. A new army requires as
many as six guns to a thousand men, but after
experience these may be reduced to three or even
one, as was the case in my long march from At-
lanta to Raleigh in 1864-65.

The cavalry of the world have probably passed
through more transitions than the infantry and
artillery. They are the immediate successors to
the knights templar. They have discarded the
casque, cuirass, and coat of mail, rendered useless
by the modern pistol and carbine, and they dress

446 LIFE OF GENERAL WM. T. SHERMAN

like other soldiers, only clinging to their horses
and sabres. They lake their place in line of
battle usually on the flanks, often detached as
" the eyes of the army." They can make a cir-
cuit of forty or fifty 'miles a day, while the infantry
and artillery plod their fifteen or twenty ; but in a
march of a thousand miles, as is recorded of
Alexander the Great, the infantry arrive first. A
man is a more perfect animal than a horse. He
can live on two pounds of food a day, whereas the
horse and rider must have twenty ; therefore in
all times, ancient and modern, the infantry have
composed — and they will continue to compose —
the great mass of all armies. The chief use of
the cavalry in a modern army is to supply infor-
mation ; to watch flank movements ; to fight on
foot, and, when the enemy is in retreat, to pursue
and gather the fruits of victory.

Having thus rapidly sketched the three " arms "
into which all modern armies are resolved, I now
desire to give my readers the benefit of some per-
sonal thoughts and experiences, in partial answer
to the question, " What must an army officer do
to excel in his profession ? "

APPENDIX, 447

We all know what he must not do ; and the
real question is what he should do.

The army of the United States is older than
the present government, some of tlie companies
antedating the Revolutionary War. It has al-
ways been officered by men of marked ability,
whose examples are the precious inheritance of
their successors. They have been the advance-
guard in the settlement and civilization of this
continent. Therefore I say to the young officer.
Attend with scrupulous fidelity to the duties of
the garrison or post to which you are assigned,
with the assurance that these duties are based on
the experience of your predecessors, as good
men as yourselves, and no belter. The govern-
ment provides the officer and soldier with reason-
able liberality, so that they must not embark in
trade, business, or speculation ; for a man cannot
be a good soldier if his thoughts and interests are
elsewhere. The condition of the junior officers
and enlisted men of our army has been largely
improved. They are better paid, better clad, have
better food and infinitely better quarters, than
fifty years ago.

448 LIFE OF GENERAL WM. T. SHERMAN.

There is no doubt that this world has been un-
dergoing a series of charges, physical and intel-
lectual, according to some law not yet discovered,
and that it is sometimes disturbed by aberrations
such as happen to light, electricity, and the mo-
tions of the planets ; yet generally the world movies,
in a direction of " betterment." Nations, like in-
dividuals, have had their birth, youth, manhood,
old age and death ; to be succeeded by others
with larger proportions, generally with better op-
portunities to indulge in liberty of thought and
action, the enjoyment of their inheritance and the
fruits of their own labor.

To this class of men the discovery of Amer-
ica gave great stimulus, and the facility of
spreading news by means of the art of printing
made the exodus from Europe universal, result-
ing in many colonies of every type and kind of
people more or less independent of the States
from which they had come and of each other ; yet
all obeying the general law that like races come
together for mutual protection and social advan-
tage.

Every army officer is now required to know

APPENDIX. 449

the history of his own country and of its institu-
tions, of the colonies, of the War of Independence,
the subsequent war with Great Britain, the Mex-
ican War and the Civil War, all of which were
conflicts of arms made necessary by social and
political causes, all resulting in a step forward ;
and he further knows that his country extends
3,000 miles from the Atlantic to the Pacific, 1,000
miles from the lakes to the Gulf of Mexico,
wholly within the best latitudes for civilization —
latitudes producing the types of men of the
largest physical and mental strength, possessing
the largest measure of liberty ever enjoyed by
any people on earth, and therefore most liable to
civil convulsions. We have no personal sover-
eign: our sovereignty remains with the people,
whose will may be theoretically asceruined by
fair means under a written constitution, symbol-
ized by a common flag known the world over as
the " Stars and Stripes," with the motto " E Piuri-
bus Unum " — one nation composed of forty-four
States, each with exact boundaries, and with pow-
ers as clearly defined as can be done by words.
Under this system, though wrong may be
29

