General George H. Sherman

“ General Sherman reversed this well-recognized principle and declared war on an individual and offered a price for his destruction. He asserted that he had better sacrifice ten thousand of his countrymen and expend all its treasury contained than to let one man live to fight. The pressing exigencies invoked by Forrest’s campaigns silenced the traditions and usages of war, and made his destruction, in Sherman’s mind, justifiable by any means, foul or fair, and at any cost, however extravagant or hurtful, to rid his department of a brave and aggressive foe. ”

“ Resolved, That the Memorial Committee of the Grand Army of the Republic of the city of New York, sharing the grief of the American people at the National bereavement, offers its sympathy to the children of General William T. Sherman, and trusts that they may find consolation for the loss of their illustrious father in the thought that the world is better for his having lived in it. His fame has filled the earth, his achievements having placed him in the front of strategists, and his services in the war for the Union were525 second only to those of the matchless Grant. ”

“ General Horace Porter also seconded the resolutions. He paid a warm tribute to General Sherman's memory, and continued: "By no act of ours can we expect to add one laurel to his brow. The Nation raised him to the highest rank in the army, universities vied with one another in conferring upon him degrees. We can only come together to express our esteem for the soldier, our respect for the man. There was something characteristic of the soldier born within him. In war he was bold in conception, fixed in purpose, untiring in action. He knew that great danger makes brave hearts most resolute. ”

“ Sherman was a brave and skillful general, but he seemed to consider that General Forrest’s ability to injure the Federal armies was greater than that of any other living man, and with malignant hate, extreme fear, and almost barbarous cruelty, he offered a major generalship to an ambitious young brigadier general, if he would pursue and kill the Confederate leader. War amongst civilized nations is carried on against commands or organized bodies, not individuals. ”

“ General Sherman's reputation as a soldier must rest entirely on his strategic abilities. His successes were those of strategy only—not of tactics. His faults as a commander are glaring as his faults of character. As an organizer of armies for the field, and as a tactician in battle, he was an utter failure. He never commanded a well-organized army whose discipline did not become relax under his administration, and he was never commander-in-chief in any battle which was not a failure. Instead of being an organizer, Sherman was a disorganizer ”

“ Then he received a cavalry command and pursued a brilliant career with the Army of the Potomac, until he was sent to assist Sherman in Georgia.
General Thomas was now at Nashville, and Schofield en route near Pulaski, Tennessee, ready to deal with Hood on his northwestern march. In Sherman's army there were few non-combatants and sick men. There was a goodly supply of ammunition, but provisions were scanty. It was the intention of the army to live off the enemy's country as they marched through it. ”

“ He was always genial and affable to every one, very easily approached, and he received and entertained a great many of his old army companions and aided a vast number of them. In fact, no one knows how many army men General Sherman has, first and last, assisted pecuniarily and in various ways, helping them to get positions and giving them advice and encouragement. ”

“ After the conclusion of the war General Sherman was, for four years, stationed at St. Louis, as Commander of the Military Division of the Mississippi. He was a notable public character, with a reputation for bravery that none dare assail, and a record as a soldier that made him one of the nation's heroes. He stood next to Grant in position, merit, and popularity; and when, in 1869, General Grant was elected to the presidency, Sherman, who had been named lieutenant-general in 1866, was promoted to the vacant post as general of the army, with head-quarters at Washington. ”

“ Besides being a historic soldier and an ideal hero, it was General Sherman's happy fortune in the twenty-five years that have elapsed since the close of the war in which he bore so distinguished a part, to come very near to the people of the land and to become every year dearer and dearer to them by the merits and charms of his personal character, so that it may truly be said that the death of no man in517 America to-day could have left a void in the people's heart so deep and wide as his has done. ”

“ You will be invited to seek new adventures abroad; do not yield to the temptation, for it will lead only to death and disappointment.
"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." ”

“ These all contributed to the result that made "Sherman's army" famous the world over, and stamped him as the hero of a campaign that, according to military critics, "stands alone in the history of modern warfare."
His scientific fencing with General Joseph E. Johnston, the Confederate leader, was as masterly as it was effective. He forced his rival from the stand he had taken as warder of the gateways to the South's supply land, fighting him step by step from Dalton backward to Atlanta, and capturing that stronghold of the Confederacy by persistent and desperate fighting. ”

“ His successor in command at Louisville was General Don Carlos Buell. The extraordinary extent to which the rumors of his mental unsoundness were carried, may be appreciated after perusal of the following passage, which occurred in an editorial in The Cincinnati Commercial—a paper supposed to be friendly to Sherman—early in December, 1861:
"The painful intelligence reaches us in such form that we are not at liberty to discredit it, that General W. T. Sherman, late Commander of the Department of the Cumberland is insane! It appears that he was at times, when commanding in Kentucky, stark mad. ”

“ He felt that with the brave men about him, war could bring no conflict and present no experiences from which he could not, with credit to his chivalrous command, emerge without defeat and destruction, and in which he would not punish his enemies and give them experiences that would cause them to regret that they had ever assailed his followers or disputed his pathway.
On this great raid, one hundred and twenty dead and wounded was all toll that the God of War exacted of General Wheeler’s forces. He compelled General Sherman to send more than twelve thousand men to the help of his commands. ”

“ Should the enemy be so strong as to prevent your going to Athena, or connecting with General Rosecrans, you will nevertheless have assisted him greatly by drawing away a part of the enemy's forces.
H. W. HALLECK, Major-General.
On the 18th, with my staff and a small escort, I rode forward to Burnsville, and on the 19th to Iuka, where, on the next day, I was most agreeably surprised to hear of the arrival at Eastport (only ten miles off) of two gunboats, under the command of Captain Phelps, which had been sent up the Tennessee River by Admiral Porter, to help us. ”

