General William Tecumseh Sherman

“ 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. ”

“ Resolved, That in the death of General William T. Sherman the people of the United States suffer an irreparable loss; the country loses a patriot, a brave, self-sacrificing soldier, and a wise and sagacious leader ”

“ The leaders of the Law and Order party chose as their military commander William Tecumseh Sherman, whose professional ability and integrity in later life are unquestioned, but whose military genius was equaled only by his extreme inability to remember facts. When writing his Memoirs, the General evidently forgot that original documents existed or that statements concerning historical events can often be checked up. A mere mob is irresponsible and anonymous. ”

“ Sherman, William Tecumseh, a distinguished American general, born, the son of a judge, in Lancaster, Ohio; first saw service as a lieutenant of artillery in the Indian frontier wars in Florida and California; resigned from the army in 1853, and set up as a banker in San Francisco, but at the outbreak of the Civil War accepted a colonelcy in the Federalist ranks ”

“ President Harrison announced General Sherman's death to both Houses of Congress in the following words:
"To the Senate and House of Representatives: The death of William Tecumseh Sherman, which took place to-day at his residence in the city of New York, at 1 o'clock and 50 minutes p. m., is an event that will bring sorrow to the heart of every patriotic citizen. No living American was so loved and venerated as he. ”

“ SHERMAN, WILLIAM TECUMSEH. Born at Lancaster, Ohio, February 8, 1820; graduated at West Point, 1840; served in California during Mexican war; colonel in Union army, 1861; brigadier-general, 1861; was at Bull Run and Shiloh, and made major-general of volunteers, May 1, 1862; served at Chattanooga and Vicksburg, won battles of Dalton, Resaca, Kenesaw Mountain, and Peachtree Creek; made major-general in regular army, August 12, 1864; occupied Atlanta, September 2, 1864; started on march to the sea, November 12, 1864 ”

“ No man can properly command an army from the rear, he must be "at its front;" and when a detachment is made, the commander thereof should be informed of the object to be accomplished, 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 attend 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 ”

“ 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. ”

“ Also, an Indian tribe, goaded by the pressure of white neighbors, breaks out in revolt. The general-in-chief must reenforce the local garrisons not only with men, but horses, wagons, ammunition, and food. All the necessary information is in the staff bureaus in Washington, but the general has no right to call for it, and generally finds it more practicable to ask by telegraph of the distant division or department commanders for the information before making the formal orders. The general in actual command of the army should have a full staff, subject to his own command. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Colonel Thomas Swords, quartermaster, arrived on the 13th; Paymaster Larned on the 14th; and Lieutenant Smyzer, Fifth Artillery, acting ordnance-officer, on the 20th; Captain Symonds was already on duty as the commissary of subsistence; Captain O. D. Greene was the adjutant-general, and completed a good working staff.
The everlasting worry of citizens complaining of every petty delinquency of a soldier, and forcing themselves forward to discuss politics, made the position of a commanding general no sinecure. ”

“ 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 ”

“ 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 ”

“ 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. ”

“ The commanding general—though intrusted with the lives of his soldiers and with the safety of a frontier in a condition of chronic war—cannot touch or be trusted with ordnance-stores or property, and that is declared to be the law! Every officer of the old army remembers how, in 1861, we were hampered with the old blue army regulations, which tied our hands, and that to do any thing positive and necessary we had to tear it all to pieces—cut the red-tape, as it was called, a dangerous thing for an army to do, for it was calculated to bring the law and authority into contempt ”

“ 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." ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Accidents will happen in battle, as elsewhere; and at the point where they so manfully went to relieve the pressure on other parts of our assaulting line, they exposed themselves unconsciously to an enemy vastly superior in force, and favored by the shape of the ground. Had that enemy come out on equal terms, those brigades would have shown their mettle, which has been tried more than once before and stood the test of fire. They reformed their ranks, and were ready to support General Ewing's division in a very few minutes ”

“ His cavalry will travel a hundred miles where ours will ten. I have sent two divisions up to Chattanooga and one to Rome, and General Thomas started to-day to drive Forrest out of Tennessee. Our roads should be watched from the rear, and I am glad that General Grant has ordered reserves to Nashville. I prefer for the future to make the movement on Milledgeville, Millen, and Savannah. Hood now rests twenty-four miles south, on the Chattahoochee, with his right on the West Point road. He is removing the iron of the Macon road. I can whip his infantry, but his cavalry is to be feared. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ In many sections of the country they have not left a mill to grind grain for their own suffering families, lest we might use them to supply our armies. We most do the same.
I have endeavored to impress these views upon our commanders for the last two years. You are almost the only one who has properly applied them. I do not approve of General Hunter's course in burning private homes or uselessly destroying private property. That is barbarous. But I approve of taking or destroying whatever may serve as supplies to us or to the enemy's army. ”

“ 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 present the enthusiasm created by his inspiring presence was such as to make him the chief attraction at all important gatherings. He was always cordial and very happy in his greetings to his comrades. ”

“ 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. ”

“ The safety of our armies, and a proper regard for the lives of our soldiers, require that we apply to our inexorable foes the severe rules of war. We certainly are not required to treat the so-called non-combatant rebels better than they themselves treat each other. Even herein Virginia, within fifty miles of Washington, they strip their own families of provisions, leaving them, as our army advances, to be fed by us, or to starve within our lines. We have fed this class of people long enough. Let them go with their husbands and fathers in the rebel ranks ”

“ About 4 p.m. the enemy sallied against the division of General Morgan L. Smith, of the Fifteenth Corps, which occupied an abandoned line of rifle-trench near the railroad east of the city, and forced it back some four hundred yards, leaving in his hands for the time two batteries, but the ground and batteries were immediately after recovered by the same troops reenforced. I cannot well approximate our loss, which fell heavily on the Fifteenth and Seventeenth Corps, but count it as three thousand; I know that, being on the defensive, we have inflicted equally heavy loss on the enemy. ”