William Tecumseh Sherman

“ And by this order, and by others even more oppressive and diabolical, the Nero of the nineteenth century, alias William Tecumseh Sherman, was put upon record as the born leader of the most ruthless, Godless band of men ever organized in the name of patriotism—a band which, but for a few noble spirits who, by the power of mind over matter, exerted a restraining influence, would not have left a Southerner to tell the tale of fiendishness on its route to the sea. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Nearly every man had to be somewhat of a soldier, but I think my father was only a commissary; still, he seems to have caught a fancy for the great chief of the Shawnees, "Tecumseh."
Perry's victory on Lake Erie was the turning-point of the Western campaign, and General Harrison's victory over the British and Indians at the river Thames in Canada ended the war in the West, and restored peace and tranquillity to the exposed settlers of Ohio. My father at once resumed his practice at the bar, and was soon recognized as an able and successful lawyer. ”

“ 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. If the United States submits to a division now, it will not stop, but will go on until we reap the fate of Mexico, which is eternal war. The United States does and must assert its authority, wherever it once had power; ”

“ 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 ”

“ I know that a few individuals cannot resist a torrent of error and passion, such as swept the South into rebellion, but you can point out, so that we may know those who desire a government, and those who insist on war and its desolation.
You might as well appeal against the thunder-storm as against these terrible hardships of war. They are inevitable, and the only way the people of Atlanta can hope once more to live in peace and quiet at home, is to stop the war, which can only be done by admitting that it began in error and is perpetuated in pride. ”

“ Once admit the Union, once more acknowledge 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. ”

“ 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 ”

“ 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 soldiers said, 'Tecumseh is a great fellow. He means business.' Thorough and confident preparations are always a source of encouragement and inspiration."
The nation was now to see scientific warfare. The campaigns of the Union armies were planned with mathematical accuracy. There were three grand divisions of attack upon the Rebellion. At the east, moving directly against the Rebel capital, was Grant with the Army of the Potomac. West of the Mississippi River was Banks. The great central region was left to Sherman, and his objective point was Atlanta. ”

“ He trains his Eastern legions for the last death-grapple. On the path toward the sea, swinging out like huntsmen, the columns of Sherman wind toward Atlanta. Bluff, impetuous, worldly wise, genius inspired, Sherman rears day by day the pyramid of his deathless fame. Confident and steady, bold and untiring, fierce as a Hannibal, cunning as a panther, old Tecumseh bears down upon the indefatigable Joe Johnston. Now comes a game worthy of the immortal gods. It is played on bloody fields. The crafty antagonists grapple in every cunning of the art of war. Rivers of human blood make easy the way. ”

“ If he ventures north of the Tennessee River, I may turn in that direction, and endeavor to get below him on his line of retreat; but thus far he has not gone above the Tennessee River. General Thomas will have a force strong enough to prevent his reaching any country in which we have an interest; and he has orders, if Hood turns to follow me, to push for Selma, Alabama. No single army can catch Hood, and I am convinced the best results will follow from our defeating Jeff. Davis's cherished plea of making me leave Georgia by manoeuvring. ”

“ 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. ”

“ At that time he was much worried by what he supposed was injustice in the promotion of General Sheridan, and still more that General Meade should have an Eastern station, which compelled him to remain at Nashville or go to the Pacific. General Thomas claimed that all his life he had been stationed in the South or remote West, and had not had a fair share of Eastern posts, whereas that General Meade had always been there. I tried to get him to go with me to see President Grant and talk the matter over frankly, but he would not, and I had to act as a friendly mediator. ”

“ 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. ”

“ They are no worse than other volunteers, all of whom come to us filled with the popular idea that they must enact war, that they must clean out the Secesh, must waste and not protect their property, must burn, waste and destroy. Just such people as Mrs. Z. have taught this creed, sung this song, and urged on our men to these disgraceful acts; and it is such as Morgan L. Smith and W. T. Sherman who have been combating this foul doctrine. During my administration of affairs in Memphis I know it was raised from a condition of death, gloom, and darkness, to one of life and comparative prosperity. ”