:IFE OF GENERAL WM. T. SHERMAN.

done to individuals and even to communities for a
time, tyranny and oppression are Impossible.
With us, as with all other governments, monarchical
or imperial, the actual administration is subdivi-
ded into legislative, judicial and executive. These
may at times create a conflict with each other,
but there is less liability of it with us than under
any other form of government. Yet as every
court must have its marshal or sheriff, so must
every State and the general government have an
armed force to compel obedience to its decrees.
On this branch of the subject there can be no
better authority than the Constitution itself, the
judgments of the Supreme Court, and the pre-
cepts of Washington.

Army officers cannot be expected to follow
all the decisions of the Supreme Court, but they
may easily master the two volumes of Bancroft's
" History of the Formation of the Constitution of
the United States," published in January, 1882,
which describe with great precision the confusion
which prevailed in the old Continental Congress
during the Revolutionary War, the utter failure
of the confederation of the thirteen colonies, with

APPENDIX. 451

all their impracticable prejudices and diverse
interests, and the final adoption of our present
Constitution, of which Mr. Gladstone has written :
" As the British Constitution is the most subtile
organism which has proceeded from progressve
history, so the American Constitution is the most
wonderful work ever struck off at a given time by
the brain and purpose of man."

By our Constitution the power to declare war,
create an army or navy, make rules for the gov-
ernment of the land and naval forces, call forth
the militia, etc., is committed to the National
Congress, and when these forces are Ceilled into
the service of the United States, the President
becomes the commander-in-chief thereof. Of
course he cannot be expected to command in per-
son a navy on the high seas or an army in the
field : these duties must be committed to subor-
dinates, and it is to these subordinates that I
address this paper.

During our Civil War many a young lieuten-
ant became a colonel, brigadier, major-general,
corps or army commander, in one, two and three
years, without a book save the " Army Regula-

452 LIFE OF GENERAL WM, T. SHERMAN,

tions ; '* and hundreds, if not thousands, com-
manded detachments, with power over Hfe and
death, with little knowledge of the great laws of
war. Of the valuable treatises on this subject I
always prefer that of " The Rights of War and
Peace," by Hugo Grotius (born in Holland),
translated into English and published in London,
1738 — a book which ought to be found in every
good library. Every army officer should make
Grotius his text-book, just as every lawyer makes
Coke and Blackstone his.

In time of war the armies of the United States
are rightfully and lawfully invested with extraor-
dinary powers, always subject to the national
government, and in time of peace, being
composed of citizens, they are further sub-
ject and subordinate to the civil code of
the locality ; but when the storm comes,
when Congress, the Supreme Court, and the
President are defied, insulted, and maligned, as
occurred in 1861, then comes in that new, but
long-existent, code of war; and it is to the interestof
every citizen of the United States that the army
officers should be not only honest and patriotic.

APPENDIX, 458

but intelligent and learned enough to understand
the nature of the power thus imposed on them.
No officer of the United States army has ever
questioned or ever will question the fundamen-
tal principles of our Constitution ; but when the
Congress has declared war, has provided the
ways and means, and the President, as constitu-
tional commander-in-chief, has indicated the
measures, then the soldier goes in with confidence
to restore peace. Of these measures the com-
manding officer on the spot must often be the sole
judge. The law then becomes the law of war and
not of peace.

In this article I have purposely abstained
from treating of general and staff officers. In
my judgment, a good, well-managed garrison on
the frontier, or anywhere, is the best possible
school for generals, and even staff officers; and I
shall regard it as a fatal mistake if the cavalry
and artillery shall be withdrawn from the school of
application at Fort Leavenworth, because the
three arms of the service should be associated in
daily duties, on drill, and on the march, so that
when war compels them to be assembled in the

454 LIFE OF GENERAL WM. T. SHERMAN,

same army, as must inevitably be the case, their
habits will be already established. Out of these
win come the natural leaders, who can select the
necessary staff or assistants.