“ Under this arrangement Sherman of course had to return to Washington, and there he renewed his old association with George H. Thomas, whom, however, he presently assigned, at Thomas's request, to the command at San Francisco. There the hero of Chickamauga and Nashville soon died, and Sherman thought his end was hastened by supposed ingratitude. Congress ought, in Sherman's opinion, to have made Meade, Sheridan and Thomas all Lieutenant-Generals, dating their commissions respectively with "Gettysburg," "Winchester," and "Nashville." ”

“ We are under orders to prepare for a sixty days' campaign; so you see that does not look much like spending the winter in Atlanta, as many have hoped to do. It is not supposed that any below a Major-General knows what is to be the programme—nor do they; but it is generally conjectured that a large force is soon to start for Savannah,370 via Augusta and Milledgeville. General Thomas will have force, with what will be left him by Sherman, to 'do the agreeable' to Hood. You may expect that 'something may turn up' before this army settles down for the winter. ”

“ Sherman's information was great, and he was a clever talker. He always liked to have people about who could keep up with his conversation; besides, he was genial and unaffected. I particularly admired his loyalty to Grant. He had criticised the plan of campaign frankly in the first place, but had supported [Pg 58] every movement with all his energy, and now that we were in the rear of Vicksburg he gave loud praise to the commander in chief.
To the left of Sherman lay the Seventeenth Army Corps, under Major-General J. B. McPherson. He was one of the best officers we had. ”

“ The attack was made by Sherman's men with great vigor. The ground was very difficult and the enemy's works strong, and at nightfall Sherman had to order his men to fall back a short distance to shelter. The next two days were spent in placing artillery and bringing up supplies to the troops, and on the morning of May 22d another general assult was made all along the line. No men were visible in the hostile works except a few sharpshooters, who were kept pretty quiet by the Union skirmishers. A volunteer storming party led Sherman's column. ”

“ It is only while it keeps moving that an army can “live on the country.” It is like a swarm of locusts, consuming everything within reach; and if it be compelled to halt, whether for battle or from other cause, it must be supplied from bases in the rear, or it will speedily disintegrate from hunger alone. This fact was fully appreciated by General Sherman, when he left Atlanta in his famous “march291 to the sea;” for though he expected to, and did, live upon the country, he nevertheless took the precaution to carry with him a wagon train containing twenty days’ rations for his entire army. ”

“ It was this that carried him from victory to victory. It is this that he has left as an imperishable legacy to his loving countrymen.
"In every thought and feeling General Sherman was intensely American. He believed in the abiding greatness and glory of his country, in the form of government under which we live and in the capacity of the people to maintain and preserve it, and he had no sympathy with or toleration for those who affect to discover in every misadventure in politics or blunder of government a symptom of National decline. ”

“ Sherman cried, "Halt! front face!
Who are you? Speak, my gallant boy!"
"A drummer, sir:—Fifty-fifth Illinois."
"Are you not hit?" "That's nothing. Only send
Some cartridges: our men are out;
And the foe press us." "But, my little friend—"
"Don't mind me! Did you hear that shout?
What if our men be driven?
Oh, for the love of Heaven,
Send to my Colonel, General dear!"
"But you?" "Oh, I shall easily find the rear."
"I'll see to that," cried Sherman ”

“ His character as a man was one to command admiration. Of course it is difficult to select for comment thereon any particular passage of a life that was so busy and so full of great deeds."
General Meigs said: "The first time I met General Sherman was on the return of McDowell's army. I called on him at his headquarters across the river from Bull Run. Sherman at that time was in the prime of life, and the measure I then took of him has been fully justified. His nature was naturally genial and democratic, notwithstanding his West Point training. ”

“ Outnumbered almost two to one, every flank movement of the enemy was met by a line of battle. At Resaca, New Hope Church, Kennesaw Mountain, and Marietta the heavy skirmishing resulted in battles, but in no instance in a general engagement. Some days upon the skirmish line and when the fighting would not rise to the dignity of battle the loss would be almost as great as the United States suffered in any battle in the war with Mexico. Well-authenticated battle reports show that General Sherman’s loss on his march to Atlanta was fully 40,000, while Johnston’s was less than 10,000. ”

“ In a short time the head of McPherson's column came up, went into camp, and we spent the night in Decatur.
The next day we pushed on, and on the 14th entered Meridian, the enemy retreating before us toward Demopolis, Alabama. We at once set to work to destroy an arsenal, immense storehouses, and the railroad in every direction. We staid in Meridian five days, expecting every hour to hear of General Sooy Smith, but could get no tidings of him whatever. A large force of infantry was kept at work all the time in breaking up the Mobile & Ohio Railroad south and north ”

“ I know that all the men of substance South sincerely want peace, and I do not believe they will resort to war again during this century. I have no doubt that they will in the future be perfectly subordinate to the laws of the United States. The moment my action in this matter is approved, I can spare five corps, and will ask for orders to leave General Schofield here with the Tenth Corps, and to march myself with the Fourteenth, Fifteenth, Seventeenth, Twentieth, and Twenty-third Corps via Burkesville and Gordonsville to Frederick or Hagerstown, Maryland, there to be paid and mustered out. ”

“ It is one of the great epochs in the march of time, which, as the years go by, will be, by succeeding generations of freemen, classed in importance with the discovery of America and our Revolutionary War. It was the good fortune of General Sherman to have been a chief actor in this great drama, and to have lived long enough after its close to have realized and enjoyed the high estimate of his services by his comrades, by his countrymen, and by mankind. ”