Cleveland daily leader. [volume] ([Cleveland, Ohio]) 1865-1873, 1865-12-09
General sherWood,s Poem.
We have received from General Sher-
wood the following communication
COMMERCIAL OFFICE,

We have received from General Sher-
wood the following communication
COMMERCIAL OFFICE,
TOLEDO, O., December 5th, 1865.
EDITOR LEADER:-In your review of
my poem, delivered at Cincinnati on the
anniversary of the battle of Franklin, you
say:
dwelling, IS the writer does, upon
incidents Of the march and field, and
showering praises upon a number of COM
manders who were never identified with
the corps to which the poem is dedicated, it
is at least cause for astonishment that not
one of the various soldiers of eminence
BY whom the corps was SUCCESSFULLY COM
manded, = > is named. This
popularity Of the poem is so noticeable
that it is difficult to repress the thought
that it is attribu able to personal vindie-
tiveness."
This reflection In your editorial columns
is both unkind and unjust, as nothing
could be further frora the truth. Had I
reasons for suspecting your motives, l
should think you ~purposely intended to
iniure my character and standing among
nv fellow officers and soldiers of the.
corps. But five officers are mentioned in
the poem, three of whom commanded
armies of which the 23d Corps was a part
General burnside the Army of the
Ohio; General Thomas the forces left by
Sherman at Atlanta; and General Sher-
man the Grand Army of the West.
Generals Harker and MCPHERSON, who
persisted in the celebrated Atlanta cam
paign, in which the 23d Corps held such a
prominent place, have but eight lines de-
voted to their memory. Their loss was
not confined to any particular ~organiza-
ton, but they were mourned and lament
ed throughout the entire army. There is
not a soldier in the whole corps de dr7nie
who will take exception to the mention of
these brave men, OF attribute to me the
mean motives of casting d-isparagement
upon the immortal deeds of others. He
must be morbidly sensitive who can by
any means torture my language into con-
veying the thought that a spirit of vim
dictiveness in any way actuated me when
preparing a Poom for our hratherly re-
union. The poem was for the purpose of
recalling the deeds of the whole army to
which the 23d Corps was attached, and
not to extend the fame of any particular
man. Several of the officers mentioned in
your editorial as having been ~disregarded,
are my warm personal friends, and they,
if undue distinction was made, would GER
tainly have been eulogized, as their con-
duct merited.
Having been requested by those whose
Judgment 1 value very highly to enlarge
the poem, so that its history may be more
complete, 1 have determined to do so.
Many names will then appear, which,
from necessity, have been omitted.
Realizing acutely the injuries you have
heaped upon me in accusing me of malig-
nifty towards those with whom I was asso-
ciated through the mosttrying years of my
life, and to whom a common cause, and a
common feeling bound me with the
strongest of earthly friendships, / ask you
to do me the justice of publishing this, my
vindication, in the columns ofthe LEADER.
!. r. SHERWOOD,
Editor Commercial.
The so-called "posm" of General Sher-
wood was not regarded by US as a proper
subject Of criticism, inasmucha as the authors
SO far as we knew, had never aspited to
the dignity of a full-fedged poet, and, as
we were unable to find in it anything
worthy of special commentator, it was
consigned to the blissful oblivion of the
waste-paper basket, where it would now
be resting in peace and quietude, had not
the following note from its author caused
its resurrection
TOLEDO, O., Dec. I'd, 1865.
EDITOR LEADER:-By the same mail I
send you my Poem. Give me a just crit
cism after a careful reading.
Your friend, L. r. SHERWOOD,
Editor Toledo Commercial.
1t is unnecessary for us to state that
we were actuated by no unkind feeling
toward Gen. Sherwood. Had we been,
we might easily have found a wide field
for its exercise. In reviewing his poem
we only said what was true, but we would
not like to declare that we told the whole
truth in regard to its weaker points. We
did not positively accuse Gen. Sherwood
of "vindictiveness," but he has convicted
himself of that fault by the use IN his
communication of several ill-timed, I'M
~called-for, vindictive epithets. In quot
ing from our article, he seems to have
purposely omitted several passages i'm
portant to a proper understanding of our
position.
We did not, as any candid reader would
perceive, object to the authors
laudation of the heroes introduced, but al
luded to his mention of parties not di-
rectly connected with the T~wenty-third
in order to show that the produc-
ton was Of a personal character, and,
therefore, remarkable in the omission of
all the hohored names Immediately asso-
ciated with the history of the organiza-
ton the deeds of which it was designed
10 commemorate.