W. T. Sherman.

AFPEXDIX, 456

CAMP-FIRES OF THE G. A. R.

A RECENT visit to Columbus, Ohio, Septem-
ber 10-14, convinces me that the young
people, male and female, of the interior of our
country feel an increased interest in the events of
the Civil War.

I did believe, and may have so expressed my-
self in former years, that the interest, enthusiasm
and dan would die out with one or two genera-
tions; but not so. There were present at Co-
lumbus as many ex-soldiers, their wives, children
and families, as could have been assembled in
1865; as many as forty thousand ex-soldiers and
sixty thousand citizens, male and female, other
than the resident population (eighty thousand) of
that capital city. This is not a mere guess, but a
professional estimate based on numbers and meas-
urements made on the spot. The same or simi-
lar results have been noted at Toledo, Indiana-
polis, Springfield and St. Paul. The people of the

456

LIFE OF GENERAL WM. T. SHERMAN.

great Northwest, whose first centennial was In
part the occasion of the recent meeting at Colum-
bus, are more peculiarly Americaii than similar
crowds elsewhere, and give us one element of
value in the problem of integral calculus for the
^'next centennial!'

I mingled with this crowd in halls, in great tents
and on the streets — and though individuals took
liberties with my hand and person not contem-
plated by army regulations, I will bear witness
that in the four days of my stay I did not hear a
coarse word, see a single drunken man, or ob-
serve any infraction of the common police regu-
lations for crowds. I have known Columbus from
boyhood, and am sure the people to-day are bet-
ter and more refined than they were fifty years
ago. In accomplishing this result the Civil War
and the Grand Army of the Republic have been
important factors; and in this paper I desire to
invite public attention to one feature of the Grand
Army of the Republic — its "camp-fire." The
mere name suggests its object. Imagine a group
of intelligent soldiers after night — the march done
— supper over, and things put away for an early

APPENDIX. 457

Start — a clear sky above and a bright fire beneath,
you have the perfection of human comfort, and
the most perfect incentive to good fellowship. Of
course to make the scene more perfect there must
enter the element of danger, but that is now past,
and the "camp fire" of the Grand Army is a
mere assemblage of comrades absolutely on an
equal footing, regardless of former rank, yet sub-
ject to self-imposed discipline; the comrades may
be seated round their hall or at tables, with the
simplest and cheapest fare, when they sing their
old war songs, tell their old war stories, or in the
soldier's phrase "swap lies," and transact their
business of "charity." Now at this very hour
around their many camp-fires are being spun the
yarns which in time will be the warp and woof of
history. For mathematical accuracy, one should
go to the interesting tables of statistics compiled
by adjutants-general, but for the living, radiant
truth, commend me to the "camp-fire." My
memory of camp-fires goes back to the everglades
of Florida, and the days of the trappers in the
Rockies and California, and people who suppose
these men were rude, coarse and violent, are

458 LIFE OF GENERAL WM. T. SHERMAN.

1

sadly mistaken. Roubideaux was the gentlest,
least offensive man I ever saw; but if a thievine
Pl-Ute tried at night to steal his picketed mule,
he became a good, i. e,, a dead Indian. Kit
Carson always avoided danger, sometimes would
go two or three days out of his course to avoid
danger, but when it stared him in the face his eye
was as clear as crystal, and his nerves as steady
as forged steel. Carson was usually taciturn,
but on occasions would "swap lies" with the most
expert. F. X. Aubry was to me the most satis-
factory, because with paper and pencil he could
delineate the country passed over, and describe
its features as to wood, water and grass, all that
man and horse needed in those halcyon days.
The Bents, Campbells and St. Vrain were traders
of a higher type than the trappers. Of this latter
class, Jim Bridger always at a camp-fire carried
off the palm. One night after supper, when
gathered round a real camp-fire on Bear Creek, a
comrade inquired: "Jim, were you ever down at
Zuni?" "No! there are no beaver thar." "But,
Jim, there are some things in this world besides
beaver. I was down there last winter and saw