“ His Positive Refusal to be a Presidential Candidate—Remembering a California Drummer—Dealing with a Newspaper at Memphis—Suppressing Praise of Himself at Savannah—Confiscating Medicine—The Electoral Commission—His Love of Music—Excuses for Swearing—A Tribute to his Mother—An Incident at Yale—Expressions of Kind Feeling toward the South and toward his Foes.
The lives of few men have contained more picturesque incidents than did Sherman's. ”

“ On the 12th he had demanded the surrender of Resaca in the following letter:
HEADQUARTERS ARMY OF TENNESSEE
IN THE FIELD, October 12,1861.
To the officer commanding the United Stales Forces at Resaca,
Georgia.
SIR: I demand the immediate and unconditional surrender of the post and garrison under your command, and, should this be acceded to, all white officers and soldiers will be parolled in a few days. If the place is carried by assault, no prisoners will be taken. Most respectfully, your obedient servant,
J. B. HOOD, General. ”

“ Officers and men had brought no baggage or provisions, and the weather was bitter cold. I had already reached the town of Charleston, when General Wilson arrived with a letter from General Grant, at Chattanooga, informing me that the latest authentic accounts from Knoxville were to the 27th, at which time General Burnside was completely invested, and had provisions only to include the 3d of December; that General Granger had left Chattanooga for Knoxville, by the river-road, with a steamboat following him in the river ”

“ Early in October this company, with three others, sailed for Savannah under command of Captain and Brevet Major Penrose. At Savannah they were transferred to a small steamer which took them by the inland route to St. Augustine, Florida. General Worth arrived at St. Augustine41 at the same time with the Eighth Infantry, and General Zachary Taylor had then the chief command in Florida, with headquarters at Tampa.
Sherman was now detached from the company of recruits, which belonged to the Second Infantry, and sent to join his own regiment at Fort Pierce, on the Indian River. ”

“ I hope that he will remain thereabouts till General A. J. Smith can reach his destined point, but this I can hardly expect; yet I want him to reach by the Yazoo a position near Grenada, thence to operate against Forrest, after which to march across to Decatur, Alabama. You will see that he has a big job, and therefore should start at once. From all that I can learn, my troops reached Alexandria, Louisiana, at the time agreed on, viz., March 17th, and I hear of them at Natchitoches, but cannot hear of your troops being above Opelousas. ”

“ I want it finished, to bring back from Atlanta to Chattanooga the sick and wounded men and surplus stores. On the 1st of November I want nothing in front of Chattanooga except what we can use as food and clothing and haul in our wagons. There is plenty of corn in the country, and we only want forage for the posts. I allow ten days for all this to be done, by which time I expect to be at or near Atlanta.
I telegraphed also to General Amos Beckwith, chief-commissary in Atlanta, who was acting as chief-quartermaster during the absence of General Easton:
Hood will escape me. ”

“ General Thomas was at Nashville, with Wilson's dismounted cavalry and a mass of new troops and quartermaster's employs amply sufficient to defend the place. The Fourth and Twenty-third Corps, under Generals Stanley and Schofield were posted at Pulaski, Tennessee, and the cavalry of Hatch, Croxton, and Capron, were about Florence, watching Hood. Smith's (A. J.) two divisions of the Sixteenth Corps were still in Missouri, but were reported as ready to embark at Lexington for the Cumberland River and Nashville. ”

“ 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. ”

“ I will have to leave in Savannah a garrison, and, if Thomas can spare them, I would like to have all detachments, convalescents, etc., belonging to these four corps, sent forward at once. I do not want to cripple Thomas, because I regard his operations as all-important, and I have ordered him to pursue Hood down into Alabama, trusting to the country for supplies.
I reviewed one of my corps to-day, and shall continue to review the whole army. I do not like to boast, but believe this army has a confidence in itself that makes it almost invincible. I wish you could run down and see us ”

“ He was attended by his staff, composed of General G. W. Cullum, U. S. Engineers, as his chief of staff; Colonel George Thom, U. S. Engineers; and Colonels Kelton and Kemper, adjutants-general. It soon became manifest that his mind had been prejudiced by the rumors which had gone forth to the detriment of General Grant; for in a few days he issued an order, reorganizing and rearranging the whole army. General Buell's Army of the Ohio constituted the centre; General Pope's army, then arriving at Hamburg Landing, was the left ”