APPENDIX, 459

great trees with limbs and bark on, all turned into
stone." "Oh!" rejoined Jim, "them's called
petrifactions; come with me to the Yellowstone
next summer and I will show you petrified trees
a-growing, with petrified birds 'singing petrified
songs." . Now, it so happens that I have been to
the Yellowstone, have seen the petrified trees
"a-growing," but not the petrified birds or petri-
fied songs. The geysers of the Yellowstone at
intervals eject hot water supersaturated with
carbonate of lime and geyserite to a height of a
hundred and fifty feet. This water is carried as
mist laterally by the wind two or three hundred
feet, saturating growing trees, gradually convert-
ing that side to stone, while the off-side has living
branches. So Jim Bridger's story was not all a
lie, only partly so. Mr. Tiffany, of Union Square,
is at this moment working up the petrified trees
of Zuni and of the Litde Colorado into exquisite
ornaments.

There is an old maxim of lawyers, "Falsus
in uno, falsus in omnibus," good enough doctrine
for the courts, but not the " camp-fire." Does any
man question the truth of Gil Bias or Don

460 LIFE OF GENERAL WM. T. SHERMAN.

Quixote Are not the Pickwick papers literally
true? Or what American will permit a bloody
Britisher to dispute the entire truth of Rip Van
Winkle, or the Legend of Sleepy Hollow ? As
well doubt that Tam O'Shanter saw the dance
of witches and had a close call with his " Maggie "
at the Bridge of Ayr. The camp-fire of the
Grand Army of the Republic is only a continua-
tion of what occurred "during the war," adding
wit and romance to relieve the great mental strain
when each soldier realized that the next day
might be his last — he did not dread death, but
mangling, wounds, the hospital and captivity, were
ever present to his mind, sleeping or waking.
These fears and apprehensions are now far in the
past, and no wonder the soldiers of 1861-65 meet
again at their camp-fires to "swap lies," and should
they exaggerate their own powers and deeds of
valor, I know that a sweet angel will blot out the
sin. In illustration I will venture to give one of a
thousand instances which have occurred to me
personally.

After the war was over I was stationed in St.
Louis with absolute command over all the region

APPENDIX, 461

west of the Mississippi River to the Rockies, and
gave much personal attention to the protection of
the parties engaged in building the Pacific rail-
roads west from Omaha and Kansas City, the
country then being infested by the most warlike
tribes of Indians on the continent, the Sioux,
Kiovvas, Arapahos and Cheyennes, who knew that
the buildinof of these railroads would result in the
destruction of the buffalo, on whose meat they
subsisted, and whose hides made their lodges. It
was, in fact, a continuous warfare, following the
close of the great Civil War, and though Con-
gress utterly ignored the fact, I had in Sheridan
and Hancock, Terry and Auger, good lieutenants,
and we won that war as we had previously the
greater, but not more important one.

I was seated at my table at St. Louis in the
office over a clothing store, corner of Washing-
ton Avenue and Fourth street, absorbed in my
subject, when I became conscious that a man in
rough garb, with a broad-brimmed hat, was
addressing me — I had no sentinel or orderly. He
grasped my hand familiarly, called mc Uncle
Billy, was delighted to see me in apparent good

462 LIFE OF GENERAL WM. T. SHERMAN.

health, inquired about the family, and finally
announced that he was "dead broke," and must
raise $26.50 somehow to get his trunk out of
pawn, and to reach his home in Ohio. I naturally
inquired what claim he had on me. Oh ! of course
he was one of my boys ; he had been a lieutenant
in the — th Ohio Cavalry ; had fought with me at
Chattanooga, Knoxville, Adanta, etc., and being a
perfect stranger in St. Louis, had come to me as
his "uncle." He did not remove his hat, which
made me suspicious ; still he gave correct date
and place for every event of his regiment, from
luka, Miss., to Raleigh, N. C. At last he tripped.
" Don't you remember. General," he said, " the
Grand Day at Washington when we passed the

President in review ; that was a glorious day "

" Yes, my good sir," said I, " I left the — th Ohio at
Raleigh with Kilpatrick." . With hat still on, he
pondered some minutes, and then, with beaming
face, " Uncle Billy, it was not all a lie ; I confess I
lied some, but I was in truth a lieutenant in the
— th Ohio Cavalry, and have since the war been out
on the plains as a teamster, and have told the story
so often that I believed it myself; the story is true

APPENDIX, 463

up to Raleigh, but after that it is fiction. The
Cheyennes jumped our train near Fort Wallace,
got the mules, burned the wagons, and left me on
the ground scalped and dead. The soldiers came
out from the fort, took me into the hospital, where
I was kindly and skillfully treated, and got well,
but the scalp is gone." With that he removed his
hat, bowed his head, and the ^^ hair was gone."

This was the reason why in my presence he
had not stood ** hat in hand" in the presence of his
superior officer as he should have done. It so
happened that I had been to Fort Wallace about
the time when that train was "jumped," and Gen-
eral A. J. Smith, who also happened to be near by
at the time, confirmed the general fact. So that
among us we raised the $26.50 to get his trunk
out of pawn, and buy a ticket for him to his home
in Ohio. I have completely forgiven him, and
have never seen him since.

A somewhat similar circumstance occurred to
General Zachary Taylor in 1850 — then President
of the United States — ^as told me by one of his
household. General Taylor was a magnificent
type of the soldier of his day and generation ; had

464 LIFE OF GENERAL WM. T. SHERMAN.

served in the Regular Army on the frontier con-
tinuously from 1808 till 1849, when he was elected
President of the United States chiefly by reason
of his sturdy manly qualities and his brilliant suc-
cess at the battle of Buena Vista, Mexico, Febru-
ary 22, 1847. I^ this battle General Taylor, with
an army of 5,000 volunteers, defended his position
against 21,000 Mexican regulars, led in person by
General Santa Anna, President and Commander-
in-Chief of Mexico.

When In March, 1849, General Taylor was
installed in his office of President, he was furi-
ously assailed for place and office by his old war
comrades. Among these was a citizen of Missis-
sippi, who sent on his petition to be made post-
master of his town, professing to be a " good
Whig," was indorsed by his neighbors, but rested
his claims chiefly on the fact that he was in the
First Mississippi at Buena Vista. He expected
his appointment by return mall, but not receiving
it, as is usual, he went to Washington to learn the
reason why. Obtaining access to the Postmaster-
General (Collamer, of Vermont), he was simply
disgusted that in Washington the great and bloody

APPENDIX. 465

battle of Buena Vista was held secondary to the
Whig vote of North Carolina. So our Mis-
sissippi candidate pushed his way into the White
House, and laid his claims for office before Presi-
dent Taylor. He described the ridge at Buena
Vista projecting toward the road by which the
Mexicans were approaching in solid phalanx —
how the first Mississippi formed line to the front,
then changed to the left to repel the attack ; again
changed front to the right, and last doubled
column on the centre, and charged, driving the
bloody Mexicans off the field.

General Taylor listened with great patience, as
was his habit, but when the embryo postmaster
slackened in his eloquence and gave him a chance,
he answered : " I used to think I was at the battle
of Buena Vista myself, but since I have come to
Washington, I have heard of so many things
which happened down there, that I am convinced
I was not there at all." My inference is that the
self-constituted Mississippi hero never became a
postmaster for Uncle Sam. And I also hear of
so many things which happened at Dalton, Re-
saca, Marietta, Atlanta, that I am inclined to be-
30

466 LIFE OF GENERAL WM. T. SHERMAN.

lieve that the man who marched down to the sea
was another fellow of the same name as myself.
Nevertheless, for this very reason I believe in
modern " camp-fires." They afford opportunities
for wit and humor, they prick the bubbles of the
boastful and stamp as genuine the pure gold of
heroic action and of patient endurance. No man
can, to-day, go to a camp-fire of any Grand Army
Post, and successfully boast of deeds not genuine
without certain exposure. Brothers reared under
the same roof know and love each other well, but
a day, or week, or year of war comradeship in the
same company begets a knowledge of character
not possible elsewhere. In peace we must ac-
cept a man on his own word. Not so in war ; the
truth is then revealed, as it were, by the lightning's
flash. In the twinkling of an eye, we segregate
the true from the false, the brave from the timid,
the earnest from the doubtful.

There were then (1850) no Grand Army posts ;
now there are over four thousand, and the amount
of good and charity done by them cannot be
measured by dollars and cents. For years after
the war our men wandered over the land seeking

APPENDIX. 467

the employment they had given up to take a
musket to save the union and government. Of
course that crisis is now past, but a greater
danger lurks — the next generation may conclude
that the wise man stays at home, and leaves the
fool to take the buffets and kicks of war. This
danger can best be met by just such an organiza-
tion as the Grand Army of the Republic, with its
camp-fires of song and story, to irradiate the
gloom of ordinary humdrum existence where an
Auditor of the Treasury would measure a "life"
as he would a bushel of spoiled oats.

All I mean by this paper is to encourage the
men who *' saved the Union " to be of good
cheer; to meet often at camp-fires ; sing their old
songs ; tell their stories with reasonable exagger-
ations, and always cultivate the comradeship be-
gotten of war, the charity which blesses him who
gives as well as him who receives, and a loyalty
that ordains that the " penalty for treason is

death."

W. T. Sherman.

468 LIFE OF GENERAL WM, T. SHERMAN,

RESPONSE OF GENERAI. SHERMAN.

■|Y|R. PRESIDENT AND GENTLEMEN:
On your bill of fare you will see that Gen-
eral Sherman's name is written down for the toast
to the army. I have heard that before. But I
believe they generally concede to me the privihge
of skirmishing around a good deal. You show
the effect of it, too, when 'you are approaching a
mass of timber and know some one is lying
around there loose. " Just burst a couple of shells
in it and you will find out. I burst a couple of
shells, too, and I found out. I don't intend to mar
an occasion like this with anything but feelings of
mutual respect and love. Sometimes it is well to
stir up things — it increases the interest. Whether
Portland, Oregon, or Portland, Maine, is the more
beautiful city makes no difference, they both be-
long to us. And it is so with the Army of the

* Delivered at the 21st Annual Reunion of the Army of the
Potomac, held at Portland, Me., July 3d and 4th, 1890.

APPENDIX, 469

Potomac and the armies of the West I know
Gen. Walker too well to find fault witli him. He
thought there were enough here to speak for tlie
Western armies, and I merely availed myself of
the opportunity to tell some anecdotes, some of
which led to others.

I have attended a great many of these army
meetings and talked more at them, perhaps, than
I ought to have done. In my early days it was
thought discreditable for an army officer to speak
ten words in succession. The most you could
get out of old officers was "Obey orders ! " " Mind
your own business!" But sometimes it is well,
where you have anything to say, to say it in a
frank, earnest manner. That is my object, and I
hope never to give offence, and I hope I have not
done so to-day at all. I myself have stood on
yonder White Mountains when the wind was
blowing a hundred miles an hour, with the house
chained to the rocks and yet swaying like a ship
at sea, and from its summit — six thousand feet
they call it— I could behold this city of Portland
lying at its feet, a beautiful panorama, and ships
sailing on the ocean beyond, all like a miniature

470 LIFE OF GENERAL WM, T. SHERMAN,

map. It was the clearest day, the sergeant told
me, on that mountain that he had ever seen. That
was two or three years ago. I have also looked
for the mountain to-day, but I didn't see it, be-
cause It was raining, which Is a normal condition
here, I believe. The mayor says you will have a
bright day to-morrow. He Is sensible of the
kindness of Providence for giving you an occa-
sional pleasant day. It is the same way in
Pordand, Oregon. It sometimes drizzles there
for five months without cessation, and then you
have lovely weather and you forget about the
drizzle. But there stands old Mt. Hood, and I
know It will be there the next time I go out there,
and I am going to look at it for two weeks. But
whether It Is a better town than this city is not for
me to determine.

Now as to the army, gentlemen, that Is a very
old subject. It is written that brave men lived
before Agamemnon. I don't know whether you
know when Agamemnon lived. He was no
acquaintance of mine. And there were armies
before the days of Caesar, well organized armies,
too. Indeed, you who have read the Bible— I

APPENDIX. 471

don't think you read it much up here — you re-
member the captains of tens, and of hundreds, and
of thousands — that is organization, the very basis
of all military tactics. The next thing is grand
strategy — what is to be done ? Common sense
applied to the art of war. You have got to do
somethinor. What is that somethinir? You have
got to have it defined in your mind. You can't
go around asking corporals and sergeants. You
must make it out in your own mind and ascer-
tain what you intend to do. Then the method
by which it is to be done — tactics-^-comes in
merely as a means to an end. You can't handle
a hundred men loosely scattered. Forrest, the
rebel general of cavalry, had only two commands
in his tactics. I don't know whether he could read
or not, but his tactics consisted in this, "scatter
like the volunteers," and "huddle like the regu-
lars."

Now the third great principle embraced in the
art of war, and it has been an art, is now and ever
will be, just as much as medicine, mechanics, or
engineering, there must be one mind to direct the
whole. In all civil governments the many gov-

472 LIFE OF GENERAL WM. T. SHERMAN,

ern the few. In the army one mind governs, but
behind it is the authority of law. There is no
general on this continent that is independent of
the law, and the President is the minister of that
law.

Now when a campaign is laid out, you first
want a well organized army suitable to the object
to be done. Next, you must have it so governed
by tactics, wheeling to right and left, facing
about so as to fight in every direction. I remem-
ber on one occasion I rode to a colonel of volun-
teers, a brave, good man — dead now, poor fellow !
I said, *• Colonel, take two companies and deploy
them ten paces apart and see what is in that
timber." He looked at me as much as to say,
"What are you talking about?" I said, "Deploy
your two companies ten paces apart, and do it
quick !" He looked as dumb as a pig. A little
major stepped up and said, "General, I under-
stand you perfectly." I said, "Do it then." Now
it wasn't that the major was braver, but he knew
how, and that how was very important. Now
that is the only reason why those soldiers who
were instructed before the war are better than

APPENDIX. 473

those gathered together at the beginning of the
war.

Now the army of the United States is not com-
posed merely of the enlisted men and the officers
— that is not the army of the United States.
The Secretary of War has stated properly that
the whole population is the anny. Of them, we
have about eight millions — a very respectable
army, gentlemen, comparable with that of Russia
or any of the great powers of Europe. But of
course out of this mass of men must be taken a
few like your State troops, making a force say
double the regular army. The government could,
at little more than the cost of the present army,
maintain one hundred thousand men, all-sufficient
for all the chances of war in the near future.

We cannot see far ahead, but the art of war
should be kept pure and simple, and at the base of
it should be patriotism, that love and devotion to our
country — to the whole country, not to any little
piece of it, or to any State because you happen to
be born there, but to the whole United States.

And what is the emblem of that power that
binds our hearts ? It is over your heads now^

474 LIFE OF GENERAL WM. T. SHERMAN.

gentlemen. In these navy pennants you see
fluttering in the breeze all around your beau-
tiful city, the birthday of our national inde-
pendence. But I have seen it upon the high seas.
I have seen it come out of the water, first a little
fluttering something with glasses pointed to it.
Little by little it comes above the horizon, more
and more your glass tells you there is red and
there are white and blue. And the ship rises
above the horizon and you see the gallant-masts,
and the royals coming up also, and recognize the
star-spangled banner, and your heart beats with
a new throbbing worth living for.

Yes, my friends ; on the vast plains of the West
I have seen the same thing. As you approach
one of those litde military posts, perhaps of one
or two companies, there is the flag. You look
for it and see it fluttering on the flag-staff, and you
feel at home just as soon as you recognize the stars
on the blue field. You and I have seen it on the bat-
tle-field, and when you have recognized it coming to
your aid when you have needed aid, oh! how
beautiful it was ! You all know that feeling.
Certainly I do, and I can recall a thousand

APPENDIX, 475

instances. Not only is it beautiful, but it is grand
and glorious.

My friends of the Army of the Potomac,
remember that whosoever follows yonder flag
is your brother in arms, brother soldier and citi-
zen, fellow in all respects, elbow to elbow, and
all bound to gain the ultimate goal — glory and
independence.

476 LIFE OF GENERAL WM. T. SHERMAN:

SHERMAN ON LONGSTREET.

WHY HE REFUSED TO RECOMMEND HIS FRIEND FOR A CABINET

PI^ACE.

A N Atlanta (Georgia) dispatch stated that by
permission of the gentleman to whom it
was directed, and with approval of the family of
the late General Sherman, the following letter,
which was written soon after the election of
President Harrison, is given to the public:

"No. 75 West Thirty-first Street,
"New York, Dec. 21, 1888.
*' To Hon, E, A. Auger, Atlantay Ga.

"My Dear Sir: I thank you for your good
letter, of the 20th, about General Longstreet, and
promptly assure you that I will rejoice at every
piece of good fortune which may happen to him
in his old age to give him comfort and honor, but
I must not be an active agent, because I am
overloaded with friends who now turn to me. .

APPENDIX,

"Naturally and properly I will not write a
personal letter to General Harrison, whom I
know to be an honest, true and able man, per-
fectly qualified to fulfill the office he has under-
taken and who should be allowed to choose his
cabinet as unbiased by outside pressure as in
selecting his wife.

**I hold that any intrusion now would be a
positive wrong. He has a heavy burden to
carry during the next four years, and I, of all men,
must not add to that burden a single ounce. I
have thought over the subject long and my
thoughts have crystallized to positive conclusions.

"The men of mature years who, from 1861 to
1865, endeavored to disrupt our National Gov-
ernment should not be entrusted with foreign
legations, with cabinet positions or with seats on
the Supreme Bench. In all the other offices they
ought to have a libefal share. I know tliat Long-
street would be absolutely true and faithful to
any office in the gift of this Government, but no
nation on earth can afford to put a premium on
treason. But if he will be content to be United
States Marshal of Georgia, postmaster of Atlanu,

478 LIFE OF GENERAL WM, T. SHERMAN.

or take any United States appointment within
the limits of his domicile I will endorse him
strongly.

'' I knew him as a cadet and in the old army
and if every newspaper of the South were to
charge him with anything dishonest or insincere
I would resent it as quick as thought. Long-
street went into the Confederate army from an
impulse — honest, enthusiastic and positive — and
when the war was over I know of my own knowl-
edge that he stood up like a man to regain for
his whole country the condition of law and pros-
perity which had been so foolishly and recklessly
jeopardized by the civil war. General Grant,
who knew Longstreet even better than I, always
spoke of him with affection and respect.

"General Grant as President was most anx-
ious to draw to his support the live men of the
South, whose manly valor he had encountered
and respected, but the old political element de-
feated his generous intentions.

" The North to-day is hardly prepared to see
an ex-Confederate at the head of the War De-
partment. That is, the Northern people are law-

APPENDIX, 479

abiding people and will ratify any choice which
President-elect Harrison shall make, but if I can
proffer any advice I would personally prefer some
one of the Union generals, of whom our country
is full. In any and every other way I will do what
is possible and probable to recognize and reward
ex-Confederates of the type of General James
Longstreet, whose personal friend I claim to have
constantly been for fifty years, since 1838."

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